Blog

kem knapp sawyer

  • May 29, 2018
    Letter to Malala: An Ode to Girl Power

    [Jon and I have been part of a book club since Ted and Anne Gleason, who are no longer with us, started the group—they called us the Oracles. Each year we pick a theme and at the end of the season...

  • March 8, 2018
    Marjory Stoneman Douglas

    This morning, on International Women's Day, I am thinking of the several remarkable women about whom I have written: Lucretia Mott, Anne Frank, Abigail Adams, Eleanor Roosevelt, Harriet Tubman, and...

  • June 22, 2016
    New Faces on the $20, $10 and $5 Bills: Who Are They and What Made Them Famous?

    In 2020, the new $20 bill will feature Harriet Tubman. Also appearing on new U.S. currency will be Lucretia Mott and Eleanor Roosevelt. All three are subjects of my biographies—and the topic of a...

  • February 28, 2016
    Flight from Syria

    What I’d like to share with you this afternoon is one of the Pulitzer Center's new media projects—an e-book called "Flight from Syria: Refugee Stories"—a look behind the scenes at the lives of...

  • November 2, 2015
    Talking at St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School

    Last week, I visited St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School in Alexandria, Virginia, to speak with 7th graders about "Congo's Children." Rebecca Cooper, the middle school religion teacher, had invited me...

  • May 16, 2015
    Custodians of Memory

    William Zinsser died this week. He was 92. He left behind the classic, "On Writing Well," not only well-known, but much used. I heard the news of his death on NPR in a brilliant piece that paid...