BIO partners with Troy University-Montgomery to Sponsor National Conference on Black Biography

October 29th, 2024

BIO will host the first major national conference in Black biography in over 40 years. Telling the Stories of Black Lives through Biography will be co-sponsored by and take place on the campus of Troy University-Montgomery, Alabama,  on March 21 and 22, 2025. It will feature a full day of speakers and panel discussions, along with receptions and other activities. Telling the Stories of Black Lives through Biography is the brainchild of author and longtime… Read More »

BIO Announces the Kitty Kelley Dissertation Fellowship

October 15th, 2024

The Kitty Kelley Dissertation Fellowship in Biography will provide $25,000 to a doctoral student who is writing a dissertation in English focused on the life of another person or upon the lives of two or more individuals. This generous fellowship is endowed by Kitty Kelley, a founding member BIO and long-time advocate for biography and biographers, as well as the bestselling author of multiple biographical works where she has displayed courage and deftness in writing… Read More »

Call for 2025 BIO Conference Proposals

June 21st, 2024

The 2025 BIO Conference is tentatively scheduled for June 5–6, in Washington, D.C. The Program Committee co-chairs, Natalie Dykstra and Linda Leavell, invite BIO members to submit proposals. The Program Committee will review these proposals for possible inclusion in the 2025 program. The Committee seeks panels that address the concerns of beginning biographers (basics), the craft of biography (craft), issues of interest to a broad range of biographers (issues and innovations), and topics related to… Read More »

Yepoka Yeebo’s Anansi’s Gold: The Man Who Looted the West, Outfoxed Washington, and Swindled the World wins the 2024 BIO Plutarch Award

May 17th, 2024

Biographers International Organization (BIO) is excited to announce that Yepoka Yeebo’s ANANSI’S GOLD: The Man Who Looted the West, Outfoxed Washington, and Swindled the World (Bloomsbury) is the winner of the 2024 Plutarch Award for the Best Biography of 2023. The Plutarch is the only international prize of its kind. Named after the famous Greek writer, the Plutarch is awarded to the best biography of the year by a committee of five distinguished biographers,… Read More »

The 2024 BIO Conference is Now in Progress!

May 16th, 2024

The 2024 BIO Conference is now underway at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York. You can view the digital conference program here. The following events and sessions will be live-streamed for virtual attendees: Thursday, May 16, 2024 4:00 p.m.–4:45 p.m.: Member Readings: BIO members read excerpts from their recent biographies. 4:45 p.m.–5:30 p.m.: Presentation Robert and Ina Caro Research/Travel Fellowships, the Chip Bishop Fellowship, the Francis “Frank” Rollin Fellowships, and the Hazel Rowley… Read More »

Varagur and Walsh named 2024 Caro Fellowship Recipients

May 16th, 2024

Krithika Varagur and Keri Walsh are the winners of the 2024 Robert and Ina Caro Travel Fellowships for travel. They will receive $5,000 each for research trips to archives or important settings in their subjects’ lives. Varagur is at work on a group biography, The Singh Princesses: Three Sisters at the End of Empire, to be published by Penguin Press. Varagur will use the fellowship to make a research trip to Germany.   Keri Walsh… Read More »

Tracy Floreani wins the 2024 Hazel Rowley Prize

May 16th, 2024

The 2024 Hazel Rowley Prize honoring the best book proposal by a first-time biographer has been awarded to Tracy Floreani, who is at work on Invisible Woman: Fanny Ellison and the Staging of a Writer’s Life, a biography of the populist theatre director, aspiring writer, and philanthropy professional married to novelist Ralph Ellison. This year’s Rowley Prize Committee was comprised of Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina (chair), Gayle Feldman, and Carl Rollyson.          … Read More »

Ramin Ganeshram and Kevin McGruder Win 2024 Rollin Fellowships

April 28th, 2024

Ramin Ganeshram and Kevin McGruder are the winners of the 2024 Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowship for biographical works-in-progress that make a significant contribution to our understanding of the Black experience.    Ramin Ganeshram won for her biographical project Stirring Liberty: How George Washington’s Enslaved Chef Transformed American Cuisine and Secretly Cooked His Way to Freedom, a biography of Hercules Posey. Fortuitously after the fact, her proposed book was sold to Simon & Schuster’s 37 Ink… Read More »

2024 Plutarch Award Shortlist Announced

April 8th, 2024

A distinguished panel of judges from the Biographers International Organization (BIO) is proud to announce the five books that have been short-listed for the 2024 Plutarch Award, the only international literary award for biography judged exclusively by biographers. These five biographies uphold the high standard set by earlier Plutarch winners for the quality of research, the literary merit of the writing, and the originality and significance of the project. You will find this year’s five… Read More »

Kai Bird Wins the 2024 BIO Award

March 8th, 2024

Kai Bird has been awarded the 2024 BIO Award, an honor bestowed annually by the Biographers International Organization, to a distinguished colleague who has made significant contributions to the art and craft of biography. Bird is the award-winning author of  seven books, five of which have been biographies. Since 2017, as Executive Director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York, he has worked tirelessly to advance the… Read More »

Celebrate Kai Bird & Oppenheimer with Kitty Kelley and Debby Applegate

February 22nd, 2024

Kitty Kelley and Debby Applegate Invite You to Celebrate Kai Bird & Oppenheimer Saturday, March 2, 2024 4-7pm At the Home of Debby Applegate and Bruce Tulgan Hamden, CT 06517 A 10-minute taxi/Uber ride from New Haven’s Union Station  (from Manhattan, take Metro-North to Union Station) Street parking available Tickets: $125/one ticket or $200/two tickets Join us, one week before the Oscars, for an unforgettable benefit evening in honor of biographer and BIO board member… Read More »

2024 BIO Conference Registration Now Open!

February 12th, 2024

Registration for the 2024 BIO Conference is now open. Co-sponsored with the Leon Levy Center for Biography, the two-day event will take place both in person and online May 16-17, 2024, at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Please note: unlike previous years, the conference will take place on a Thursday and Friday; in addition, one of several optional tours will be offered on Saturday morning, May 18. Attending in… Read More »

2024 Plutarch Award Longlist Announced

February 2nd, 2024

The longlist for the 2024 Plutarch Award has been determined, and you are the first to know. The committee for this year’s prize is composed of Carol Sklenicka (chair), Patricia Albers, Vanda Krefft, William Souder, and Ethelene Whitmire. Sklenicka said of their work, “The 2024 Plutarch Award Committee received some 200 books by first-time and experienced biographers, issued by small and large publishers, on subjects who made their lives in worlds as vastly different as… Read More »

Apply for BIO 2024 Fellowships and Prizes

January 16th, 2024

BIO is now accepting applications for its three fellowship programs.   The Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowship awards $5,000 each to two authors working on a biographical work about an African American figure (or figures), whose story provides a significant contribution to our understanding of the Black experience. This fellowship also provides the recipients with a year’s membership in BIO, registration to the annual BIO Conference, and publicity through BIO’s marketing channels. The fellowship is open to… Read More »

Biography Lab Registration is Open!

January 12th, 2024

On January 20, 2024, join award-winning biographers James McGrath Morris, Janice P. Nimura, and Ray A. Shepard for an online forum on the craft of biography. And don’t miss Kai Bird’s plenary session entitled “My Wild Ride as a Biographer.” Free for BIO members and students. $60 General Admission. Register now! Schedule: Kai Bird, “My Wild Ride as a Biographer” (The prerecorded address can be viewed any time after 8:00 a.m.) 10:30 – noon:  Janice… Read More »

Register for Dec. 18 Online Event with 2023 Plutarch Award Winner

December 12th, 2023

BIO is pleased to announce the rescheduled date for our online discussion of the 2023 Plutarch Award winner, Mr. B: George Balanchine’s 20th Century by Jennifer Homans. The event will take place on Monday, December 18, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Eastern, with author Jennifer Homans. Amanda Vaill, author of several biographies, including Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins, will interview Homans about the way she crafted the book, followed by ample time for… Read More »

Conference Photos Available for Purchase!

October 23rd, 2023

At this year’s BIO Conference, photographer Brennan Cavenough captured the event as never before, taking photos of members and panelists that make us wish we were at the conference all over again. Those photos are now available for viewing and purchase through Smugmug. Click here to see the photos and find instructions on how to buy digital downloads or paper prints of your favorite shots. … Read More »

Michael Korda to receive BIO’s Editorial Excellence Award for 2023

October 3rd, 2023

UPDATE: A recording of this event is now available here.  Biographers International Organization (BIO) is pleased to announce that Michael Korda will receive its Editorial Excellence Award for 2023. Established in 2014, this annual award honors an editor for outstanding work in the service of biography and literature. Korda will be presented with the award on Wednesday, November 1 at the Skylight Room of the CUNY Graduate Center in New York. BIO’s Awards Committee,… Read More »

BIO Stands Against Censorship

September 8th, 2023

Biographers International Organization (BIO) rejects censorship in all its guises. Since its inception, BIO has sought to support writers and readers of biography who are committed to finding the facts of lived existence and the many truths of history. As expressed in our mission statement, we are committed to cultivating a diverse community of biographers. Furthermore, BIO believes in the fundamental right of free expression and in the importance of a diversity of viewpoints.   While… Read More »

BIO Welcomes New President, Board Members

June 10th, 2023

On May 22, following the 2023 BIO conference, Steve Paul became the new president of BIO, succeeding Linda Leavell, who had served two terms in office. (Leavell’s presidency, which brought many beneficial changes to BIO, will be explored in a future edition of The Biographers Craft.) Paul is the author of biographies of Ernest Hemingway and Evan S. Connell. The latter won the 2022 Society of Midland Authors Award for “best biography or memoir.”… Read More »

Jennifer Homans’s Mr. B: George Balanchine’s 20th Century wins the 2023 BIO Plutarch Award

May 24th, 2023

Jennifer Homans’s Mr. B: George Balanchine’s 20th Century(Random House) is the winner of BIO’s 2023 Plutarch Award for the Best Biography of 2022. The Plutarch is the only international prize of its kind. Named after the famous Greek writer, the Plutarch is awarded to the best biography of the year by a committee of five distinguished biographers, and this prestigious prize comes with a $2,000 honorarium. “For the Plutarch judges, Jennifer Homans’s… Read More »

Biographers International Organization receives $1 million gift from famed biographer Kitty Kelley

May 22nd, 2023

Biographers International Organization (BIO) is thrilled to announce a gift of $1 million, to be given in increments of $200,000 over five years starting June 1, 2023, from famed biographer Kitty Kelley. BIO’s president Linda Leavell formally accepted the gift on May 20, 2023, during BIO’s annual Conference at the Leon Levy Center for Biography. BIO’s Long-range Planning Committee will oversee the gift and make recommendations for its application to the Board of Directors. This… Read More »

The 2023 BIO Conference is Now in Progress!

May 19th, 2023

The 2023 BIO Conference is now underway at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York. You can view the digital conference program here. The following events and sessions will be live-streamed for virtual attendees: Friday, May 19, 2023 4:00pm – 4:45pm: Member Readings: BIO members read excerpts from their recent biographies. 4:45pm – 5:30pm: Presentations of the Biblio Award, Robert & Ina Caro Research / Travel Fellowships, the Chip Bishop Fellowship, the Frances “Frank”… Read More »

Alec Pollak Wins 2023 Hazel Rowley Prize

May 11th, 2023

The 2023 Hazel Rowley Prize honoring the best book proposal by a first-time biographer has been awarded to Alec Pollak, who is at work on a biography of the American writer Joanna Russ. This year’s Rowley Prize Committee was comprised of Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina (chair), Carl Rollyson, and Paula Whitacre. Of this year’s award, Gerzina said, “Our committee unanimously selected Alec Pollak’s proposal for a biography of Joanna Russ, which was very well-written and compelling,… Read More »

2023 Robert and Ina Caro Travel Fellowships Announced

May 11th, 2023

The 2023 Robert and Ina Caro Travel Fellowship Committee, consisting of Carla Kaplan (chair), Marc Leepson, and Ashley Farmer, have decided the recipients of the travel fellowships for this year. BIO members with a work in progress are eligible to receive funding for research trips to archives or to important settings in their subjects’ lives. This fellowship is a reflection of BIO’s ongoing commitment to support authors in writing beautifully contextualized and tenaciously researched biographies.… Read More »

BIO Announces Shortlist for The 2023 Plutarch Award

April 17th, 2023

The best biography of 2022 to be announced on May 20, 2023 during the 13th Annual BIO Conference New York, NY – A distinguished panel of judges from the Biographers International Organization (BIO) is proud to announce their five finalists  for the 2023  Plutarch Award, the only international literary award for biography judged exclusively by biographers. These biographies showcase a diversity of subjects, intrepid scholarship, and an admirable illumination of both cultural and political achievement… Read More »

Brandon R. Byrd and Lizzie Skurnick Win 2023 Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowships

April 12th, 2023

Brandon R. Byrd and Lizzie Skurnick are the winners of the 2023 Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowship for biographical works-in-progress that make a significant contribution to our understanding of the Black experience. Byrd and Skurnick are the first double recipients of this prize since best-selling biographer Kitty Kelley, a longtime BIO Board member, earmarked a major gift of $50,000 to the Rollin Fellowship in 2022. Byrd has won for his biography-in-progress Pap: The Life and Legacies … Read More »

Register for BIO Virtual Event: An Evening with Kitty Kelley

March 10th, 2023

Kitty Kelley is the preeminent unauthorized biographer of our time and is the winner of the 2023 BIO Award. The BIO Award is presented annually to an individual for contributions to advancing the art and craft of biography. To celebrate Kelley and learn about her process, we are hosting An Evening with Kitty Kelley via Zoom on Tuesday, March 28, from 7 to 8 pm Eastern Daylight Time. Register here. Kelley is the… Read More »

Kitty Kelley Wins the 2023 BIO Award

February 14th, 2023

Kitty Kelley has won the 14th BIO Award, bestowed annually by the Biographers International Organization, to a distinguished colleague who has made major contributions to the advancement of the art and craft of biography.  She is the author of seven biographical works: Oprah: A Biography (2010), The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty (2004), The Royals (1997), Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography (1991), His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra (1986), Elizabeth … Read More »

Registration for the 2023 BIO Conference is Now Open!

February 9th, 2023

The 2023 BIO Conference, cosponsored by the Leon Levy Center for Biography, will be held May 19-21, 2023, in person at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.  See the online program HERE and register through Eventbrite HERE. The cost of registration is $245 for BIO members before April 1, $295 for BIO members after April 1, $345 for nonmembers, $49 for online only for members, and $99 for online only… Read More »

2023 Plutarch Award Longlist Announced

January 27th, 2023

A distinguished panel of judges from the Biographers International Organization (BIO) has selected 10 nominees for the 10th annual Plutarch Award, the only international literary award for biography judged exclusively by biographers. This year’s Plutarch Award Committee members are Deirdre David, Roy Foster, Charlotte Jacobs, Tamara Payne, and Will Swift. Deirdre David, chair of the committee, says, “The judges this year were impressed by the remarkable variety and stellar quality of the books on our… Read More »

Apply for BIO 2023 Fellowships and Prizes

January 17th, 2023

BIO encourages all members to review its four fellowships, now accepting applications for 2023. Please share information about the Rollin Fellowship, the Chip Bishop Fellowship, and the Rowley Prize, which are open to nonmembers, with your friends, colleagues, and networks. Please note that the amounts have increased from $3,000 to $5,000 for both the Rollin Fellowship and Rowley Prize, and the number of recipients has increased from one to two for the Rollin Fellowship and… Read More »

Gerald Howard Wins the 2022 BIO Editorial Excellence Award

November 9th, 2022

Gerald Howard received Biographers International Organization’s 2022 Editorial Excellence Award on Tuesday, November 8. The award is presented annually to an outstanding editor of biography. Co-hosted with the Leon Levy Center for Biography, the ceremony took place at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and featured five authors paying tribute to his work: Debby Applegate, Madison Smartt Bell, Kathryn Harrison, James Kaplan, and Jay Parini.  “Having worked with Gerry for over… Read More »

Announcing a New BIO Event—Biography Lab 2023: An Online Forum on Craft

November 2nd, 2022

Biography Lab 2023: An Online Forum on Craft is a one-day, online conference that will take place on Saturday, January 21, 2023. BIO’s Board of Directors created this event, which we hope will become annual, in direct response to the feedback we received after the May 2022 online BIO Conference. While many BIO members are eager to meet in person again, many others urged us to preserve some aspects of the online conference for… Read More »

BIO Members: RSVP for Social Hour

October 30th, 2022

Please join fellow BIO members on November 10 for an hour of online social networking. This will be an opportunity to meet with those who are working on similar types of biography or who are at a similar stage in the process. When you register, your Zoom confirmation email will have a link to a questionnaire that will help us to organize the breakout rooms for this event. Please complete the questionnaire as soon as… Read More »

Gift from Kitty Kelley Goes to BIO Fellowships

October 11th, 2022

A longtime member of the Board of Directors and current chair of the Membership Committee, best-selling biographer Kitty Kelley has made a major gift to BIO of $50,000. Kelley’s donation will fund two Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowships per year for the next five years. The winners will receive a stipend of $5,000 each.   “I feel that supporting the Rollin Fellowships helps BIO reach its immense potential as an organization that is supportive and inclusive,” Kelley… Read More »

BIO Podcast Releases 100th Episode

September 24th, 2022

BIO is celebrating the 100th episode of the BIO Podcast! The 100th episode features BIO member Kitty Kelley interviewing Gwendolyn Mink and Judy Tzu-Chun Wu about their biography, Fierce and Fearless: Patsy Takemoto Mink, First Woman of Color in Congress (NYU Press, 2022). The BIO Podcast is managed by BIO Board member Sonja Williams. Listen to the episode here or on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts Spotify, or Stitcher. The complete podcast archive is also available… Read More »

Register for Sept. 17 Online Event with 2022 Plutarch Award Winner

August 9th, 2022

BIO is pleased to announce the first in a series of online events planned for 2022-2023: a discussion of the 2022 Plutarch Award winner, Burning Man: The Trials of D. H. Lawrence by Frances Wilson. The event will take place on Saturday, September 17, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings time. Register here. Nigel Hamilton, chair of the 2022 Plutarch Award committee, will interview Frances Wilson about the way she crafted the… Read More »

Kitty Kelley Funds Rollin Fellowship and Hosts Event

July 13th, 2022

Longtime BIO member and BIO Board member Kitty Kelley has donated $50,000 to the organization. The generous donation will fund two annual Rollin Fellowships of $5,000 each for the next five years. The Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowship, given to writers of exceptional biographies in progress about African American subjects, was first awarded in 2021 to Rachel L. Swarns for a multigenerational biography of an enslaved Black family torn apart by the 1838 slave sale that… Read More »

Anne Boyd Rioux Receives BIO’s Ray A. Shepard Service Award

June 10th, 2022

The Ray A. Shepard Award was presented at the 2022 BIO Conference to Anne Boyd Rioux, author of Constance Fenimore Woolson: Portrait of a Lady Novelist (W. W. Norton & Company, 2016) and Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters (W. W. Norton & Company, 2018).   The Shepard Award recognizes a BIO volunteer who has donated exceptionally of their time and talents for the benefit of the organization.… Read More »

Frances Wilson Wins 2022 Plutarch Award

May 17th, 2022

Frances Wilson’s Burning Man: The Trials of D. H. Lawrence (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) has won the 2022 Plutarch Award for the best biography of 2021. Wilson, a biographer and critic, is also the author of The Courtesan’s Revenge: The Life of Harriette Wilson, the Woman Who Blackmailed the King (Faber & Faber, 2003) How to Survive the Titanic: The Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay (Harper, 2011), and Guilty Thing: A Life of Thomas … Read More »

Sunlight in the Garden of Biography: A Conversation with Megan Marshall, Winner of the 2022 BIO Award

May 4th, 2022

Interview conducted by Holly Van Leuven, editor of The Biographer’s Craft Editor’s Note: This interview first appeared in the April 2022 issue of The Biographer’s Craft, the members’ publication of BIO. Megan Marshall is the distinguished biographer of The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism (Houghton Mifflin, April 2005, winner of the Francis Parkman Prize and the Mark Lynton History Prize), Margaret Fuller: A New American Life (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, March 2013, winner … Read More »

2022 Rowley Prize Winner Announced

April 8th, 2022

The 2022 Hazel Rowley Prize Committee has named Laura Michele Diener as the winner of this year’s prize. The $2,000 prize is awarded annually to a first-time biographer and is accompanied by a careful reading from an established agent, a year’s membership in BIO, and publicity through the organization. Diener has won the award for her proposal for a biography of the Norwegian-Danish writer Sigrid Undset (1882–1949), whom the committee called “an extraordinary woman who… Read More »

Arrington, Goldstein Win 2022 Caro Research/Travel Fellowships

April 8th, 2022

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The 2022 Caro Fellowship Committee, comprised of Carla Kaplan (chair), Marc Leepson, and Barbara Savage, has named two recipients for this year’s Robert and Ina Caro Research/Travel Fellowships. The fellowships, established in 2018, allow BIO members with works in progress to receive funding for research trips to archives or to important settings in their subjects’ lives. This fellowship is a reflection of BIO’s ongoing commitment to support authors in writing beautifully contextualized and tenaciously researched… Read More »

Marion Orr Wins 2022 Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowship

April 8th, 2022

Marion Orr is the winner of the 2022 Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowship for his proposed biography of former U.S. Congressman Charles Diggs Jr. Orr’s reintroduction of the consequential, but forgotten legislator impressed the committee.  2022 Frances Rollin Prize Committee chair Eric K. Washington said, “Orr’s lucid prose and keenly paced narrative engaged us through the uneven landscape of American legislative politics towards an ill-fated horizon.” “Diggs’s illustrious career was marred by personal troubles that eventually… Read More »

BIO Announces Finalists for 2022 Plutarch Award

March 28th, 2022

The Plutarch Committee of Biographers International Organization (BIO) is proud to announce their Shortlist for the 2022 prize for the best biography of the year, published in English–the only award of its kind made by fellow biographers. In the opinion of the Committee, the five finalists demonstrate virtues of fine narrative, deep research, outstanding and artful literary construction, as well as a determination to tell the truth about the subject that are a model for… Read More »

BIO Announces Longlist for 2022 Plutarch Award

March 7th, 2022

Longlisted for BIO’s 2022 Plutarch Award—the only major award made by fellow biographers for the year’s best biography, published in English—are the 10 titles listed at the link below. 2021 Plutarch Award Committee Chair Nigel Hamilton said of assembling the longlist: “The judges were deeply impressed by the level of biographical professionalism, intelligence, research, style, and originality demonstrated in the nearly 200 biographies that were carefully considered for the prize. These were books published in… Read More »

BIO Announces Zoom Event with Gerald Howard

February 28th, 2022

Update: The recording of this event is available here.  The next session in our online workshop series “How to Read Biographies Like a Writer” has been scheduled for March 30 (7 p.m. Eastern/6 p.m. Central). The hourlong conversation will feature an esteemed publishing veteran, Gerald Howard, and his intriguing selection: the late Patricia Bosworth’s Montgomery Clift, which he describes as “the best celebrity biography (so-called) of the past fifty years” and a… Read More »

BIO 2022 Conference Registration is Open!

February 17th, 2022

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The 2022 BIO conference will take place online Friday through Sunday, May 13–15, 2022. Panels, social hours, and roundtables are live and take place in real time. Other events are prerecorded and may be watched at your convenience, as indicated. The panels will also be recorded and available to conference participants a week or two after the conference itself. REGISTER HERE Detailed session information is available here. The cost of registration is $49 for… Read More »

Megan Marshall Wins 2022 BIO Award

February 11th, 2022

Megan Marshall is the winner of the 13th BIO Award, bestowed annually by the Biographers International Organization, to a distinguished colleague who has made major contributions to the advancement of the art and craft of biography. Marshall is the author of three biographical works: The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism (Houghton Mifflin, 2005), winner of the Francis Parkman Prize, Mark Lynton History Prize, and Massachusetts Book Award in Nonfiction, as well as… Read More »

BIO Zoom Happy Hour on Feb. 22

February 10th, 2022

Chase away the winter blues with an hour of social networking with your fellow biographers. It’s been almost three years (!) since our last in-person conference, in May 2019. We miss getting to mingle with old friends and hear how their projects are going, as well as meeting new biographers and learning about their projects. The BIO Online Event Committee therefore invites you to our first virtual happy hour, where you can meet and socialize… Read More »

BIO Announces Zoom Event with Anne Zimmerman

January 3rd, 2022

The recording of this event is available here.  BIO’s “Reading Biography Like a Writer” series continues with its third Zoom event, featuring Anne Zimmerman on Thursday, January 27, at 7 p.m. (Eastern Time). In conversation with Anne Boyd Rioux, Anne Zimmerman will discuss what biographers can learn about the craft from the recently published Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am (HMH 2021). Julia Cooke’s Come Fly the … Read More »

BIO 2022 Fellowships and Prizes

December 14th, 2021

BIO encourages all members to review its three fellowships, now accepting applications for 2022. Please share information about the Rollin Fellowship and the Rowley Prize, which are open to nonmembers, with your friends, colleagues, and networks. The Hazel Rowley Prize The annual Hazel Rowley Prize is open to first-time biographers. The winner receives $2,000; a year’s membership in BIO; registration to the annual BIO Conference; and publicity for the author and project through BIO’s website… Read More »

BIO Announces Zoom Event with Debby Applegate

November 10th, 2021

Update: The recording of this event is available here. BIO’s “Reading Biography Like a Writer” series continues with its second Zoom event, featuring Debby Applegate on Tuesday, December 7, at 7 p.m. (Eastern Time). In conversation with Holly Van Leuven, Applegate will discuss what biographers can learn about the craft from Nancy Milford’s groundbreaking feminist biography Zelda: A Biography (Harper & Row, 1970). The book explores the tumultuous relationship between Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, a… Read More »

BIO Presents its 2021 Editorial Excellence Award to Bob Bender of Simon & Schuster

October 26th, 2021

Update: The recording of this event is available here. Bob Bender will receive BIO’s 2021 Editorial Excellence Award, presented annually to an outstanding editor of biography, on Thursday, November 18 from 7 p.m to 8 p.m. Eastern, at an online event featuring several of his authors: Marie Arana, David W. Blight, Scott Eyman, and Jeff Guinn. Registration for the Zoom event is available at this link. Bender is Vice President and Executive Editor… Read More »

Join Us for a Special Zoom Workshop with Ruth Franklin

October 3rd, 2021

    Update: The recording of this event is available here.   Please join us for a special Zoom workshop with Ruth Franklin as she discusses what biographers can learn about writing biography from closely reading one of her favorites, The Quest for Corvo: An Experiment in Biography (1934), in which A.J.A Symons attempts to chronicle the life of an elusive writer whom he discovers to be part priest, part con man. She will… Read More »

New BIO Roundtables and a Special YA Biography Event

July 9th, 2021

BIO is introducing two new roundtables for members. These are opportunities for members to meet once a month or so via Zoom to network and discuss their projects. Please contact the hosts to join. —Science biography (including nature and medicine): Gabriella Kelly-Davies —Global biography (to discuss the challenges of writing global and international biography): Victoria Phillips And the YA Biography roundtable, hosted by Heidi King, is welcoming new members and is holding a… Read More »

David Levering Lewis Looks at Two Black American Leaders in BIO Conference Keynote

June 8th, 2021

After receiving the 2021 BIO Award from Pamela Newkirk, David Levering Lewis spoke on “Black Biography Matters: A Prophet and A President.” The prophet was W. E. B. Du Bois, the subject of Levering’s two-volume, Pulitzer Prize-winning biography. The president was Barack Obama. Lewis started his talk by giving a mini-bio of an unnamed figure: A biracial American who did not face the extreme discrimination other Blacks did, thanks in part to having one white… Read More »

BIO Honors Award Winners at Conference

June 8th, 2021

As it does every year, BIO recognized the winners of several awards on the first day of its 2021 virtual conference. The presentations and winners’ remarks were prerecorded; winners of all but two of the awards had already been announced. You can see a video of the award presentations here. Shepard Service Award On the video, attendees learned that Sonja D. Williams was the winner of the Ray A. Shepard Service Award, given to… Read More »

A. N. Wilson Wins 2021 Plutarch Award

May 21st, 2021

A. N. Wilson’s The Mystery of Charles Dickens (HarperCollins) has won the 2021 Plutarch Award for the best biography of 2020. Wilson is a prolific writer, whose previous books include biographies of Charles Darwin, Prince Albert, C. S. Lewis, and Queen Elizabeth II, among many others. He is also a prize-winning novelist. Named after the famous Greek writer, BIO awards the Plutarch to the best biography of the year, chosen by a committee of five… Read More »

Four Win Chip Bishop Fellowships

May 7th, 2021

Gabriella Marie Kelly-Davies, Paula Broussard, Trina Young, and Helen Bain are the winners of this year’s Chip Bishop Fellowships. Each will have the fee waived for the upcoming BIO Conference, held online May 14-16. Kelly-Davies is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Sydney. Broussard is a freelance writer from Los Angeles. Young, from Maryland, writes about popular music. Bain is a Ph.D. candidate at King’s College, London. The Chip Bishop Fellowship was established by… Read More »

Rachel L. Swarns Wins Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowship

April 10th, 2021

Rachel L. Swarns is the winner of the 2021 Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowship for her proposal of an as yet untitled, multigenerational biography of an enslaved Black family torn apart by the 1838 slave sale that saved Georgetown University from financial ruin. The committee was impressed by Swarns’s lucid, engaging narrative as she highlighted slavery’s devastating impact on a family fatefully separated when “the nation’s most prominent Jesuit priests sold 272 enslaved men, women and… Read More »

Need Help Paying the BIO Conference Fee? Apply for the Chip Bishop Fellowship

April 9th, 2021

Honoring the late Chip Bishop, a former BIO Board member, this fellowship for biographers-in-need covers the annual conference fee. For 2021 only, there will be 10 Chip Bishop Fellowships offered. Students and other aspiring biographers in financial need are encouraged to apply. (If a winner has already paid for the conference, the fee will be refunded.) To apply, please respond to the four questions listed under How to Apply. The deadline is May 1, … Read More »

Afridi, Dunkle Win 2021 Caro Fellowships

April 9th, 2021

Humera Afridi and Iris Jamahl Dunkle are the 2021 winners of BIO’s Robert and Ina Caro Research/Travel Fellowship. Afridi, a New York-based writer of Pakistani origin, is working on The Book of Secrets: The Extraordinary Life of Noor Inayat Khan, a biography of a World War II heroine, mystic, poet, author, and musician. Khan was an Indian American woman who posthumously became a renowned and decorated war hero for her role in guerrilla tactics… Read More »

BIO Announces Finalists for Plutarch Award

April 7th, 2021

Biographies of Malcolm X, Jimmy Carter, and Charles Dickens are in the running for the 2021 Plutarch Award, which will go to the best biography of 2020, as chosen by  a distinguished panel of BIO members. The winner will be announced on May 16 during the 11th BIO Conference. You can see the five finalists as well as the other five books that made the longlist for the award, here.… Read More »

BIO Hosts Online Event with Peniel E. Joseph

April 6th, 2021

Peniel E. Joseph discussed his The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. in a conversation with author and poet Ed Pavlic. You can see a video of the conversation here. Members of the Biographers’ Circle generously donated to this fundraising event. Gayfryd Steinberg, a member of BIO’s Advisory Council, and her husband Michael Shnayerson organized this philanthropic group in 2019 to support BIO’s fellowships and… Read More »

Tanya Paperny Wins Hazel Rowley Prize

April 1st, 2021

Tanya Paperny is the 2021 winner of BIO’s Hazel Rowley Prize for her proposal for Tender/Fierce: The Life and Death of My Revolutionary Prababushka. The committee was impressed by Paperny’s gripping prose about an important story of political tyranny that has been little told from a biographical perspective. “In 1938, my great-grandmother Tatiana Ivanovna Shatalova-Rabinovich was executed by the Soviet secret police and dumped in a mass grave where hundreds would soon lie,” Paperny writes.… Read More »

BIO Zoom Workshop: Biography and Storytelling – A Conversation with Candice Millard

March 16th, 2021

How do biographers create compelling narratives from the facts of history? In her captivating slice-of-life biographies, BIO Award winner Candice Millard shows us how it’s done, with stirring and highly effective results. In this BIO workshop, which you can see here, Candice spoke about her passion for research and her disciplined approach to crafting narrative biography in a conversation with BIO President Linda Leavell. Biographers at any level of experience can admire and learn… Read More »

BIO Conference Preview: Writing the First Biography of Your Subject: A Q&A with Debby Applegate and Abigail Santamaria

March 8th, 2021

Debby Applegate is the author of The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher (Doubleday, 2006), winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Biography; and Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age (forthcoming from Doubleday, November 2, 2021). Abigail Santamaria is the author of Joy: Poet, Seeker, and the Woman Who Captivated C. S. Lewis (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015), and I Am Meg: The Life of Madeleine… Read More »

BIO Announces Longlist for Plutarch Award

February 24th, 2021

A distinguished panel of judges composed of BIO members has selected 10 nominees for the 9th annual Plutarch Award, which is the only international literary award for biography judged exclusively by biographers. “The 2020 Plutarch Committee was well aware that we were judging last year’s biographies during a year like no other,”  says Kate Buford, Plutarch Award Committee Chair. “The books under consideration had not only to be stellar examples of the craft of biography,… Read More »

BIO Zoom Workshop: Biography of Science, Medicine, and Innovation

February 16th, 2021

What particular challenges and opportunities lie in writing about the lives of pioneers in the fields of science, medicine, and technology? Three distinguished panelists share their experiences, ranging from making technical information accessible to general and young adult audiences, to debunking “racial champion” myths and revealing “warts-and-all” about legendary subjects. Watch a video of the workshop here. Panelists: Rayvon Fouché is Professor of American Studies in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Purdue University.… Read More »

David Levering Lewis Wins 2021 BIO Award

February 8th, 2021

By Kitty Kelley David Levering Lewis is the winner of the 12th BIO Award. This prize is bestowed annually to a distinguished colleague who has made major contributions to the advancement of the art and craft of biography. Lewis, 85, an American historian, is the Julius Silver University Professor and Professor of History at New York University. He is the first author to have won two Pulitzer Prizes for Biography for his successive volumes on… Read More »

BIO Workshop on Biography of Creation

January 14th, 2021

Biography of Creation: Writing about Artists, Musicians and Culture Three biographers with a tantalizing variety of books discuss the special challenges associated with writing about artists and other creative talents. Watch a video of the event here. They address topics of use to any veteran or aspiring biographer, but also focus on writing with authority on the arts and cultural history. Who are you writing for and how technical should your language be? How… Read More »

First-time Biographers Can Apply for Hazel Rowley Prize

January 8th, 2021

BIO’s Hazel Rowley Prize is given to the author of an exceptional book proposal for a full-length biography. In addition to a $2,000 award, the winner will have their proposal evaluated by an established literary agent. They will also receive a year’s membership in BIO, along with registration for the annual BIO Conference, and publicity for the author and project through the BIO website, The Biographer’s Craft newsletter, and social media. The prize is part… Read More »

Call for Submissions for the Rollin Fellowship

December 7th, 2020

Apply here.… Read More »

BIO Virtual Workshop: BIO’s Coaches Answer First-Time Biographers’ Questions about Proposal Writing and Promotion

November 21st, 2020

Three accomplished biographers who have worked with other writers to help bring their biographies to life answered questions about proposal writing and promotion. You see the video here. Moderator: Marlene Trestman is the author of Fair Labor Lawyer: The Remarkable Life of New Deal Attorney and Supreme Court Advocate Bessie Margolin, and is now writing Most Fortunate Unfortunates: New Orleans’s Jewish Orphans’ Home, 1855-1946 for LSU Press. The former Special Assistant to Maryland’s Attorney… Read More »

BIO Honors Gayatri Patnaik

November 19th, 2020

On November 9, BIO hosted a virtual event honoring Gayatri Patnaik, winner of the 2020 Editorial Excellence Award. Taking part were three of her authors: Imani Perry, Marcus Rediker, and Jeanne Theoharis, along with literary agent Tanya McKinnon. You can see a video of the event here.  Patnaik is Associate Director and Editorial Director of Beacon Press, where for 18 years she has edited and published many books on race, ethnicity, and immigration. A… Read More »

BIO Workshop: Coaches Answer First-Time Biographers’ Questions about Research and Writing

October 27th, 2020

If  you missed this live Zoom workshop, you can watch the video here. Three accomplished biographers who have worked with other BIO members to help bring their biographies to life answer questions about research and writing. Panelists: Kate Buford, Carl Rollyson, and Carol Sklenicka Moderator: Anne Boyd Rioux… Read More »

BIO Announces New Fellowship in Support of African American Lives

October 8th, 2020

By Eric K. Washington, with Sarah Kilborne, Anne Boyd Rioux, and Sonja Williams BIO is pleased to announce the new Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowship for African American Biography. The Rollin Fellowship will award $2,000 to an author working on a biographical work about an African American figure (or figures) whose story provides a significant contribution to our understanding of the Black experience. The deadline for applications is February 1, 2021. The Rollin Fellowship is… Read More »

On Being “Frank”

October 8th, 2020

By Eric K. Washington One could say Carole Ione, also known professionally as IONE—a playwright, poet, diarist, and frequent co-creator with her longtime spouse, the late composer Pauline Oliveros —has grown accustomed to long waits. As chair of BIO’s Black Lives Matter Committee, I recently had the privilege of informing Ione that Frances Anne Rollin Whipper (1845–1901) would be the namesake of a new $2,000 fellowship next spring, to be offered for a biography-in-progress of… Read More »

Biographies Live on Despite COVID

September 11th, 2020

COVID-19 has upset publishers’ schedules for releasing new books, which might explain the large number of notable biographies coming out in the last few months of 2020 (some were postponed from spring releases). Traditional cradle-to-grave works, group biographies, and books about “hidden figures” are among the books generating interest among media outlets, before their fall and winter publication. We’re highlighting here just some of the books likely to garner critical and popular attention, because of… Read More »

Fair Use: Q&A with the Experts

August 7th, 2020

On June 9, Brandon Butler and Peter Jaszi took part in a virtual workshop for BIO on fair use for biographers. Here, Butler and Jaszi answer two follow-up questions on the topic. You can see a recording of the workshop here, and read BIO’s Statement on Best Practices regarding fair use here.  Q: Taking into account fair use doctrine, when do we—and when don’t we—have to pay licensing fees in order to use… Read More »

BIO Workshop: Agents Discuss the State of the Publishing Industry

July 23rd, 2020

You can see a video of this workshop here. Three agents discuss the state of the publishing industry during the pandemic, particularly for biography and related nonfiction, as well as the agent-author relationship. Faith Childs is President of Faith Childs Literary Agency in New York and represents novelists and nonfiction writers, including biographers, historians, critics and journalists. For three decades she has been actively engaged in efforts to increase the representation of people of… Read More »

Race, Racism, and Biography

July 10th, 2020

Six BIO members shared their views on race and biography for the July issue of The Biographer’s Craft: Black Lives/Young Readers by Ray Anthony Shepard Archival Interventions: Reconstructing Life on the Margins of History by Pamela Newkirk Biography Matters by Patricia Bell-Scott Before There Was Karen, There Was Miss Anne by Carla Kaplan The Sword and the Shield by Peniel E. Joseph Biography Has Mattered to Black Lives by Eric K. Washington  … Read More »

Black Lives Matter to BIO

June 15th, 2020

During this historic summer of 2020, Black Lives Matter is garnering support nationally and internationally. For biographers and readers of biography, black lives matter, and writing black lives matters. Six BIO members will contribute essays to the July issue of The Biographer’s Craft about black lives, racism, and how they relate to biography. Here, in the meantime, are biographies of African-Americans by BIO members. Alexandrov, Vladimir. The Black Russian, 2013. Bell-Scott, Patricia. The Firebrand … Read More »

BIO Workshop: Living Subjects

June 9th, 2020

On Wednesday, June 24, BIO presents “Living on the Edge: Writing Biography of a Living Subject.”  Kai Bird (author of a forthcoming biography of President Jimmy Carter), David Greenberg (John Lewis), and Will Swift (Joan Baez) will talk about the the craft of writing an authorized or unauthorized life of a living subject. This form of biography requires juggling the skills of a journalist (tracking down key sources and interviewing them) and a historian (doing… Read More »

BIO Welcomes New Board Members and a New Vice President

June 9th, 2020

By Linda Leavell BIO members recently elected a new vice president, Sarah Kilborne, and three new board members: Natalie Dykstra, Steve Paul, and Eric K. Washington. Like BIO’s membership at large, members of BIO’s Board of Directors come from diverse backgrounds and practice the art of biography in multiple print and non-print media. Sarah Kilborne has chaired BIO’s Publicity and Social Media Committee for the past two years. Thanks to her initiative and enthusiasm for… Read More »

BIO Workshop: Making Full Use of Fair Use

May 29th, 2020

You can see a video of this workshop here. This meeting is free and open to all who register.  Fair use—the right of biographers and other writers, under limited conditions, to quote, paraphrase, summarize, and reproduce the copyrighted words and images of our subjects and others, without paying fees—is embedded in the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. Our distinguished panel of experts cuts through the almost universal confusion about fair use to illuminate this… Read More »

BIO Workshop: Promoting Your Book During the Pandemic 

May 21st, 2020

This meeting is free and open to all who register. May 27, 2020 01:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada) Jennifer Richards and Rachel Tarlow Gul from Over the River Public Relations will share what they have learned about how book promotion is changing during the COVID-19 pandemic. They will share their insights and strategies and explain the role of a publicist and how to hire one. Former Random House, Inc. executives, Richards and… Read More »

Sonia Purnell Wins 2020 Plutarch Award

May 16th, 2020

Sonia Purnell’s A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II (Viking/Penguin) has won the 2020 Plutarch Award for the Best Biography of 2019. The Plutarch is the world’s only literary award given to biographers by biographers. Named after the famous Greek writer, BIO awards the honor to the best biography of the year, chosen by a committee of five distinguished biographers. The award comes with… Read More »

Jay Prosser Wins Hazel Rowley Prize

May 9th, 2020

Jay Prosser is the 2020 winner of BIO’s Hazel Rowley Prize for his proposal for Empire’s Loving Strangers: Journeys Through an Asian-Jewish Camphorwood Chest, a biography that explores one Jewish family’s experiences and connections across empires and centuries. Prosser is a reader in humanities at the University of Leeds in England, where he has taught since 1999. His book was previously shortlisted for the Tony Lothian Prize for the best unpublished biography, which is… Read More »

BIO Announces Winners of Caro Fellowships

April 28th, 2020

BIO’s Robert and Ina Caro Research/Travel Fellowship Committee (Deirdre David, Marc Leepson, and Steve Paul) is pleased to announce the selection of the 2020 winners: Lance Richardson and Lynne Bermont. Richardson, who lives in Austin, Texas, is working on True Nature: The Pilgrimage of Peter Matthiessen (under contract to Knopf/Pantheon [US] and Chatto & Windus [UK]). The $2,500 award will enable him to travel to Dolpo, in remote Nepal, the landscape that inspired Mattheissen’s best-known… Read More »

Mayborn/BIO Fellow Looks at Two Subjects, Two Cultures

April 9th, 2020

Working on a dual biography of a relative who crossed paths with the Chiricahua Apache chief Geronimo, Morgan Voeltz has faced several challenges. She has also come to a conclusion that is probably familiar to many biographers: “Neither of these characters is entirely a hero,” she said, “and neither is entirely a villain.” Voeltz spoke about her experience working on the biography (her first), at a talk on February 20, at the Women’s International Study… Read More »

New Hidden Figures Fellowship Replaces Mayborn/BIO Fellowship

April 9th, 2020

James McGrath Morris, the driving force behind the Mayborn/BIO Fellowship, is helping to launch a new fellowship program to assist aspiring authors working on a book about a lesser-known figure who merits a biography. The Santa Fe Hidden Figures Fellowship will provide a grant of $1,000, a two-week stay in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in a casita at the historic Acequia Madre House in cooperation with the Women’s International Studies Center (WISC), dinner five nights… Read More »

BIO Announces Finalists for 2020 Plutarch Award

April 6th, 2020

BIO’s Plutarch Award Committee has chosen five finalists for the 2020 Plutarch Award for the best biography of 2019.  The selected titles include the third book in a multi-volume biography of Lincoln, a look at the lives of renegade anthropologists, and the story of an American spy during World War II. “It’ been a remarkable year for biography,” said Caroline Fraser, Plutarch Award Committee Chair. The finalists have emerged from an exceptional long list that… Read More »

Bio Announces Longlist for 2020 Plutarch Award

February 3rd, 2020

BIO’s Plutarch Award jury has nominated 10 books for the Plutarch Award, honoring the best biography of 2019. The Plutarch is the only international literary award judged and presented by biographers. BIO’s Plutarch jury will choose five finalists from the longlist and announce the winner on May 16 at the 11th Annual BIO Conference in New York. This year’s nominees, in alphabetical order by the author’s last name, are: All the Powers of Earth: … Read More »

BIO Hires Michael Gately as Executive Director

January 12th, 2020

BIO’s Board of Directors has hired Michael Gately to serve as the organization’s executive director. His duties include working with BIO’s Program Committee to organize the annual conference; working with other committees to publicize and administer BIO’s various awards; and assisting the board with administrative responsibilities. Gately assumed his new, part-time job on January 6, 2020. A graduate of Princeton University, Gately has wide experience in publishing and education. His previous positions include being the… Read More »

What’s Love Got to Do with It? A Passionate Biographer Talks about Getting to Know Her Subject

December 10th, 2019

By Dona Munker, New York Correspondent Every serious biographer knows that only the most intense engagement with a subject can compel the writer to spend years in the archives and construct a narrative that has the energy it needs to carry both writer and reader across the finish line. Which is why, as Janice P. Nimura suggested to an audience at the City University of New York Graduate Center in October, biographers always long to… Read More »

Ileene Smith Receives 2019 Editorial Excellence Award

November 18th, 2019

Ileene Smith, winner of BIO’s 2019 Editorial Excellence Award, received her award on November 13 at the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Smith has been vice president and executive editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux since 2012. She is also editorial director of the Jewish Lives series published by Yale University Press and the Leon D. Black Foundation. Smith has previously been the recipient of the… Read More »

Hermione Lee Wins 2020 BIO Award

November 9th, 2019

By Justin Spring Dame Hermione Lee, Emeritus Professor of English Literature, University of Oxford, is the winner of the 11th annual BIO Award, a prize bestowed yearly by the Biographers International Organization to a distinguished colleague who has made a major contribution to the advancement of the art and craft of biography. Lee will receive the honor on May 16, at the 2020 BIO Conference at the Graduate Center of the City University of New… Read More »

BIO, Other Organizations Issue Statement on Fair Use

November 9th, 2019

By Kai Bird Perhaps a biographer’s worst nightmare is to be told by his or her publisher’s lawyers that he or she cannot quote from all those colorful diaries and letters and must instead rewrite his or her manuscript so as to only paraphrase or summarize these sources. This happened to Ian Hamilton in 1986, when he was sued by the subject of his biography, J. D. Salinger. Random House compelled Hamilton to rewrite his… Read More »

A Tribute to James Atlas (1949–2019)

October 11th, 2019

By Anne C. Heller He could be seen among gatherings of biographers wherever we meet: at festivals and symposia, on prize committees, at literary parties, leading panels of his distinguished friends in explorations of their craft, gallantly introducing new biographers to colleagues and readers with a keen and generous word of praise. His standards were old fashioned, unusually high, and deeply literary, and his praise will be remembered and cherished by the unknowable number of… Read More »

First-time Biographers, Apply Now for the Rowley Prize!

October 11th, 2019

Biographers International Organization (BIO) is now accepting applications for the Hazel Rowley Prize. The prize rewards a biography book proposal from a first-time biographer with: funding (a $2,000 award); a careful reading from an established agent; one year’s membership in BIO (along with registration to the annual conference); and publicity for the author and project through the BIO website, The Biographer’s Craft newsletter, etc. The prize is a way for BIO—an organization of biographers, agents,… Read More »

Sign Up for the New BIO Quarterly Newsletter

October 11th, 2019

Have you signed up to receive The Latest News in Biography quarterly newsletter? You can read the premiere September 2019 issue here. We hope you will share the newsletter with your colleagues and readers. Please subscribe here. Do you have biography news you would like to share for future newsletters? Let us know!… Read More »

Ileene Smith Wins Editorial Excellence Award

September 13th, 2019

Ileene Smith is the winner of the 2019 Editorial Excellence Award, given each year by BIO to an outstanding editor, from nominations submitted by BIO members. Smith has been vice president and executive editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux since 2012. She is also editorial director of the Jewish Lives series published by Yale University Press and the Leon D. Black Foundation. Smith has previously been the recipient of the PEN/Roger Klein Award, the Tony… Read More »

Morgan Voeltz Swanson Wins Mayborn Fellowship

August 9th, 2019

Morgan Voeltz Swanson won the Biography Fellowship awarded annually at the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference, held in July at the University of North Texas. The fellowship is cosponsored by BIO and BIO co-founder James McGrath Morris. With her fellowship, Swanson receives a two- to three-week residency in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and mentoring from Morris during her stay. In addition, she will receive complimentary admission to the 2020 BIO Conference and a $500 stipend. During… Read More »

Video Highlights from the 2019 BIO Conference

July 18th, 2019

Here are some highlights from the 2019 BIO Conference, held in New York City on May 17-19. You can see the morning plenary with David Remnick, Stacy Schiff, and Judith Thurman, and Nigel Hamilton introducing 2019 BIO Award winner James McGrath Morris, who gave the keynote speech.… Read More »