Lauren Kessler

Who is Lauren Kessler?

Lauren Kessler is an American author, as well as Director of the Literary Nonfiction Program and Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon.

Kessler is the author of five works of narrative nonfiction including Dancing with Rose, which won the Pacific Northwest Book Award and was named a Best Book of 2007 by Library Journal. Her Oregon Book Award-winning book, Stubborn Twig, was chosen to be the book all Oregon reads in celebration of the state’s 150th birthday. She is also author of Washington Post best-seller Clever Girl: Elizabeth Bentley, the Spy Who Ushered in the McCarthy Era, a biography of Elizabeth Bentley, and the Los Angeles Times best-seller and Oregon Book Award finalist The Happy Bottom Riding Club, a biography of aviator Florence Pancho Barnes. David Letterman, in playful competition with Oprah, chose The Happy Bottom Riding Club as the first book for “Dave’s Book Club.” Kessler appeared on his show twice.

Kessler's journalism and essays have appeared in The New York Times magazine, The Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, O magazine, newsweek.com, Salon, The Nation and Oregon Quarterly.