Marianne Williamson is an internationally acclaimed spiritual author and lecturer. Six of her ten published books have been New York Times Best Sellers. Four of these have been #1 New York Times Best Sellers. A Return to Love is considered a must-read of The New Spirituality. A paragraph from that book, beginning “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure...” – often misattributed to Nelson Mandela’s Inaugural address – is considered an anthem for a contemporary generation of seekers. Marianne’s latest New York Times Best Seller is “A Course in Weight Loss: 21 Spiritual Lessons for Surrendering Your Weight Forever. A Course in Weight Loss” was selected by Oprah to be one of her Favorite Things in 2010.
Marianne’s other books include The Age of Miracles, Everyday Grace, A Woman’s Worth, Illuminata, Healing the Soul of America and The Gift of Change.
She has been a popular guest on television programs such as Oprah, Larry King Live, Good Morning America and Charlie Rose.
Marianne is a native of Houston, Texas. In 1989, she founded Project Angel Food, a meals-on-wheels program that serves homebound people with AIDS in the Los Angeles area. Today, Project Angel Food serves over 1,000 people daily.
In December 2006, a NEWSWEEK magazine poll named Marianne Williamson one of the fifty most influential baby boomers. According to Time magazine, “Yoga, the Cabala and Marianne Williamson have been taken up by those seeking a relationship with God that is not strictly tethered to Christianity.”
As a minister in the Unity Church,Williamson’s philosophy adopts a New Thought approach to spirituality. She incorporates both established Christianity and Judaismwith statements such as “You’ve committed no sins, just mistakes.” She also promotes tenets of Zen Buddhism such as the belief that one must empty his or her mind through enlightenment to truly find God.
She gained early attention discussing A Course in Miracles with Oprah Winfrey. She credits her claimed insight to Oprah Winfrey, who invited Williamson to The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss her first book A Return to Love.
A notable quote of hers is, “In every community there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart there is the power to do it.”