Kati Marton

Kati Marton
photo by Billy Bustamante, photographer: [2]
Born	April 3, 1949 (1949-04-03) Budapest, Hungary
Education	Attended Wells College, 1965-67 Sorbonne and the Institut des Etudes de Sciences Politiques, Paris, 1967-68 George Washington University, B.A., 1969, M.A., 1971
Occupation	Journalist, human rights activist
Spouse(s)	Carroll Wetzel (early 1970s) Peter Jennings (1979-1993) Richard Holbrooke (1995-2010) (his death)
Children	Elizabeth Jennings Christopher Jennings
Ethnicity	Hungarian-American Jew
Notable credit(s)	ABC News
Agent	Amanda Urban, International Creative Management, 40 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.

Kati Marton is a Hungarian-American author and journalist. Her career has included reporting for ABC News as a foreign correspondent and National Public Radio, where she started as a production assistant 1971 in her 20s, as well as print journalism and writing a number of books.

She is the former chairwoman of the International Women's Health Coalition, and a director (former chairwoman) of the Committee to Protect Journalists and other bodies including the International Rescue Committee, Human Rights Watch and the New America Foundation.

Biography

Early life

Marton was born in Hungary, the daughter of UPI reporter Ilona Marton and award-winning Associated Press reporter Endre Marton. Her parents survived the Holocaust of World War II but never spoke about it. They served nearly two years in prison on false charges of espionage for the U.S., and Kati and her older sister were placed in the care of strangers. Raised a Roman Catholic, she learned much later and by accident that her grandparents were Jews who were murdered at Auschwitz concentration camp. Among the many honors her parents received for their reporting on the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was the George Polk Award. The family fled Hungary following the revolution and settled in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where Marton attended Bethesda Chevy Chase High School.

Education

She studied at the Sorbonne, and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris. Growing up in Hungary, she had a French nanny, so she was raised speaking both Hungarian and French, learning American English when her family moved to America. She has a master's degree in international relations from George Washington University.

Personal life

TV anchor Peter Jennings was her second husband. Her first husband was Carroll Wetzel, a retired international investment banker from Philadelphia. Jennings and Marton had two children together. She was married to diplomat Richard Holbrooke from 1995 until his death in December 2010.

Awards

She has received several honors for her reporting, including the 2001 Rebekah Kohut Humanitarian Award by the National Council of Jewish Women, the 2002 Matrix Award for Women Who Change the World, the George Foster Peabody Award (presented to WCAU-TV, Philadelphia in 1973) and the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary—the country's highest civilian honor. Marton is also a recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence. Her book, Enemies of the People: My Family's Journey to America, was an autobiography finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2009.

Selected writing

• Marton, Kati (2010) (in Hungarian). A nép ellenségei : családom regénye [Enemies of the people]. Budapest: Corvina. ISBN 9789631358827. LCCN 2011-391425. 
• Marton, Kati (2009). Enemies of the people : my family's journey to America (1st Simon & Schuster hardcover ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9781416586128. OCLC 1-416-58612-1. LCCN 2009-14480. 
• Marton, Kati. The great escape : nine Jews who fled Hitler and changed the world. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780743261159. OCLC 70864519. LCCN 2006-49162. }
• Marton, Kati (2008) (in Hungarian). Kilenc magyar aki világgၠment és megváltoztatta a világot [Great escape]. (translator) Bart Dániel. Budapest: Corvina. ISBN 9789631356816. LCCN 2008-418162. 
• Marton, Kati (2001). Hidden power : presidential marriages that shaped our recent history (1st ed.). New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0375401067. OCLC 50625328. LCCN 2001-21351. 
• Marton, Kati (1992). The Polk conspiracy : murder and cover-up in the case of CBS News correspondent George Polk (1st pbk. ed.). New York: Times Books. ISBN 0812920473. LCCN 91-50973. 
• Marton, Kati (1996). A death in Jerusalem (1st Arcade ed.). New York: Arcade. ISBN 1559703520. LCCN 95-51833. 
• Marton, Kati (1987). An American woman (1st ed.). New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 0393024202. LCCN 86-16342. 
• Marton, Kati (1995). Wallenberg : missing hero (1st Arcade ed.). New York: Distributed by Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 1559702761. LCCN 94-79600. 
• Marton, Kati (1990). The Polk conspiracy : murder and cover-up in the case of CBS News correspondent George Polk (1st ed.). New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ISBN 0374135533. LCCN 89-23384. 

External links

• Bookreporter.com entry