Wally Lamb

Wally Lamb is the author of the New York Times and national bestseller "The Hour I First Believed," as well as the novels "She's Come Undone" and "I Know This Much Is True," both #1 New York Times bestsellers and Oprah Book Club selections. His latest book is "Wishin' and Hopin': A Christmas Story."

Lamb holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in teaching from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Fine Arts in writing from Vermont College. He was nine years into a career as a high school English teacher at the Norwich Free Academy in Norwich, Connecticut, when he began to write fiction in 1981. He currently teaches creative writing workshops at the York Correctional Institute, a maximum-security women’s prison in Niantic, Connecticut.

Lamb has been honored with several awards including the State of Connecticut’s Governor’s Award and Distinguished Alumni Awards from both Vermont College and the University of Connecticut School of Education. He won a national “Thanks to Teachers” Excellence Award and the 1999 New England Book Award for fiction. "I Know This Much Is True" received the Friends of the Library USA Reader’s Choice Award for best novel of 1995 and the Kenneth Johnson Memorial Book Award for its contribution to removing the stigma of mental illness. "She’s Come Undone" was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award for best first novel. Both "She’s Come Undone" and "I Know This Much Is True" were New York Times Notable Books of the Year.