About the Author
Marie Arana is a Peruvian-American author and inaugural Literary Director of the Library of Congress. Some of her most recent positions have been Director of the National Book Festival, Chair of the John W. Kluge Center’s Cultures of the Countries of the South, and Writer at Large for The Washington Post. She received the 2020 literary award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, the 2024 Americas Leadership Award from Inter-American Dialogue, and has written introductions for numerous works on Latin America, Hispanic identity, and biculturalism.
Her most recent book, Latinoland, is an exceptional, all-encompassing overview of the American Latino population, drawn from hundreds of interviews and prodigious research that emphasizes the diversity and little-known history of our largest and fastest-growing minority. She is also the author of Bolívar: American Liberator, which won the 2014 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Marie Arana’s sweeping history of Latin America, Silver, Sword, and Stone, was named Best Nonfiction Book of 2019 by the American Library Association, and was shortlisted for the 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medal of Excellence. American Chica, her memoir, was a finalist for the 2001 National Book Award, and she has also written two novels set in South America—<Cellophane and Lima Nights.
Alongside Peter Slen, Marie Arana will serve as senior executive producer of America’s Book Club hosted by C-SPAN. The series will be hosted by David Rubenstein and feature thought-provoking conversations with prominent authors, policymakers, innovators, and cultural figures to explore the ideas that shaped America’s past, challenge the nation’s present, and inspire our future. Marie Arana and Peter Slen will lead an experienced team of journalists and producers to bring the program to life.
In her keynotes, Marie Arana mixes extensive historical research with her real-life experiences as the daughter of an American mother and a Peruvian father who immigrated to the US at age nine. She offers surprising details about the history of this country and shines a bright light on the significance of our Latino demographic. Connecting with her audiences through her story of “straddling two worlds,” her lectures are nuanced and comprehensive, celebrating the evolution and resilience of a unique Latino culture in America.
Marie Arana has been a judge and chair for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award as well as for the National Book Critics Circle. She has sat on the boards of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists as well the Authors Guild, PEN America, PEN Faulkner, and the American Writers Museum. Along with The Washington Post, she has written for The New York Times, National Geographic, Time Magazine, The International Herald Tribune, Spain’s El País, Colombia’s El Tiempo, and Peru’s El Comercio, among many other publications. She completed her BA in Russian Language and Literature at Northwestern University, her MA in Linguistics and Sociolinguistics at Hong Kong University, and earned a certificate of scholarship (Mandarin language) at Yale University in China.
She currently lives in Washington D.C. and Lima, Peru, with her husband. She has two children, as well as two stepchildren.
Contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau to book Marie Arana for speaking events as a keynote speaker. Use the Request a Speaker form or email info@simonspeakers.com to speak to Marie Arana’s booking agent to request her speaking fee, booking information, and availability.
Raves and Reviews
Praise for Latinoland:
LatinoLand aims to show that Latinos are as essential to the fabric of America as everyone else is, and it does so by deconstructing the most pervasive stereotypes around them.”
—Graciela Mochkofsky, The New Yorker
Arana [is] a keen observer of everything that the growth of Latino communities, and the outpouring of works by and about Latinos, has meant for the United States…[Her] beautifully written narrative, which washes over readers in a series of portraits, rather than as one continuous story, is a perfect representation of Latino diversity.”
—Geraldo Cadava, The Washington Post
What brings [LATINOLAND] to life is the richness of voices and perspectives… Arana covers serious ground here in brisk, accessible prose.”
—Miguel Salazar, The New York Times
Marie Arana has accomplished the herculean task of defining us as a community, meticulously separating the threads that unite as well as divide us. LatinoLand is a fascinating introduction for those who need to know us. And—surprise—an especially illuminating read for those of us who thought we knew ourselves.”
—Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street and Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories
As a Latina/Latinx/Hispanic/Dominican-America who has lived through six decades of identity iterations and labels on USA soil, I think I know myself and my story pretty well, but Marie Arana’s magisterial Latinoland has enlarged my understanding, not just of myself, but of so many of us included under the one identity umbrella of Latinos. Comprehensive, thoroughly researched, balanced, generous and penetrating, Latinoland is destined to become the text we all turn and return to in understanding not just this country but our hemisphere.”
—Julia Alvarez, author of How the García Girls Lost Their Accents and Afterlife
In a just world Marie Arana would be everyone’s favorite writer and her monumental LatinoLand would be everyone’s book of the year. Arana has achieved the impossible – she has produced a searching, moving portrait of one of the most misunderstood and singularly important communities in our country. LatinoLand is indispensable, unforgettable. A work of prophecy, sympathy and courage.”
—Junot Díaz, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Unfolding across four hemispheres and dozens of nations, Marie Arana’s new book is a sweeping, comprehensive, and impassioned introduction to the centuries of history and activism that have given us the term ‘Latino.’”
—Héctor Tobar, author of Our Migrant Souls
Praise for Silver, Sword, and Stone:
Marie Arana’s monumental, stupendous new history of Latin America, Silver Sword, and Stone, is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand this hemisphere and our current crises.”
—Julia Alvarez, author of In the Time of the Butterflies
Meticulously researched, the book’s greatest strengths are the power of its epic narrative, the beauty of its prose and its rich portrayals of character…Arana’s strength is the power and passion of her storytelling, and her explanation of what has shaped Latin America over the past half-millennium has the ring of truth…[A] marvelous book.”
—Tom Gjelten, The Washington Post
Silver, Sword, and Stone, as Arana points out, is not a straightforward history of Latin America. Neither is it journalism. Rather, it’s a hybrid, combining learned historical analysis with in-depth reporting and political commentary…[And] an informed and authoritative voice, one that deserves a wide audience.”
—Álvaro Enrigue, The New York Times
Gets at the identity conundrum of Latin America with storytelling that is both clear-eyed and evocative…The sweep and soar of her narrative recalls Victor Hugo…Arana gives us an epic story of stories — of regions conjoined by desire for treasure, power and control, and of the emotional mortar which binds people together through endurance.”
—Marcela Davison Aviles, NPR.org
An elegant and incisive writer and observer, Marie Arana has given us a thoughtful and revealing portrait of the fabled—and too-little-understood—world of Latin America. Combining history with contemporary reportage, Silver, Sword & Stone is compelling reading.”
—Jon Meacham, author of The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels
Like a condor soaring above the Andes, Marie Arana gives a sweeping overview of Latin American history. History is usually written by the winners, but this book throbs with passion for the victims and underdogs. It also celebrates the cultural triumphs, exuberance and generosity that make Latin America so lovable.”
—John Hemming, author of The Conquest of the Incas
To trace the soul of a continent is an extraordinary feat, and Marie Arana does it with scholarly precision, moral thoroughness and elegance of style. For anyone interested in understanding—really understanding—what Latin America is and where it comes from, Silver, Sword and Stone has to be the first step.”
—Juan Gabriel Vásquez, author of The Sound of Things Falling
In the Media
“America’s Largest Minority Is Also Its Most Misunderstood”
“A History of Latin America Embodied in ‘Silver, Sword, and Stone’”
“‘Pleasure, Obligation, Curiosity, Inspiration’: What’s on Marie Arana’s Nightstand”
“How the politically diverse Latino community can help moderate U.S. polarization”
“In ‘Silver, Sword And Stone,’ Desire For Treasure, Power And Control Unites A Region”
