# Lawrence Wright
**Lawrence Wright** (born 1947) is an American author, screenwriter, playwright, and staff writer for *The New Yorker*, best known for *The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11* (2006), which won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 2007[1](https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/lawrence-wright) • [2](https://www.lawrencewright.com/about). He has written more than a dozen books of nonfiction and fiction, three National Magazine Award-winning articles, one-man plays, and screenplays, and he lives in [Austin, Texas](https://www.edgepedia.org/austin-texas), where he plays keyboard for the blues band WhoDo[3](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/lawrence-wright).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name / born | Lawrence George Wright, born 1947 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/wright-lawrence-1947-lawrence-george-wright) |
| Position | Staff writer, *The New Yorker*, since 1992; fellow at the Center on Law and Security at New York University School of Law[3](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/lawrence-wright) • [5](https://www.nationalbook.org/people/lawrence-wright/) |
| Education | Tulane University (B.A., 1969); American University in Cairo (M.A., 1971), where he also taught English[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/wright-lawrence-1947-lawrence-george-wright) |
| Signature book | *The Looming Tower* (Knopf, 2006), based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States[1](https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/lawrence-wright) |
| Major awards | Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction (2007); three National Magazine Awards[1](https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/lawrence-wright) • [3](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/lawrence-wright) |
| Other honors | National Book Award finalist (2006, 2013); elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021[5](https://www.nationalbook.org/people/lawrence-wright/) • [6](https://www.amacad.org/person/lawrence-wright) |
| Residence | Austin, Texas, with his wife; keyboard player in the blues band WhoDo[3](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/lawrence-wright) |
## Early career
Wright began his writing career in 1971 at *The Race Relations Reporter* in [Nashville, Tennessee](https://www.edgepedia.org/nashville-tennessee), after graduating from [Tulane University](https://www.edgepedia.org/tulane-university) in New Orleans and completing a master's degree at the [American University](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-university) in Cairo, where he also worked as an English teacher[2](https://www.lawrencewright.com/about) • [4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/wright-lawrence-1947-lawrence-george-wright). In 1980 he became a staff writer for *Texas Monthly*, the muckraking regional magazine where he later served as contributing editor, and he also wrote for *Rolling Stone*[2](https://www.lawrencewright.com/about) • [7](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/lawrence-wright/). He joined *The New Yorker* in 1992[3](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/lawrence-wright).
## The Looming Tower and terrorism reporting
*The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11* (Knopf, 2006) is a narrative history of the rise of al-Qaeda and the intelligence failures that preceded the [September 11 attacks](https://www.edgepedia.org/september-11-attacks). The [Pulitzer Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize) citation describes it as based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States[1](https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/lawrence-wright). The book tells its story through the interwoven lives of four men: [Osama bin Laden](https://www.edgepedia.org/osama-bin-laden) and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leaders of al-Qaeda; John O'Neill, the FBI's counterterrorism chief, who died in the World Trade towers; and Prince Turki al-Faisal, the former head of Saudi intelligence[1](https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/lawrence-wright).
Parts of the book first appeared in *The New Yorker*, including a Profile of al-Zawahiri that won the 2002 Overseas Press Club Award for magazine reporting[3](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/lawrence-wright). TIME selected the book as one of the All-TIME 100 best nonfiction books[8](https://time.com/5170426/looming-tower-true-story-excerpt/), and it was adapted into a Hulu miniseries in 2018 starring [Jeff Daniels](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeff-daniels), Alec Baldwin, and [Tahar Rahim](https://www.edgepedia.org/tahar-rahim)[2](https://www.lawrencewright.com/about). Sources differ on the number of translations: *The New Yorker* states twenty-four languages[3](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/lawrence-wright), while Wright's own site and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences state 25[2](https://www.lawrencewright.com/about) • [6](https://www.amacad.org/person/lawrence-wright).
His later terrorism writing includes *The Terror Years: From Al-Qaeda to the Islamic State* (2016), a collection of ten *New Yorker* pieces tracing the path of Middle Eastern terror from the rise of al-Qaeda in the 1990s onward[9](https://www.lawrencewright.com/books), and *Thirteen Days in September* (2014), an account of the 1978 [Camp David](https://www.edgepedia.org/camp-david) summit among [Menachem Begin](https://www.edgepedia.org/menachem-begin), Anwar Sadat, and [Jimmy Carter](https://www.edgepedia.org/jimmy-carter)[9](https://www.lawrencewright.com/books).
## Going Clear and the Church of Scientology
Wright's Profile of the filmmaker [Paul Haggis](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-haggis), "The Apostate," published in 2011, won a National Magazine Award and became the starting point for *Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief* (Knopf, 2013)[3](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/lawrence-wright). The book was a *New York Times* bestseller and a finalist for both the [National Book Award](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-book-award) and the [National Book Critics Circle Award](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-book-critics-circle-award) in 2013[5](https://www.nationalbook.org/people/lawrence-wright/) • [10](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lawrence-wright/going-clear/).
The research was extensive. According to a statement from his publisher, Knopf Doubleday, Wright conducted over 250 interviews, the majority with present and former Scientologists, read thousands of documents, and worked with a fact checker who sent more than 150 queries to a Church spokesperson; the Church declined repeated opportunities to speak on the record, and the book was vetted by Random House counsel[11](https://abcnews.com/blogs/headlines/2013/01/knopf-doubleday-publishing-group-statement-concerning-lawrence-wrights-book-going-clear). The Church of Scientology published its own rebuttal accusing Wright of relying on hostile former members[12](https://www.lawrencewrightgoingclear.com/). Reviewers generally described the book as even-handed; Michael Kinsley wrote in *The New York Times Book Review* that "that crunching sound you hear is Lawrence Wright bending over backward to be fair to Scientology"[13](https://www.bookcritics.org/2014/03/10/alex-abramovich-on-lawrence-wrights-going-clear/). Wright and director Alex Gibney turned the book into an HBO documentary that won three Emmys, including one for best documentary[2](https://www.lawrencewright.com/about).
## Texas, pandemic, and later books
Wright has returned repeatedly to his home state. *God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State* (2018), parts of which appeared in *The New Yorker*, was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award and mixes political analysis, history, and memoir[3](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/lawrence-wright) • [14](https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/all/god-save-texas-a-journey-into-the-soul-of-the-lone-star-state/). In 2021 he won a third National Magazine Award for "The Plague Year," a feature on the coronavirus pandemic that he expanded into a book of the same title[3](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/lawrence-wright).
His novels include *Noriega: God's Favorite* (2000), about the Panamanian dictator; *The End of October* (2020), a pandemic thriller published in April 2020 that anticipated many of the events unfolding as it appeared; *Mr. Texas* (2023), a send-up of Texas politics that has been optioned as a limited streaming series; and *The Human Scale* (2025), a thriller in which a Palestinian-American FBI agent and an Israeli cop investigate a murder in Gaza[2](https://www.lawrencewright.com/about) • [9](https://www.lawrencewright.com/books). Kirkus Reviews lists a forthcoming nonfiction book, *Redemption: Faith, Justice, and Sisterhood on Death Row* (Knopf, October 20, 2026), about a women's death row outside Waco, Texas, and a breakaway convent banned by the Vatican[15](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lawrence-wright/redemption-3/), and *The New Yorker* lists an essay collection, *Headshots* (2027)[3](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/lawrence-wright).
## Plays and screenplays
Wright's stage work includes two one-man shows he wrote and performed himself. "My Trip to Al-Qaeda" premiered at The New Yorker Festival in 2006, ran Off Broadway, and became an HBO documentary directed by Alex Gibney[3](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/lawrence-wright). "The Human Scale" (2010), about the standoff between Israel and Hamas over the abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, was based on his *New Yorker* article "Captives" and was produced by The Public Theatre, running Off Broadway and at the Cameri Theatre in Tel Aviv[3](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/lawrence-wright). Other plays include "Fallaci," about the journalist Oriana Fallaci, produced at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2013; "Camp David," about the 1978 summit, premiered by Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., in 2014; and "Cleo," which premiered at the Alley Theatre in Houston in 2018[3](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/lawrence-wright).
As a screenwriter he co-wrote the film *The Siege* (1998), starring Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis, and Annette Bening, and wrote the script for the Showtime movie *Noriega: God's Favorite* (2000), starring Bob Hoskins[6](https://www.amacad.org/person/lawrence-wright).
## Recognition
Wright was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021, in the area of journalism, media, and communications[6](https://www.amacad.org/person/lawrence-wright). His publisher describes him as the author of fifteen books[9](https://www.lawrencewright.com/books), while Penguin Random House counts ten books of nonfiction and four novels[16](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/33795/lawrence-wright/), a difference reflecting the counting of co-produced and adapted works. He has lived in Austin since 1980[17](https://www.axios.com/local/austin/2023/02/06/lawrence-wright-austin-new-yorker).
## References
1. [The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, by Lawrence Wright – The Pulitzer Prizes](https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/lawrence-wright)
2. [About | Lawrence Wright](https://www.lawrencewright.com/about)
3. [Lawrence Wright Latest Articles | The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/lawrence-wright)
4. [Wright, Lawrence 1947- (Lawrence George Wright) | Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/wright-lawrence-1947-lawrence-george-wright)
5. [Lawrence Wright - National Book Foundation](https://www.nationalbook.org/people/lawrence-wright/)
6. [Lawrence Wright | American Academy of Arts and Sciences](https://www.amacad.org/person/lawrence-wright)
7. [Lawrence Wright | Kirkus Reviews](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/lawrence-wright/)
8. [The True History Behind The Looming Tower | TIME](https://time.com/5170426/looming-tower-true-story-excerpt/)
9. [Books | Lawrence Wright](https://www.lawrencewright.com/books)
10. [GOING CLEAR | Kirkus Reviews](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lawrence-wright/going-clear/)
11. [Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Statement Concerning Lawrence Wright's Book, 'Going Clear' - ABC News](https://abcnews.com/blogs/headlines/2013/01/knopf-doubleday-publishing-group-statement-concerning-lawrence-wrights-book-going-clear)
12. [Going Clear: How Lawrence Wright Got It So Wrong (Church of Scientology site)](https://www.lawrencewrightgoingclear.com/)
13. [Alex Abramovich on Lawrence Wright's 'Going Clear' - National Book Critics Circle](https://www.bookcritics.org/2014/03/10/alex-abramovich-on-lawrence-wrights-going-clear/)
14. [All Book Marks reviews for God Save Texas](https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/all/god-save-texas-a-journey-into-the-soul-of-the-lone-star-state/)
15. [REDEMPTION | Kirkus Reviews](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lawrence-wright/redemption-3/)
16. [Lawrence Wright | Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/33795/lawrence-wright/)
17. [Lawrence Wright turns gaze on Austin in New Yorker piece - Axios](https://www.axios.com/local/austin/2023/02/06/lawrence-wright-austin-new-yorker)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Broadcasting and journalism › Journalism and press › Journalists and their taxonomy › Surnames Mc to Z*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license