The 14th Marfield Prize Judges
Louis Bayard
In the words of the New York Times, Louis Bayard “reinvigorates historical fiction,” rendering the past "as if he'd witnessed it firsthand." His acclaimed historical novels include Courting Mr. Lincoln, Roosevelt's Beast, The School of Night, The Black Tower, The Pale Blue Eye and Mr. Timothy, as well as the highly praised young-adult novel, Lucky Strikes. A New York Times Notable author, he has been nominated for both the Edgar and Dagger awards, and his story, “Banana Triangle Six,” was chosen for The Best American Mystery Stories 2018. His reviews and articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and Salon. An instructor at George Washington University, he is a board member for the PEN Faulkner Foundation and the author of the popular Downton Abbey recaps for the New York Times.
(source:louisbayard.com)
Edwidge Danticat
Edwidge Danticat is the author of several books, including Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club selection, Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist, The Farming of Bones, The Dew Breaker, Create Dangerously, Claire of the Sea Light, and Everything Inside. She is also the editor of The Butterfly's Way: Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora in the United States, Best American Essays 2011, Haiti Noir and Haiti Noir 2. She has written seven books for children and young adults, Anacaona, Behind the Mountains, Eight Days, The Last Mapou, Mama's Nightingale, Untwine, My Mommy Medicine, as well as a travel narrative, After the Dance. Her memoir, Brother, I'm Dying, was a 2007 finalist for the National Book Award and a 2008 winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography. She is a 2009 MacArthur fellow, a 2018 Ford Foundation “The Art of Change” fellow, and the winner of the 2018 Neustadt International Prize and the 2019 St. Louis Literary Award.
(source:edwidgedanticat.com)
Peter Marks
Peter Marks joined The Washington Post as its chief drama critic in 2002. Previously, he worked for more than nine years at the New York Times, where he was a drama critic, theater reporter, metro reporter and national correspondent during the 2000 presidential campaign. He was also a feature writer and reporter at Newsday, where he was a member of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for spot news reporting. He started his career at the New Brunswick (N.J.) Home News and also worked for the Star-Ledger and Bergen Record, other New Jersey papers. He has chaired the Pulitzer Prize drama jury four times and is co-author of the book “Good for the Money: My Fight to Pay Back America,” published by St. Martin’s Press.