Mary Ann Lamb (3 December 1764 – 20 May 1847), was an English writer. She is best known for the collaboration with her brother
Charles on the collection
Tales from Shakespeare. Lamb suffered from mental illness, and in 1796 she stabbed her mother to death during a mental breakdown. She was confined to mental facilities off and on for most of her life. She and Charles presided over a literary circle in London that included the poets
William Wordsworth and
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, among others.