# David Grann
**David Grann** (born 1967 in New York) is an American journalist and author of narrative nonfiction, best known as a staff writer at *The New Yorker* since 2003 and as the author of the #1 *New York Times* bestsellers *Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI* and *The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon*.[1](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/david-grann) • [2](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/93506/david-grann/) • [3](https://elpais.com/icon/2025-02-14/david-grann-estamos-en-una-era-en-la-que-nos-vamos-a-entretener-a-nosotros-mismos-hasta-morir.html) His books reconstruct historical mysteries and crimes, including the murders of wealthy Osage people in 1920s Oklahoma, the disappearance of the explorer [Percy Fawcett](https://www.edgepedia.org/percy-fawcett) in the Amazon, and the wreck of an eighteenth-century British warship.[4](https://www.davidgrann.com/books/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Position | Staff writer at *The New Yorker* since 2003[1](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/david-grann) |
| Born | New York, 1967[3](https://elpais.com/icon/2025-02-14/david-grann-estamos-en-una-era-en-la-que-nos-vamos-a-entretener-a-nosotros-mismos-hasta-morir.html) |
| Education | Connecticut College (graduated 1989); master's in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; master's in creative writing from Boston University[1](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/david-grann) |
| Best-known books | *Killers of the Flower Moon* (2017), *The Lost City of Z*, *The Wager* (2023)[1](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/david-grann) • [5](https://wnyc.org/story/master-class-david-grann-ps/) |
| Major honors | Edgar Award and National Book Award finalist for *Killers of the Flower Moon*; George Polk Award and Silver Gavel Award for "Trial by Fire"; two Sigma Delta Chi Awards[1](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/david-grann) |
| Screen adaptations | *The Lost City of Z* and *Killers of the Flower Moon*, the latter directed by Martin Scorsese; Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio also acquired the rights to *The Wager*[1](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/david-grann) • [6](https://niemanstoryboard.org/2024/01/11/david-grann-narrative-nonfiction-ideas-research-fact-checking-books-editors/) |
| Languages | *The Lost City of Z* translated into more than twenty-five languages[7](https://www.nationalbook.org/people/david-grann/) |
## Career
Grann graduated from [Connecticut College](https://www.edgepedia.org/connecticut-college) in 1989, received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, and did research in Mexico, where he began his career in journalism, freelancing for an English-language magazine.[1](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/david-grann) • [6](https://niemanstoryboard.org/2024/01/11/david-grann-narrative-nonfiction-ideas-research-fact-checking-books-editors/) He taught history for a year, which he called the hardest job he ever had, before enrolling at the Fletcher School of Law and [Diplomacy](https://www.edgepedia.org/diplomacy) for a master's in international relations and then at [Boston University](https://www.edgepedia.org/boston-university) for a master's in creative writing.[1](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/david-grann) • [8](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/10/david-grann-killers-of-the-flower-moon-hot-seat)
**Early journalism.** Grann entered daily journalism with a copyediting job at the Washington newspaper *[The Hill](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-hill-newspaper)* in 1994 and rose to executive editor, a post he held from 1995 to 1996.[1](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/david-grann) • [8](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/10/david-grann-killers-of-the-flower-moon-hot-seat) He then became a senior editor at *The New Republic*, writing features on political figures such as [Newt Gingrich](https://www.edgepedia.org/newt-gingrich) and [John McCain](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-mccain), and has also written for the *Times Magazine*, *The Atlantic*, the *Washington Post*, and the *Wall Street Journal*.[1](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/david-grann) • [8](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/10/david-grann-killers-of-the-flower-moon-hot-seat) In 2003 a feature about an inveterate bank robber led to his position at *The New Yorker*, where he has held the staff writer title since.[8](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/10/david-grann-killers-of-the-flower-moon-hot-seat)
## Books
**The Lost City of Z.** After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, Grann set out to solve what he called the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century: the fate of the British explorer Percy Fawcett, who vanished in the Brazilian jungle in 1925 searching for an ancient city he dubbed "Z".[4](https://www.davidgrann.com/books/) • [9](https://time.com/4735505/the-lost-city-of-z-true-story/) Grann traveled to South America himself in Fawcett's footsteps, and the book chronicles two parallel preoccupations, the subject's and the author's.[10](https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/04/adventure-books-recommendations/687006/) The book was chosen as one of the best books of the year by *The New York Times* and *The Washington Post*, has been translated into more than twenty-five languages, and was adapted into a major motion picture.[7](https://www.nationalbook.org/people/david-grann/) • [1](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/david-grann)
**Killers of the Flower Moon.** Published in 2017, the book revisits the murders of [Osage Nation](https://www.edgepedia.org/osage-nation) members in 1920s Oklahoma, who had become the richest people per capita in the world after oil was discovered beneath their land. As the death toll surpassed twenty-four Osage, the newly created Bureau of Investigation, which became the FBI, took up one of its first major homicide investigations.[4](https://www.davidgrann.com/books/) The book earned an Edgar Award, reached the finalist stage for the [National Book Award](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-book-award), and appeared on several publications' lists of 2017's finest books, including those of the *Wall Street Journal*, *Time*, and *Entertainment Weekly*.[1](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/david-grann) Martin Scorsese adapted it into a film starring [Leonardo DiCaprio](https://www.edgepedia.org/leonardo-dicaprio) and Robert De Niro, which premiered at Cannes in May 2023, reached screens in October, and received ten Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.[5](https://wnyc.org/story/master-class-david-grann-ps/) • [11](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/best-selling-author-david-grann-on-creative-process-behind-his-greatest-works-60-minutes/) • [12](https://www.bu.edu/artsandideas/2024/04/10/an-evening-with-david-grann/) A young readers edition has also been published.[4](https://www.davidgrann.com/books/)
**The Wager.** Grann's 2023 book reconstructs the fate of His Majesty's Ship the *Wager*, a British vessel that left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain and wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of [Patagonia](https://www.edgepedia.org/patagonia). Thirty emaciated survivors reached Brazil and were greeted as heroes, but six months later three more castaways landed in Chile with a very different story, accusing the first group of mutiny; the Admiralty convened a court martial in which the stakes were life and death.[4](https://www.davidgrann.com/books/) Grann traveled in rough seas to the desolate site of the shipwreck to convey the sailors' experience more accurately.[5](https://wnyc.org/story/master-class-david-grann-ps/) The book topped the *New York Times* best-seller list alongside *Killers of the Flower Moon* in the summer of 2023, and Grann was a nominee for a nonfiction prize for it.[5](https://wnyc.org/story/master-class-david-grann-ps/) • [13](https://apnews.com/article/69bdf80b7c189dcb641613ccfdcc13bc) Scorsese and his producing partner DiCaprio acquired the film rights.[6](https://niemanstoryboard.org/2024/01/11/david-grann-narrative-nonfiction-ideas-research-fact-checking-books-editors/)
**Other books.** *The Devil and Sherlock Holmes* collects many of Grann's *New Yorker* stories, from the mysterious death of the world's foremost [Sherlock Holmes](https://www.edgepedia.org/sherlock-holmes) expert to a Polish writer who allegedly left clues to a real murder in his postmodern novel.[1](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/david-grann) *The White Darkness* tells the story of [Henry Worsley](https://www.edgepedia.org/henry-worsley-explorer), who at fifty-five attempted a solitary trek across [Antarctica](https://www.edgepedia.org/antarctica), and *The Old Man and the Gun* gathers true-crime tales including the story of an elderly bank robber.[4](https://www.davidgrann.com/books/)
## Method and recognition
Grann describes his research as obsessive, drawing on newspapers, archives, digital databases, endnotes, and interviews, and he favors stories that history has deliberately buried.[6](https://niemanstoryboard.org/2024/01/11/david-grann-narrative-nonfiction-ideas-research-fact-checking-books-editors/) He frames the work as excavation rather than invention: "You aren't imagining the story, you are excavating the story," while the craft problem is telling a true story with literary techniques and remaining completely factually based.[5](https://wnyc.org/story/master-class-david-grann-ps/) In his historical narratives he tries to convey what it was like for the people who lived through the events, including the uncertainty they felt about what would happen next.[14](https://now.tufts.edu/2023/10/13/storyteller-david-grann)
His magazine story "Trial by Fire" exposed how junk science led to the execution of a likely innocent man in Texas. It received a George Polk Award and the Silver Gavel Award and was cited by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer in his opinion on the constitutionality of the death penalty.[1](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/david-grann) Grann has twice received the Sigma Delta Chi Award for excellence in journalism, and his storytelling has also garnered a George Polk Award.[1](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/david-grann) • [2](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/93506/david-grann/) *The New Yorker*'s editor [David Remnick](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-remnick) has said that Grann's urge to find unique stories and tell them with rigor and style is rare to the vanishing point.[5](https://wnyc.org/story/master-class-david-grann-ps/) Grann lives in New York with his wife and two children.[1](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/david-grann)
## References
1. [David Grann, contributor page, The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/david-grann)
2. [David Grann, Penguin Random House author page](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/93506/david-grann/)
3. [David Grann interview, El País Icon (2025)](https://elpais.com/icon/2025-02-14/david-grann-estamos-en-una-era-en-la-que-nos-vamos-a-entretener-a-nosotros-mismos-hasta-morir.html)
4. [Books, David Grann official website](https://www.davidgrann.com/books/)
5. [A Master Class with David Grann, WNYC / The New Yorker Radio Hour (2023)](https://wnyc.org/story/master-class-david-grann-ps/)
6. [David Grann Part 2: Craft wisdom and breaking into narrative nonfiction, Nieman Storyboard (2024)](https://niemanstoryboard.org/2024/01/11/david-grann-narrative-nonfiction-ideas-research-fact-checking-books-editors/)
7. [David Grann, National Book Foundation](https://www.nationalbook.org/people/david-grann/)
8. [David Grann on 'Killers of the Flower Moon' and the culture wars, Vanity Fair (2023)](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/10/david-grann-killers-of-the-flower-moon-hot-seat)
9. [The True Story Behind The Lost City of Z, Time (2017)](https://time.com/4735505/the-lost-city-of-z-true-story/)
10. [Seven Death-Defying Books for the Adventurous Reader, The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/04/adventure-books-recommendations/687006/)
11. [David Grann on his creative process, 60 Minutes / CBS News (2023)](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/best-selling-author-david-grann-on-creative-process-behind-his-greatest-works-60-minutes/)
12. [An Evening with David Grann, Boston University Arts & Ideas (2024)](https://www.bu.edu/artsandideas/2024/04/10/an-evening-with-david-grann/)
13. [David Grann and Siddhartha Mukherjee are among contenders for a prestigious nonfiction prize, AP News (2023)](https://apnews.com/article/69bdf80b7c189dcb641613ccfdcc13bc)
14. [The Storyteller: David Grann, Tufts Now (2023)](https://now.tufts.edu/2023/10/13/storyteller-david-grann)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Writers and literary biographies › Biographers, critics, and specialist non-fiction writers › Biographers and historians*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license