Recent Interviews

NPR, Time Magazine, WAMU Radio, Washingtonian, El Universal, Caretas (Peru), and others  interview Marie about Bolívar, the process of writing, and the Latin American character.

WAMU RADIO:

Click here for the WAMU interview with Jonathan Wison conducted in Marie’s office at the Library of Congress. QUOTE: “You begin to think about power and how people get it and how people lose it when you live in Washington, D.C. And certainly, Bolivar’s story is about gaining power out of nowhere, and then losing it, drastically. It was probably very colored by the fact that I was sitting in Washington, D.C.”

TIME MAGAZINE:

For the Time Magazine interview with Ishaan Tharoor. QUOTE: “Bolívar stands in a way for the best of what we in Latin America are. Brave, principled, willing to give up everything — all one’s riches, one’s heritage — to do the right thing. He stands for the heroic Latin American spirit, eager to throw over the yoke. That fighting image is what one of this generals called ‘the magic of his prestige.’ He had everything, he was a rich man, he could have lived very happily on his estate. Yet, he put everything aside, risked everything and died poor.”

WASHINGTONIAN MAGAZINE:

For the Washingtonian interview with John Wilwol, click here. QUOTE: “My whole career has been devoted to trying to explain the Latin American personality. I’ve done it through a memoir and two novels. I wanted to do it through history this time, but I was going to write it as colorfully as a novel. I’ve written the book about Bolívar that I wanted to read.”

NPR RADIO:

“George Washington threw colonialists out of one country,” says the NPR, “but Simon Bolivar liberated six from Spanish rule.” In the interview that aired on April 13, the interviewer goes on to say: ”Marie Arana has written a biography of the warrior statesman whose name is often invoked, but whose history is little understood. It’s called Bolivar: American Liberator. In it, we learn that Bolivar was passionate about freedom and, well, a passionate man, too. Arana is also Writer at Large for The Washington Post, as well as a novelist and author of the prizewinning memoir, ‘American Chica.’ She joins NPR’s Scott Simon to discuss Bolivar’s legacy.”  Listen to the interview.

EL UNIVERSAL (Caracas):

Para leer la entrevista con Marie de Andrés Correa, corresponsal venezolano en Nueva York,  haz click aquí. CITA: “Recordemos, por favor, que Bolívar no era socialista, que Karl Marx, muchos años después de la muerte del Libertador, odió a Bolívar; que Bolívar, aparte de ser un hombre del Siglo de las Luces, a veces no pudo repartir la justicia que tanto amaba. Que era un ser humano. Estudiar el hombre detrás de los mitos resulta ser mucho más interesante.”

CARETAS (Lima, Peru):

La entrevista con Carlos Cabanillas en Caretas. CITA: “Bolívar creía que el Perú estaba demasiado unido a Madrid. Que la adicción del país hacia la oligarquía española frustraba todo espíritu verdaderamente revolucionario. Dijo que el Perú era un país de “oro y esclavos”. En cierta medida, tenía razón. Tuvo que importar la revolución y los peruanos jamás le perdonaron que haya reducido la importancia del país en el mundo. Pasó de ser un poder continental, la médula de un gran imperio, a ser una república.”