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.