A year-round book festival dedicated to great conversations with today's best writers.

Daniel Silva

Daniel  Silva is the author of 14 thriller espionage novels.  His books are published in more than 30 countries and are international bestsellers.

Over the course of his brilliant career, Daniel Silva has established himself as a “world-class practitioner of spy fiction” (Washington Post) who has produced “the best thriller series on the market in the past decade” (Midwest Book Review). Gabriel Allon, his enigmatic hero, has been described as the most compelling creation since “Ian Fleming put his martini and invited James Bond” (The Rocky Mountain News). Silva has written over 10 spy novels all of which have been New York Times best-sellers, including “Moscow Rules,” “The Defector” and “The Rembrandt Affair.” Earlier this year, Universal announced they had acquired the screen rights to the Gabriel Allon series and will soon be bringing Silva’s creation to life on the big screen.  His book, ”Portrait of a Spy,” published in July 2011, has been called Silva’s “most extraordinary novel to date.”

Many of Silva’s novels are set against Islamic terrorism, while others related to historical events in WWII and the Holocaust.

He began his writing career as a journalist with a temporary job at United Press International covering the Democratic National Convention in 1984. His position was made permanent and, a year later Silva was transferred to the Washington, D.C. headquarters. After two more years, he was appointed as UPI’s Middle East correspondent and moved to Cairo, Egypt.

Silva returned to Washington, D.C., for a job with CN’s Washington Bureau. He worked as a producer and executive producer for several of the network’s television programs, including Crossfire and Capitol Gang.

In 1994 he began work on his first novel, ”The Unlikely Spy.” When published, the novel became an instant New York Times best-seller, and in 1997 Silva left CNN to pursue writing full-time.

Silva was appointed to the United States Holocaust Museum’s United States Holocaust Memorial Council in 2009.

NWS was honored to welcome Silva at the launch of his national book tour. He took the stage with Doug Stanton to discuss his enormously popular novels, including the latest installment in the Gabriel Allon series, “Portrait of a Spy.”