Marie Arana — SPARQNOW

At-a-Glance

Received a lifetime award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Serves as the inaugural Literary Director at the Library of Congress.
Authored "Bolívar: American Liberator" (2013), which won the 2014 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography.
Authored "American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood" (2001), a finalist for the National Book Award.
Served as editor-in-chief of "Book World," the book review section of The Washington Post, for over a decade.
Holds a B.A. in Russian from Northwestern University, an M.A. in linguistics from Hong Kong University, and a certificate of scholarship from Yale University in China.
Is President of the Literary Society of Washington and a member of the Board of Trustees of PEN America.

Biography

Marie Arana is a Peruvian American author, editor, journalist, and critic, currently serving as the inaugural Literary Director of the Library of Congress. Born in Lima, Peru, she moved to Summit, New Jersey, at age nine. She began her career in book publishing, holding positions as vice president and senior editor at Harcourt Brace and Simon & Schuster.

Arana earned a B.A. in Russian from Northwestern University, an M.