Call for Proposals: 2027 BIO Conference
BIO has opened the call for proposals for its 2027 conference, set for next May or June at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. Organizers said exact dates will be announced soon. Proposals are due September 30, 2026.
This Year’s Theme: “Biographical Worlds”
This year’s program theme invites participants to think widely and deeply about the creative work biographers do. Attendee‑organized panel topics could include:
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- Building biographical worlds in traditional biographies and in film, podcasts, or other non‑text formats
- International and non‑US biographical subjects
- US subjects in global spaces
- Seeing America from afar
- Engaging global archives
- Experiments with scale, proximity, and intimacy
- Global imagination, local audience
- Engaging wide readerships
Program Committee co‑chairs Karin Roffman and Mary Chapman invite BIO members to submit proposals for panels, which the Program Committee will review for possible inclusion in the 2027 program.
Panel Categories
The Program Committee seeks proposals for up to 16 one‑hour panels, each featuring three to four speakers, in the following categories:
- FUNDAMENTALS: the fundamental aspects of starting a new biography with which everyone from beginners to seasoned biographers continues to wrestle
- CRAFT: the art of making a biography work
- BUSINESS: the business of biography, including responses from agents, editors, and others
- ISSUES AND INNOVATIONS: issues of interest to a broad range of biographers
The Program Committee also welcomes proposals for programming in non‑traditional formats.
Formats to Consider
Please refer to the programs of past conferences to see the range of formats a “panel” could take, including a roundtable, a series of presentations, or a conversation between the moderator and the panelists with time for Q&A. Below are links to videos of recent panels that were well received by BIO attendees:
How to Submit
Your proposal should be a Word document or PDF labeled with the TYPE of panel you are proposing, followed by the SURNAME of the panel organizer (for example, “CRAFT LASTNAME”). It should include:
- Panel title
- Organizer’s name and contact information (the organizer can serve as either a panelist or a moderator, but must be part of the panel)
- A description of the panel, about 100 to 150 words
- Names, contact information, and brief biographies for three or four confirmed panelists, including one moderator. Ideally, panelists should be published biographers (or authors of biographies with an announced publication date) or experts in their field, and together should represent a diversity of perspectives and backgrounds.
Please submit your proposal as an attachment to an email with the subject line BIO PANEL PROPOSAL to both co‑chairs:
Deadline: September 30, 2026
There is no guarantee of acceptance of any proposal, and accepted proposals are subject to modification by the Program Committee to create a balanced conference. The committee will notify authors of proposals no later than December 1. Presenters will receive a discount on conference registration.