Deborah Kalb is a freelance writer and editor. She spent about two decades working as a journalist in Washington, D.C., for news organizations including Gannett News Service, Congressional Quarterly, U.S. News & World Report, and The Hill, mostly covering Congress and politics. Her book blog, Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, which she started in 2012, features hundreds of interviews she has conducted with a wide variety of authors.

She is the author of the children’s book series The President and Me — George Washington and the Magic Hat (Schiffer, 2016), John Adams and the Magic Bobblehead (Schiffer, 2018), and Thomas Jefferson and the Return of the Magic Hat (Schiffer, 2020) — and the co-author, with her father, Marvin Kalb, of Haunting Legacy: Vietnam and the American Presidency from Ford to Obama (Brookings, 2011). She is the editor of the two-volume reference book, Guide to U.S. Elections, 7th edition (CQ Press/SAGE, 2016), the co-author of The Presidents, First Ladies, and Vice Presidents (CQ Press, 2009), and the co-editor of State of the Union: Presidential Rhetoric from Woodrow Wilson to George W. Bush (CQ Press, 2007), and has contributed updates to a variety of CQ Press books on politics and government. She lives in the Washington, D.C., area with her family.

She has always loved to read, and many of her childhood memories involve being lost in one book or another. In third grade, her class was asked to write in a journal, and she spent most of the year writing a novel. Over the years, she’s also tried writing mystery novels, and hopes to get back to that one day! After many years writing newspaper and magazine stories and writing and editing nonfiction books for adults, she’s delighted to have her first children’s book published. She hopes you enjoy it!

If you’re interested in having her come to your school (especially if it’s within driving distance of Washington, D.C.!), please contact her through the contact page on this site.