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. Her 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.
In her keynotes, 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.
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.
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
Acclaimed writer Marie Arana provides a comprehensive history of Latino communities in the U.S. that was long overdue. . . . She achieves a feat of exploration, explanation, storytelling and preservation that is thorough, accessible and necessary.”
– Karla J. Strand, Ms. Magazine
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
Only Marie Arana could hold this infinitely complex, endlessly shifting subject in her mind, and then write a book that explains it all in language that is at the same time dazzlingly vibrant and surgically precise. Latinoland doesn’t just speak, it sings.”
– Candice Millard, author of River of the Gods and The River of Doubt
An impressively wide-ranging overview of the turbulent history of Latine people in America…Ably blends historical research with insightful anecdotes…Arana has a fascinating, complex, and deeply personal story to tell, and she narrates it with abundant verve and intelligence.”
– Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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
Through the power and beauty of her writing, Arana brings extraordinary clarity to one of the most complex regions of the world. I have never before read a book of such astonishing breadth and intricate depth, capturing both the magnificent sweep of history and the gripping immediacy of journalism. The stories she tells will break your heart and blow your mind, but they will also give you a much clearer understanding of Latin America and a deep sense of wonder at the strength and resilience of its people.”
– Candice Millard, author of Hero of the Empire
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
Peruvian-born author Marie Arana takes us directly to the mysterious and misunderstood center of Latin America in her latest book…The sweep is enormous and complex, but Arana’s storytelling and her obvious compassion guide us through the past millennium as an absorbing, even poignant, kaleidoscopic journey to places it behooves us all to comprehend.”
– Yvette Benavides, San Antonio News-Express
Arana’s fluency in Latin American history blossoms in this unique and arresting inquiry into three ‘crucibles’ which have shaped Latin American life for centuries…In this masterwork of exploration, connection, and analysis, Arana offers a fresh, gripping, and redefining perspective on a vital and magnificent region betrayed by toxic greed and vicious tyranny.”
– Booklist (starred review)
The Peruvian-born author delves into the tripartite crux of Latin American exploitation by the Western powers…[An] impressively concise yet comprehensive history. A profoundly moving and relevant work that provides new ways of thinking about the ‘discovery of America.’”
– Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
A sweeping history of Latin America…As captivating as it is comprehensive. It’s a marvel for covering so much ground.”– Publishers Weekly
Beautifully written, meticulously researched…A must-read for anyone struggling to understand Latin America’s tumultuous past and our fraught relationship with our southern neighbors. Arana has done us a service with her clear, even-handed treatment of the subject.”
– Bárbara Mujica, Washington Independent Review of Books
In the Media
“America’s Largest Minority Is Also Its Most Misunderstood”
March 18, 2024
“A History of Latin America Embodied in ‘Silver, Sword, and Stone’”
August 27, 2019
“‘Pleasure, Obligation, Curiosity, Inspiration’: What’s on Marie Arana’s Nightstand”
August 15, 2019
“What do ‘Latino voters’ want? The GOP thinks it knows.”
February 13, 2024
“How the politically diverse Latino community can help moderate U.S. polarization”
March 15, 2024
“In ‘Silver, Sword And Stone,’ Desire For Treasure, Power And Control Unites A Region”
August 27, 2019
