Daniel Silva

Daniel Silva (born 1960) When he was seven years old, his family moved to Merced, California. He was raised as a Catholic.

Career

Journalist Silva began his writing career as a journalist with a temporary position at UPI in 1984. His assignment was to cover the Democratic National Convention. UPI made Silva's position permanent and, a year later transferred him to the Washington, D.C. headquarters. After two more years, he was appointed as UPI's Middle East correspondent and moved to Cairo.

Silva returned to Washington, D.C., for a position with Cable News Network's Washington bureau. He worked as a producer and executive producer for several of CNN's television programs, including Crossfire and Capital Gang.

Novelist In 1994, he began work on his first novel, The Unlikely Spy (1996). The novel debuted on The New York Times best-seller list on January 26, 1997; it remained on the list for five weeks, rising to number 13. In 1997, Silva left CNN to pursue writing full-time.

Since then, Silva has written 27 more spy novels, all best-sellers on The New York Times list. Gabriel Allon, an Israeli art restorer, spy and assassin, is the protagonist in all but three of Silva's titles. The series has been a New York Times bestseller since its first installment in 2001. Thirteen of the series' titles hit number one on The New York Times list of best sellers (bibliography below). Some of his novels involve Islamic terrorism, some involve Russian villains, and some are highly fanciful accounts about historic events related to World War II and the Holocaust. Silva did not come into the Allon series with a significant understanding of the world of art restoration but was able to use a neighbor's expertise to help him turn a spy-assassin into an artist. On May 15, 2017, MGM Television acquired the adaption rights for the Allon series, though no production schedule was released and it was not specified which novel or novels were under consideration.

Personal life Silva met Jamie Gangel, a CNN special correspondent while they were both correspondents in the Middle East. They later married, and Silva converted from Catholicism to Judaism, his wife's religion.

Honors 2007 Barry Award for Best Thriller for The Messenger, 2013 Barry Award for Best Thriller for The Fallen Angel. In January 2009, Silva was appointed to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's United States Holocaust Memorial Council.

Published works Highest level on The New York Times best seller list