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 person provides rich opportunities for socializing with fellow biographers as well as choosing from a variety of panels for a cost of $245 before April 1 and $295 thereafter. For streaming access only to selected panels and presentations, members pay $49. Those in need of financial assistance may apply for a Chip Bishop Fellowship here.

You can find detailed program information here, and registration here.

Led by co-chairs Kate Clifford Larson and Elizabeth Taylor, the BIO Conference Program Committee has created inspired opportunities for discussions and learning.

The James Atlas Plenary on Friday morning will feature a conversation between authors Tamara Payne and Thulani Davis, who have each explored the life of Malcolm X in their work and who together will discuss topical issues and creative angles in biography. Payne, a BIO board member, was a principal researcher and co-author, with her late father, Les Payne, of The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X, which won a National Book Award in 2020 and a Pulitzer Prize in 2021. Davis, author of seven books and a film script for a documentary about W.E.B. Dubois, wrote the libretto for X, The Life & Times of Malcolm X, an opera by Anthony Davis first performed by New York City Opera in 1986 and reprised by the Metropolitan Opera in November 2023.

The 2024 BIO Award winner, to be announced soon, will deliver the keynote address on Friday afternoon.

Panels on biography basics, craft, and publishing—along with sessions on science, artificial intelligence, race, and other subjects—will take place on Friday. Offerings range from “Leadership in Times of Peril in Democracy” to “Intimacy & Boundaries.” Attendees will hear from noted biographers including Kai Bird, Amanda Vaill, John A. Farrell, Samuel Freedman, Tanisha C. Ford, Ruth Franklin, and many more.

The conference will again feature roundtables on many subjects, short readings of new books by members, presentations of the Biblio Award and fellowship winners, and the much-anticipated announcement of the Plutarch Award for the Best Biography of 2023. Opportunities for one-on-one coaching will be offered as well as a workshop on proposal writing.

BIO aims to provide a safe, welcoming environment for everyone. The Board of Directors asks all registrants to read the BIO Code of Conduct, included on the registration form, and agree to abide by it.

Please direct questions about registration to Michael Gately, BIO’s executive director.