Diana Parsell

Diana Parsell is a writer and author in the Washington, D.C., area. As a former journalist and science writer, she spent years looking for good stories. She stumbled onto a great one while living and working in Southeast Asia. An 1897 travelogue on Java inspired her to write the first-ever biography of its author in Eliza Scidmore: The Trailblazing Journalist Behind Washington’s Cherry Trees.

Washington has been Diana’s adopted home since she moved there after graduating as an English major from Marietta College in her Ohio hometown. She began her editorial career at National Geographic, followed by writing and editing positions at publications and science organizations including the National Institutes of Health, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and The Washington Post. Her writing has appeared in a wide range of print and online outlets.

Diana’s professional training includes a publications specialist certificate from George Washington University and master’s degrees from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and Johns Hopkins University. In 2011 she was among the founding writers and editors of the online Washington Independent Review of Books.

For her new book Diana received a Mayborn Fellowship in Biography and the 2017 Hazel Rowley Prize from Biographers International Organization (BIO) for the best proposal by a first-time biographer. Other honors include fellowships from Rotary International and the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing, and a residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.

She lives with her husband, Bruce, in Falls Church, Va., and serves as a volunteer docent for public tours of the Library of Congress, where she did much of the research for her book.

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See a sample of Diana’s articles and other writing.

Read an Author Q&A with Diana about her new book