Lara Love Hardin: podcast appearances and interviews

Lara Love Hardin is an American literary agent, author, and prison reform advocate. She is the president of True Literary Agency and has authored the memoir The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing. Published in 2023, the memoir was named a 2024 Oprah's Book Club pick and a New York Times bestseller. Hardin's career includes contributing to five New York Times bestselling books, among them Designing Your Life and The Sun Does Shine, the latter of which was a 2018 Oprah's Book Club selection co-authored with Anthony Ray Hinton about his wrongful incarceration on Alabama's death row. In recognition of her work, she received a Christopher Award in 2019 for affirming the highest values of the human spirit. Her professional journey was marked by personal challenges when she was arrested in 2008 on multiple counts of identity theft while battling heroin addiction. Facing potential prison time of up to 27 years, she ultimately served ten months in county jail after entering a plea deal. Following her release, she began working at a literary agency. Beyond her writing and editing career, Hardin is a prison reform advocate and co-founder of The Gemma Project, an organization dedicated to serving incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women. Her experiences have informed her advocacy efforts, and her work has garnered nominations for an NAACP Image Award and a short-listing for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.