Lara Love Hardin

Lara Love Hardin is a literary agent, bestselling author, and the president of True Literary, a full-service boutique literary agency. With an MFA in creative writing, she has co-authored five New York Times bestsellers, including the #1 New York Times bestseller "Designing Your Life" by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, as well as "The Sun Does Shine", the 2018 Oprah Book Club pick she co-wrote with Anthony Ray Hinton about his 30 years of wrongful imprisonment on Alabama’s death row.

Before founding True Literary, Hardin was the co-CEO of Idea Architects, where she helped shape and amplify transformative stories. Her own memoir, "The Many Lives of Mama Love", was lauded as “courageous and inspiring” by Kirkus Reviews. The book recounts her extraordinary journey from suburban soccer mom to opioid addict, jailhouse shot-caller, and, ultimately, a successful ghostwriter and literary powerhouse. Convicted of 32 felonies, Hardin learned to navigate the harsh realities of incarceration, bringing love and healing to her fellow inmates while rebuilding her life from the ground up after her release.

Through her writing and inspirational talks, Hardin shares her deeply personal story of shame, redemption, and resilience, challenging a system that often defines people by their worst mistakes. She is also the co-founder of The Gemma Project, which provides support and reentry programming for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women. Her work has earned her a Christopher Award for “affirming the highest values of the human spirit,” a nomination for an NAACP Image Award, the Moore Prize in the UK, and a shortlisting for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.

Hardin lives in La Selva Beach, California, with her husband, Sam, three teenagers, three dogs, three cats, 21 chickens, four ducks, and three adult sons who return home for holidays—and big laundry days.