Kati Marton
March 9, 2011
11:00 a.m. Capitol Theatre
Journalist & Acclaimed Humanitarian
Kati Marton has successfully combined a career as a reporter and writer with human rights advocacy. Contributing to major news organizations such as ABC News, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, Atlantic Monthly, The Times of London and The New Republic, she has covered everything from terrorist attacks in Northern Ireland to the peace efforts in the Middle East. Drawing compassion from her journalistic experiences in many of the political hotbeds of the globe, Marton is actively involved in humanitarian causes and was Chief of Outreach at the United Nations, where she was the primary advocate for children in war zones for the Secretary General of the U.N.
Marton's latest book, her seventh, Enemies of the People: My Family's Journey to America is a moving and brave memoir, revealing her eyewitness account of her parent's arrests in Cold War Budapest. Hailed by Barbara Walters as "a true story that is deeply moving and altogether amazing," Enemies of the People is a tour de force, and important work of history as it was lived and a narrative of multiple betrayals on both sides of the Cold War, ending in triumph and a new beginning in America.
Her New York Times best-seller The Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World, describes the journey and experiences of nine extraordinary Jewish men from Budapest to the New World--and how they changed the world. The Great Escape is a true account of human survival and triumph against great odds.
Marton's book Hidden Power: How Presidential Marriages Have Shaped Our Recent History, also a New York Times best-seller, offers a compelling view of how presidential marriages affected the tone, character and even the policies of eleven administrations. The dual portraits of husbands and wives at the intersection of power and love teach us about the evolving role of women in society and their unique influence on the presidency.
Marton was born in Hungary and has spent two decades writing and reporting from around the globe. She was Bureau Chief and Foreign Correspondent for ABC News, reporting from Poland, East and West Germany, Italy and Northern Ireland. She was a reporter for National Public Radio in Washington where she was involved with the development of NPR's program All Things Considered. For years Marton hosted America and the World, a weekly half-hour broadcast on international affairs for NPR.
Marton is currently Chair of the International Women's Health Coalition, a global leader promoting and protecting the health and human rights of women and girls. A director and formerly chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists, an organization founded to monitor abuses against the press and promote press freedom around the world, she also serves on the board of directors of the International Rescue Committee, Human Rights Watch, the New America Foundation and the Central European University. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. P.E.N. International and the Author's Guild.
Marton is married to Ambassador Richard Holbrooke and lives in New York City with their two children.