After many years as a trial and appellate lawyer, David O. Stewart became a bestselling writer of history and historical fiction. His first novel, The Lincoln Deception, about the John Wilkes Booth conspiracy, was called the best historical novel of 2013 by Bloomberg View. Sequels include The Paris Deception, set at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, and The Babe Ruth Deception, which follows Babe’s first two years with the Yankees. Stewart’s histories explore the writing of the Constitution, the gifts of James Madison, the western expedition and treason trial of Aaron Burr, and the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. In February 2021, Dutton published Stewart’s George Washington: The Political Rise of America’s Founding Father.

Marie Arana is a Peruvian American author of nonfiction and fiction, as well as the inaugural literary director of the Library of Congress. She is the recipient of a 2020 literary award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. Among her recent positions are director of the National Book Festival, the John W. Kluge Center’s chair of the Cultures of the Countries of the South, and writer at large for the Washington Post. For many years, she was editor-in-chief of the Washington Post’s Book World. 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. Her biography of Simón Bolívar won the 2014 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Marie’s memoir, American Chica, was a finalist for the 2001 National Book Award. She has also published two prizewinning novels, Cellophane and Lima Nights.

Hosted by Politics and Prose in Washington, DC. Click here to register for the virtual event!