News & Events
In This Section:
Author Events | Interviews & Media Coverage | Past Events & Press | Honors & Awards
Author Events | Upcoming
Oct. 17, 2023
Talk | Marietta (Ohio) Garden Club, Betsy Mills Club
Oct. 27, 2023
Talk | American Association of University Women book clubs, McLean (Va.) Branch
Nov. 4, 2023
Workshop | Writer’s Center, Bethesda, Md.; Shaping Your Book of Narrative Nonfiction,” 10-12:30 p.m.
Feb. 28, 2024
Talk and book signing | Oasis, Bethesda, Md., 1:00
March 12, 2024
Talk | Washington International Club, Washington, D.C.
March 13, 2024
Talk | Capital Speakers Club, Columbia Country Club, Washington, D.C.
March 24, 2024
Talk | Hill Center, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., 4:30 p.m. (NEW DATE AND TIME)
April 6, 2024
Talk | Arlington County Library, Cherrydale Branch, 3 p.m.
Author Events | Recent
June 4, 2023
Talk | The Fountains of Hilltop and local book club, Grand Junction, Col.
May 19-21, 2023
Workshop | Biographers International Organization (BIO) conference in New York; presented craft workshop on “Structuring and Revising Your Manuscript”
May 13, 2023
Panel | Washington Writers Conference, panelist for “Women’s Voices Across Genres”
May 11, 2023
Talk | Japan America Society of Chicago (virtual)
April 20, 2023
Talk | Association of Oldest Inhabitants in Washington, D.C.
April 15, 2023
Talk | Mary Riley Styles Public Library, Falls Church, Va
April 5, 2023
Talk | American News Women’s Club, Washington, D.C.

With author Ann McClellan and presidential great-granddaughter Patricia Taft at Cherry Blossom Festival luncheon on March 23, 2023
March 30, 2023
Talk | Trust for the National Mall, Washington, D.C.
March 29, 2023
Talk | U.S. National Arboretum (virtual), “Eliza Scidmore: Botanical Ambassador for Japan and Its Cherry Trees”
March 27, 2023
Talk | Politics & Prose bookstore, Washington, D.C. (on C-SPAN’s American History TV)
March 23, 2023
Talk | University Club, Washington, D.C.; “Still Blooming” luncheon, in conversation with Patricia H. Taft; sponsored by National Cherry Blossom Festival
Feb. 27, 2023
Talk | George Washington University Museum and Textile Museum (virtual), “Eliza Scidmore Beyond the Cherry Trees”
Interviews & Media Coverage

At Tidal Basin with NBC White House correspondent Kristen Welker in March 2023, filming for NBC’s “Today” show (Photo: Wakako Hisaeda)
Aug. 8, 2023
Article | Doughboy Foundation, “The American Woman Who Reported on Japan’s Entry Into World War I”
May 3, 2023
Article | American University’s Her Campus, “Local Author Uncovers Story of Woman Responsible for D.C.’s Cherry Blossoms,” by Ellie Blanchard
April 10, 2023
Q&A | Book Q&A with Deborah Kalb
April 10, 2023
Podcast | GWU Hatchet, “What’s New Buff and Blue: The Origin of D.C.’s Cherry Blossoms,” by Sarah Sachs
April 7, 2023
Review | American Journalism
March 31, 2023
TV | NHK World, “Hanami Spirit Blooms in Washington,” with correspondent Hisaeda Wakako
March 30, 2023
TV | NBC’s “Today” Show, “The Woman Behind the Cherry Blossoms,” with correspondent Kristen Welker
March 30, 2023
Review | Wall Street Journal, “Spring 2023 Reading List: The 4 Best Gardening Books,” by Dominique Browning
March 29, 2023
Talk | U.S. National Arboretum (virtual), “Eliza Scidmore: Botanical Ambassador for Japan and Its Cherry Trees”
March 28, 2023
Q&A | History in the Margins, with women’s history historian Pamela Toler
March 29, 2023
Podcast | NPR’s Marketplace, “Make Me Smart” (commentary begins around 20 mins into the piece)
March 10, 2023
Podcast | Biographers International Organization (BIO), with Lisa Napoli
March 4, 2023
Article | Marietta (OH) Times, “Marietta College alumna pens book”
March 2, 2023
Q&A | Humanities-Net, DC, with D.C. historian Matthew Gilmore
March 1, 2023
Interview | Advance Copy, National Association for the Advancement of Science Writing
March 2023
Review | Washingtonian, “One Woman’s Quest to Bring Cherry Blossoms to DC“
Feb. 16, 2023
Q&A | Discovering Lives, with author Paula Tarnapol Whitacre
Feb. 1, 2023
Review | Library Journal
Past Events & Press

Interview with Michael Portillo in Juneau, Alaska, in July 2018, filming for BBC2’s “Great American Railway Journeys” (Photo: Bruce Parsell)
March 30, 2022: World Radio podcast interview with Jenny Rough
April 7, 2021: Washington Walks (virtual)
Jul 29, 2018: BBC2 interview in Juneau with host Michael Portillo of “Great American Railroad Journeys”
July 31, 2018: public lecture at Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
April 17, 2018: 90-minute teleconference briefing with staff at Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
March 29, 2018: National Geographic Live! interview by scriptwriter Daniel Stashower for staged reading of Scidmore’s work
March 18, 2017: Japan TBS TV appearance in “Mystery Hunter” program on cherry blossoms
March 1, 2017: luncheon speaker, regional meeting of Ikebana International, Alexandria, Va.
Feb. 2017: interviewed for National Geographic online article on Eliza Scidmore
April 2, 2015: presenter at Journalism & Women’s Symposium (JAWS), D.C. chapter
April 4, 2014: discussion with Discovery Club of D.C. Lab School
Feb. 20, 2014: luncheon speaker, Washington-Tokyo Women’s Club, Arlington, Va.
April 10, 2013: presenter, Japan Cherry Blossom Association, Parliamentary Museum in Tokyo
April 7, 2013: speaker, Eliza Scidmore Cherry Blossom Society, Yokohama, Japan
March 7, 2013: presenter, Women’s History Discussion Group, Library of Congress
March 30, 2013: Japan NHK TV evening news interview on my Scidmore research
Oct. 19, 2012: panelist, 39th D.C. Historical Studies Conference
June 30, 2012: reader, New Mercury author series, Baltimore, Md.
March 13, 2012: interviewed in Washington Post by Michael Ruane for “Cherry blossoms’ champion, Eliza Scidmore, led a life of adventure,”
Honors & Awards

Receiving BIO Hazel Rowley Award from Gayle Feldman at BIO 2017 conference in Boston (Photo: James McGrath Morris)
2017: Hazel Rowley Prize from Biographers International (BIO) for best proposal for first biography
2012: Mayborn Fellowship in Biography, sponsored by University of North Texas and prize-winning biographer James McGrath Morris