Lawrence Osborne

Lawrence Osborne (born 1958) is a British novelist and journalist who is currently residing in Bangkok. Osborne was educated at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and at Harvard University, and has since led a nomadic life, residing for years in Poland, France, Italy, Morocco, the United States, Mexico, Thailand, and Istanbul.

Osborne has been published widely as a long-form journalist in the United States, most notably in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Gourmet, Salon, Playboy, and Condé Nast Traveler. His writings about wine and spirits appeared in a regular column called Cellar in Men's Vogue. He has also been an occasional Op-Ed columnist at Forbes.com and is a frequent contributor to Newsweek International, The Daily Beast, and The Wall Street Journal Magazine. His feature for Playboy, "Getting a Drink in Islamabad", won a 2011 Thomas Lowell Award for Travel Journalism.

He is the author of the novel Ania Malina; a book about Paris, Paris Dreambook; the essay collection The Poisoned Embrace; a controversial book about autism called American Normal: The Hidden World of Asperger Syndrome; and three subsequent travel books published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux between 2004 and 2009: a book about wine, The Accidental Connoisseur; The Naked Tourist; and an account of expatriate life in Bangkok called Bangkok Days. His short stories have appeared in many American magazines. His story "Volcano", originally published in Tin House, was selected for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories 2012. His novel The Forgiven was published in 2012 to widespread acclaim. It was selected by The Economist as one of the Best Books of the Year for 2012.

Osborne's next book, The Wet and the Dry, a travelogue about Islam and alcohol, was published in 2013. It was included in the Top 10 Books of 2013 by The New York Times Book Review critic, Dwight Garner.