A distinguished panel of judges, all eminent biographers, has selected the final four titles in contention for the Plutarch Award, honoring the best biography of 2018. The Plutarch is the only international literary award judged and presented by biographers.

Following the announcement of the four finalists, BIO voting members around the world will choose the winning biography. The winner will be announced on May 18, 2019, at the 10th Annual BIO Conference in New York.

This year’s finalists, in alphabetical order by author’s name, are:

David W. Blight, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom (Simon & Schuster)

Julie Dobrow, After Emily: Two Remarkable Women and the Legacy of America’s Greatest Poet (W. W. Norton)

Lindsey Hilsum, In Extremis: The Life and Death of the War Correspondent Marie Colvin (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Andrew Roberts, Churchill: Walking with Destiny (Viking)

You can read more about the four finalists here. To see all the books that were nominated, plus eight books that received commendation from the judges, go here.