Lyceum Agency - Issues & Ideas - Bestselling Authors

Bestselling Authors

John Berendt
Bestselling Author │ Journalist │ Essayist

Novelist, journalist, and essayist John Berendt has been called “not just an urbane guide to a city’s secrets,” but also “a state-of-the-art weirdo magnet” by Time magazine’s Richard Lacayo, for the real-life eccentric and enthralling characters in his record-breaking, Pulitzer-Prize nominated Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and The City of Falling Angels. Berendt’s talent for unraveling cultural, literary, and historical intrigues has served him well as a journalist, as editor of New York magazine (1977-1979), as a columnist for Esquire (1982-1994), and in his current contributions to national magazines and newspapers.

Read More >

Katherine Boo

Bestselling Author │ Journalist │ Pulitzer Prize Winner

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has devoted much of her career to writing about poverty here and abroad. A finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize and the recipient of the 2012 National Book Award for Nonfiction, her bestseller Behind the Beautiful Forevers is a gripping narrative account of life in a Mumbai slum. A landmark work of narrative nonfiction that tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving toward a better life in one of the 21st century’s great, unequal cities. In this brilliantly written, fast-paced book, based on three years of uncompromising reporting, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human. With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects human beings to one another in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century’s hidden worlds, and into the lives of people impossible to forget.

Read More >

Vikram Chandra
Bestselling Author │ Novelist │ Short Story Writer

Vikram Chandra has been called “that rare thing, a writer who is simultaneously a master story-teller and a master stylist” (The Spectator). Chandra's most recent novel, Sacred Games (2006), is a sprawling tale of Mumbai's phantasmagoric criminal underworld and the unforgettable figures who populate it. In Sacred Games, Chandra introduces the reader to Sartaj Singh, Mumbai's only Sikh police inspector, and Ganesh Gaitonde, a mesmerizing mob boss who “lulls the reader with his intuitive understanding of human nature” (Publisher's Weekly). Chandra is also the author of a short-story collection, Love and Longing in Bombay (1997), which The New York Times Book Review called “a considerable achievement, one in which the author marries his storytelling prowess to a profound understanding of India's ageless and ever-changing society.” Chandra's first novel, Red Earth and Pouring Rain, won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book. Chandra has also been honored with the David Higham Price, the Eurasia Region Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and numerous other awards. A graduate of Pomona College and the University of Houston, Chandra lives in Mumbai and California, where he teaches creative writing at UC Berkeley.

Read More >

Justin Cronin
Bestselling Author │ Novelist

Justin Cronin, author of the bestselling, genre-bending novels The Passage and The Twelve, has been called “an unlikely heir to America's genre-fiction throne” (New York Times). A graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop, Cronin won a PEN/Hemingway Award for his book Mary and O'Neil (2001). Both Mary and O'Neil and his 2004 novel The Summer Guest exemplify the kind of delicate yet deliberate writing and memorable character portraits that readers have come to expect from award-winning literary fiction. With 2010's The Passage, however, Cronin turned to darker, more gripping fare: a postapocalyptic world plagued by vampires whose supernatural skills result from a Bolivian virus gone badly awry. In contrast to Cronin's first two novels, the New York Times reports, “The Passage and The Twelve vibrate with a different kind of energy: louder, wilder, more unkempt.” The Twelve, the sequel to The Passage, was released in 2012. The third book in the trilogy, City of Mirrors, is slated for publication in 2014. Cronin makes his home in Houston, Texas, where he taught for more than a decade at Rice University.

Dr. Brian Fagan
Author │ Archaeologist │ Climate Change Historian

A leading authority on the complex relationships between the environment, climate change, and human society, Fagan places today’s highly publicized climate crisis in a crucial historical context. In bestselling books like The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations and Elixir: Humans and the History of Water, Fagan describes how humans have adapted to environmental change over the eons. His next book, The Attacking Ocean: The Past, Present and Future of Rising Sea Levels (2013), will show how societies of the past adapted to rising waters and how the rising sea levels of today impact the lives of millions of city dwellers and farmers around the world. In addition to climate change and humanity’s relationship to natural resources, Dr. Fagan’s lecture repertoire also includes natural history and the development of human society. Fagan is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he has taught since 1967.

Selected Books: The Attacking Ocean, Elixir, The Great Warming

Read More >

Richard Ford
Novelist │ Short Story Writer │ Pulitzer Prize Winner

Ford's is a distinctive southern voice, built on the tradition of Mark Twain, Sherwood Anderson, and William Faulkner. His seven novels (including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Independence Day, The Sportswriter and The Lay of the Land) and three story collections are “filled with breathing characters and genius-crafted dialogue” (Houston Chronicle). The first author to simultaneously win the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award, Ford is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and has taught at Princeton, Harvard, Williams, Northwestern, and Ole Miss. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Esquire, Granta, Le Monde, and the New Yorker. His latest novel, Canada, was one of the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2012 and the Washington Post’s Best Books of 2012.

Read More >

Connie May Fowler
Bestselling Author │ Novelist │ Memoirist

Set in the lush landscape of her native South, Fowler’s gritty fiction (The Problem with Murmer Lee, Before Women Had Wings) examines the conflict between traditional and contemporary cultures and how people navigate difficult relationships. Fowler is also the author of the bestselling memoir When Katie Wakes, and her novel Before Women Had Wings was purchased by Oprah Winfrey and made into an Emmy Award-winning movie. She has been a professor of creative writing, and her essays have appeared in the New York Times, the London Times, the International Herald Tribune, and elsewhere. Her latest novel, How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly, is “a huge-hearted, ebullient novel,” populated with “an exuberant cast of unruly characters”.

Read More >

Elizabeth Gilbert
Bestselling Author │ Short Story Writer │ Memoirist

Annie Proulx has called her “a writer of incandescent talent.” The author of 2006's runaway bestseller Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert is unquestionably one of her generation's most beloved memoirists. Eat, Pray, Love, which has sold more than ten million copies worldwide, is Gilbert's memoir of soul-searching and international exploration in the wake of her devastating divorce. Gilbert is a distinguished journalist who began her career writing for Harper's Bazaar, Spin, the New York Times Magazine, and GQ. In 2002, her book The Last American Man was a Finalist for the National Book Award. Committed, the deeply satisfying follow-up to Eat, Pray, Love, tells the story of Gilbert's unexpected plunge into second marriage—this time to Felipe, the man with whom she falls in love at the end of Eat, Pray, Love. Part memoir, part meditation on marriage as a sociohistorical institution, Committed is rich with Gilbert's bright, engaging voice and characteristic playful humor. Gilbert recently finished a novel, The Signature of All Things, to be published in the fall of 2013.

Selected Books: The Last American Man, Eat Pray Love, Committed

Read More >

Robert Greene
Bestselling Author │ Cultural Theorist │ Strategist

Law 3—CONCEAL YOUR INTENTIONS

Law 14—POSE AS A FRIEND, WORK AS A SPY

Law 15—CRUSH YOUR ENEMY TOTALLY

Robert Greene is not a man who preaches random acts of kindness. In fact, the release of his book The 48 Laws of Power prompted New York Magazine to declare, “Machiavelli has a new rival. And Sun Tzu better watch his back.” Spending eleven weeks on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list, The 48 Laws of Power sent shockwaves through the business world, Hollywood, Washington, and even the hip-hop music industry. Not only has Greene been called in to Robert Greenepersonally advise industry leaders such as famed film and TV producer Brian Grazer and American Apparel CEO Dov Charney, but he was also asked to collaborate on a business book with the multi-platinum rapper 50 Cent. Rap producer and filmmaker Quincy “QD3” Jones III has even begun working on a full-length documentary about The 48 Laws of Power and its influence on the music industry.

Read More >

Alice Hoffman
Bestselling Author │ Novelist │ Short Story Writer

Bestselling author of The Third Angel, Practical Magic, and Here on Earth (a 1998 Oprah Book Club selection) and many other titles, Hoffman is also a beloved young adult author. Her recent YA books include The Green Witch and Incantation, which tells the story of the persecution of Jews in medieval Spain. Several of her books have been adapted into films, including Practical Magic and Aquamarine. Her latest bestselling novel, The Dovekeepers, an epic tale that recounts the fall of Masada, was described by Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison as “beautiful, harrowing, a major contribution to twenty-first-century literature.” Due out in October 2013, Survival Lessons is a short inspirational and insightful guide to surviving cancer (or life’s other big challenges). She is also working on a new novel, The Museum of Extraordinary Things, to be published in 2014.

Read More >

A.M. Homes
Novelist │ Memoirist │ Essayist

The critically acclaimed and controversial author of Music for Torching, The End of Alice, and This Book Will Save Your Life turned inward with her next book, her 2007 memoir The Mistress’s Daughter. In it,she chronicled her experiences as an adoptee and the painful and confusing issues she confronted while uncovering her heritage and identity. Homes’ latest novel, May We Be Forgiven, was described as “not just one of the best novels of the past few years, [but] also the most deeply, painfully American” by NPR. Homes is a frequent contributor to ArtForum, Harper’s, Granta, and the New Yorker.

Read More >

Sue Monk Kidd
Bestselling Author │ Novelist │ Essayist

Novelist and essayist Sue Monk Kidd gained fame with her debut novel, The Secret Life of Bees, a blockbuster bestseller which is considered a modern classic (and which was adapted into a feature film in 2008). She is also the author of The Mermaid Chair and, more recently, an inspiring memoir, Traveling With Pomegranates, which she wrote with her daughter. Ms. Kidd is also highly regarded for her groundbreaking work in the field of feminine spirituality and feminist theology (God’s Joyful Surprise, When the Heart Waits, and Dance of the Dissident Daughter). Her inspirational lectures explore the themes and meanings of her work; the impetus for her stories and characters; “Southern-ness” in literature; and the intersection of writing, creativity, and soul. She is currently at work on her next novel.

Selected Books: The Secret Life of Bees, The Mermaid Chair

Read More >

Tracy Kidder
Bestselling Author │ Journalist │ Essayist

Kidder’s exceptional and prolific writing career took off in 1983 with The Soul of a New Machine, a book celebrated for its insight into the world of high-tech corporate America that earned him a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. Other bestselling works include House, Among Schoolchildren, Old Friends, and Home Town. Regarded as a master of nonfiction narrative, Kidder has enjoyed enormous success with Mountains Beyond Mountains and Strength in What Remains, which have been extremely popular with campus and community Common Read programs. Mountains tells the story of charismatic humanitarian Dr. Paul Farmer and his efforts to address the global health crises of AIDS and TB. Strength chronicles the tale of a young medical student, Deo, who survives the genocide in Burundi and emigrates to the U.S. to find redemption through education and service to others. Both books have been enormously popular First Year Experience/Common Read selections and are masterful accounts of real people who have prevailed against seemingly impossible circumstances to better our world. Tracy Kidder’s writing has appeared in numerous periodicals over the years, including the Atlantic, the New Yorker, Granta, and the New York Times. His newest book, Good Prose, is a guide to the craft of nonfiction, written with his long-time editor Richard Todd.

Selected Books: Mountains Beyond Mountains, The Strength in What Remains, The Soul of a New Machine

Read More >

Dr. Peter Kramer, MD
Bestselling Author │ Psychiatrist │ Novelist

Described by the New York Times as “possibly the best known psychiatrist in America,” Dr. Kramer is a widely sought-after expert on the human mind, brain, and behavior. In addition to his bestselling books Against Depression and Listening to Prozac, he is known for his several years as host of The Infinite Mind, an award-winning radio show that aired on more than 200 public radio stations across the U.S. and Canada. With drama, wit, and a breadth of learning that extends from Freud to neurobiology to the novels of Mark Twain and Virginia Woolf, Dr. Kramer allows us to see how psychiatry—that mystifying amalgam of science, art and simple empathy—works. His latest book is Freud: Inventor of the Modern Mind. He has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, Charlie Rose, Fresh Air, and Oprah. He has written extensively for the popular press, most notably for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Times Literary Supplement, and U.S. News & World Report, in addition to his regular column in Psychiatric Times. Kramer has an MD from Harvard University and is a professor at Brown University. He is currently at work on a new book.

Read More >

Ursula K. Le Guin
Bestselling Author │ Novelist │ Poet │ Essayist

Ursula K. Le Guin has been called “The Queen Mother of Science Fiction.” Over her long and illustrious career, she has published scores of novels, short stories, poems, and essays, and has received numerous awards, including the Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, and the PEN-Malamud. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia; an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl; and The Wild Girls, but she is perhaps best-loved for her YA series, The Earthsea Cycle, and her visionary and now-classic works of science fiction (The Disposessed, The Lathe of Heaven, and The Left Hand of Darkness). Her latest publication is Finding My Elegy: New and Selected Poems.

Read More >

Jonathan Lethem
Bestselling Author │ Novelist │ Essayist

Bestselling novelist and 2005 MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant recipient Jonathan Lethem has been lauded for his genre-bending fiction and his incisive essays. Raised as the child of a bohemian New York Jewish mother and a “Midwestern-Protestant-nothing” father, Lethem says, “The real religion in our house...was a combination of art and protest and utopian internationalist sentiment.” His books include Chronic City, Motherless Brooklyn (for which he won the National Book Critics Circle Award), The Fortress of Solitude, and Men and Cartoons, among others. A collection of his essays, The Ecstasy of Influence, was published in 2011 and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His writings have appeared in Harper’s, Rolling Stone, Esquire, and the New Yorker. Lethem is currently the second Roy E. Disney Chair in Creative Writing at Pomona College, succeeding David Foster Wallace. His next novel, Dissident Gardens, a family epic set in Queens, NY, will be published in fall 2013.

Read More >

Christopher Phillips
Bestselling Author │ Founder, Constitution & Socrates Cafés │ Social Entrepreneur

Christopher Phillips, the New York Times bestselling author of Socrates Café, Six Questions of Socrates, and Socrates in Love, has a passion for inquiry. A foremost specialist in the Socratic Method, he reminds us that we ought to ask questions—as Socrates put it in Plato’s The Republic, “about the way one should live.” Phillips’s inquiries reveal surprising points of intersection between classical philosophy, modern life, and the intellectual richness of diverse societies. Energized by the initial optimism surrounding Obama’s presidency and concerned with the increasingly fierce nature of the partisanship infecting Congress, Phillips’s latest project is Constitution Café, an effort to engage everyday Americans in constructive dialogue and debate about the nature of our government, the meaning of citizenship, and our most important political documents. Phillips has taught at New York University and is the founder and executive director of the Constitution Café and the Society for Philosophical Inquiry (SPI).

–Los Angeles Times

Christopher Phillips has a passion for inquiry. A foremost specialist in the Socratic Method, he reminds us that we ought to ask questions – “not about any chance question,” as Socrates put it in Plato’s Republic, “but about the way one should live.”

Selected Books: Constitution Café, Six Questions of Socrates, Socrates Café.

Read More >

Julie Powell
Bestselling Author │ Memoirist │ Blogger

When Julie Powell decided to cook all 524 recipes of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year, she was looking for an escape from a frustrating, unfulfilling life. From this experiment came the bestselling book Julie & Julia, in which Powell recounts her efforts—both successful and unsuccessful, frustrating and amusing—to master Julia Child’s lessons in gastronomy as well as to find inspiration in her idol’s persistence and philosophical outlook on life. The book was adapted into a feature film directed by Nora Ephron and starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, allowing the story to delight an even wider audience. Praised for her piquant writing style, Powell entertains readers with humor and gusto as she weaves life lessons into her musings on food, cooking, career, and life. Julie Powell continues her culinary adventures and struggles to find contentment in her second memoir, Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession. In her lectures she speaks with wit, candor, and insight about food, personal fulfillment, and marriage and relationships, as well as a variety of life’s other “minor” obsessions.

Read More >

Rebecca Skloot
Bestselling Author │ Journalist

Bestselling author Rebecca Skloot spent over ten years doggedly uncovering the truth about the life, death and ultimate "immortality" of a poor black tobacco farmer named Henrietta Lacks. On a tumultuous educational path until a community college biology instructor utter the words "Henrietta Lacks," Skloot—with remarkable focus and tenacity—set off on a trajectory that would shine the national spotlight on both and become the phenomenal book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Read More >

Paul Theroux
Novelist │ Travel Writer │ Short Story Writer │ Critic

Half a lifetime ago, Paul Theroux virtually invented the modern travel narrative by recounting his grand tour by train through Asia. In the three decades since, the world he recorded in The Great Railway Bazaar (1975) has undergone phenomenal change, and no one has better captured the texture, sights, smells, and sounds of that changing landscape. Theroux’s many novels include Picture Palace, The Mosquito Coast, Hotel Honolulu, Blinding Light and his latest, The Lower River. His highly acclaimed travel books include Riding the Iron Rooster, Dark Star Safari, and Ghost Train to the Eastern Star. He is also the author The Tao Of Travel, a compendium of passages by his favorite historical and contemporary travel writers. Theroux's stories and essays appear regularly in a variety of magazines, including Time, Harper’s, Atlantic Monthly, the New Yorker, Talk, GQ, and Esquire.

Read More >

Norah Vincent
Bestselling Author │ Cultural Critic │ Journalist

Called “the new Steinem” by William Safire, Norah Vincent took a leave from writing her nationally syndicated political opinion columns in order to write her New York Times bestseller Self-Made Man, the story of a woman living, working, and dating in drag as a man. Narrating her journey with exquisite insight, empathy, and humor, Vincent ponders the many remarkable mysteries of gender identity as she explores firsthand who men really are when women aren’t around. Her next work of nonfiction,Voluntary Madness, is a riveting work that exposes the state of mental healthcare in America from the inside out. Vincent’s newest book, a searing novel entitled Thy Neighbor was published in fall 2012.

Selected Books: Self-Made Man, Voluntary Madness, Thy Neighbor

Read More >