Scholars Council, 2009 - present
More about the Scholars Council

Distiguished Visiting Scholar, 2009. Read press release

Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South, 2015. Read press release

Blog: “Inquiring Minds: An Interview with Marie Arana”

MARIE ARANA is a writer-at-large for the Washington Post, and former editor-in-chief of Book World, the literary review section of the Washington Post. Arana has written several books. Her most recent is "Bolívar: An American Liberator," a biography of Simon Bolívar researched and written while in residence at the Kluge Center. The book was awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for best biography of 2013. Her previous works include "Lima Nights," a novel published in January 2009, and "Cellophane," a satirical novel set in the Peruvian Amazon, published in 2006 and a finalist for the John Sargent First Novel Prize. In 2001, she released a memoir about her bicultural childhood, "American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood," which was a finalist for the 2001 National Book Award, as well as the PEN/Memoir Award. She has written introductions for many books, among them a National Geographic book of aerial photographs of South America, "Through the Eyes of the Condor," and, more recently, a book about Machu Picchu, "Stone Offerings."

Selected Publications

• "Bolívar: An American Liberator" (2013) - researched and written at the Kluge Center
• "Lima Nights" (2009)
• "Cellophane" (2006)
• "American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood" (2001)

Events

• "#ScholarFest: Life/Past: How We Write About Those Who Came Before Us" (Jun. 11, 2015)
• Lecture: "Bolivar: An American Liberator" (Jun. 6, 2013) | NPR interview
• First International Summit of the Book (Dec. 6-7, 2012)
• "Celebration of the 400th Anniversary of The Royal Commentaries of the Inca" (Nov. 19, 2009)