May 23, 2013 Author Marie Arana to Discuss “Bolívar: American Liberator,” June 6

Marie Arana, an author and journalist, will discuss the adventurous and volatile life of Simón Bolívar, who famously liberated much of Latin America from Spain, in a lecture at the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress.

Arana will talk about her new book “Bolívar: American Liberator” at 4 p.m. on Thursday, June 6 in Room 119 on the first floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C. The talk is free and open to the public. No tickets are needed. A book signing will follow.

Arana conducted much of her primary research for the book while she was a distinguished visiting scholar at the Kluge Center, 2009-2010. Relying on a vast array of primary resources in numerous languages, Arana reconstructs Bolívar’s dramatic military, political and personal life. Her biography of Bolívar, which combines scholarly accuracy with narrative flair, is one of few written in English.

Arana is the author of several books, including the novels “Lima Nights” (2009) and “Cellophane” (2006), as well as her memoir, “American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood,” which was a finalist for the 2001 National Book Award and the PEN/Memoir Award.

From 1999 to 2008, Arana was editor-in-chief of Book World, the literary section of The Washington Post. She is currently a writer-at-large for the Post, a guest columnist on Latin American affairs for The New York Times and a senior consultant on Latin American affairs to Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.

Arana sits on the Scholars Council of the Library of Congress. She has served on the board of directors of the National Book Critics Circle and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and has been a judge for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle.

Through a generous endowment from John W. Kluge, the Library of Congress established the Kluge Center in 2000 to bring together the world’s best thinkers to stimulate and energize one another, to distill wisdom from the Library’s rich resources and to interact with policymakers in Washington. For further information on the Kluge Center, visit www.loc.gov/kluge/.