The longlist for PEN America’s annual biography prize, which awards $5,000 to a biography of exceptional literary, narrative, and artistic merit, based on scrupulous research, has been announced. Among the 10 nominated writers are three BIO members (listed in bold below). The longlist honorees in alphabetical order (by author) are:  

Reza Aslan, An American Martyr in Persia: The Epic Life and Tragic Death of Howard Baskerville (W. W. Norton & Co.)  

Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality (Pantheon) 

Dan Charnas, Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm (MCD) 

Rich Cohen, The Adventures of Herbie Cohen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) 

Beverly Gage, G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century (Viking) 

Lyndall Gordon, The Hyacinth Girl: T. S. Eliot’s Hidden Muse (W. W. Norton & Co.)  

Ruth Harris, Guru to the World: The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda (Belknap Press at Harvard University Press)  

Jennifer Homans, Mr. B: George Balanchine’s 20th Century (Random House) 

David I. Kertzer, The Pope at War: The Secret History of Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hitler (Random House) 

Aidan Levy, Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins (Hachette Books)  

The judges for the prize are Manu Bhagavan and Silvana Paternostro. Finalists for the prize will be announced later this month. All of the winners of the 2023 PEN America Literary Awards will be revealed at the organization’s Literary Awards Ceremony on March 2.  More information about the awards is available here. 

The Mystery Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 2023 Edgar Awards. Five works have been nominated in the “best critical/biographical” category. You can see them here. 

On January 31, the National Book Critics Circle announced the finalists for its awards to be given for books published in 2022. One BIO member is a finalist for the biography award (her name appears in bold below). The finalists of the latter are:  

Beverly Gage, G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century (Viking) 

Kerri K. Greenidge, The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family (Liveright) 

Jennifer Homans, Mr. B: George Balanchine’s 20th Century (Random House) 

Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman, Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life (Doubleday) 

Aaron Sachs, Up from the Depths: Herman Melville, Louis Mumford, and Rediscovery in Dark Times (Princeton University Press)  

The winners of the National Book Critics Circle Awards will be announced on March 23.  

Writers Victoria has announced the shortlist for the 2023 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship, awarded annually to an Australian writer for a proposed biographical work. The nine finalists can be found on the Writers Victoria website. The winner will be announced on March 8. 

Susan Wider, a BIO member, received the Young Adult Lit­er­a­ture Award at the 72nd Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards for her book It’s My Whole Life: Char­lotte Salomon: An Artist in Hid­ing Dur­ing World War II (Norton Young Readers). Learn more about the awards here.

Applications for two of BIO’s 2023 awards remain open for submissions. The Chip Bishop Fellowship awards $1,000 to one recipient for travel expenses, including transportation costs and child care, needed to attend the BIO Conference. The deadline for applications is April 1, 2023. Learn more here. 

The Hazel Rowley Prize awards $5,000 to a first-time biographer whose book proposal shows exceptional merit. The deadline for applications is March 1, 2023. Click here for more information.  

New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute offers the Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award, a $12,500 grant to support the work of a promising, early career, nonfiction writer on a story that uncovers truths about the human condition. The deadline for applications is March 2, 2023. Additional information is available here. 

The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) is offering more than 20 short-term research fellowships. Most grants provide a stipend of $2,000 for four weeks of research at the society’s facilities in Boston, sometime between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, subject to COVID-19 restrictions. The fellowships are open to independent scholars, advanced graduate students, and holders of a Ph.D. or the equivalent. Fellowships are geared toward specific topics and MHS holdings. Applications are due March 1, 2023. Find more information here. 

For The Bookseller, BIO member and longtime book business reporter Gayle Feldman recapped the state of U.S. trade publishing after the Digital Book World conference, which took place January 15 through January 17, in New York City. In this article, Feldman talks about the repercussions of Penguin Random House’s failed bid to buy Simon & Schuster, how book consumers may respond in the face of a looming recession, and how mandates to return to hybrid work at most major publishing houses and a major employee strike at HarperCollins are affecting the workers who keep the engine of publishing roaring. Read the article here. 

 

In an example of how biographers can aid the historical record, the University of Reading (in the Unite Kingdom) announced last month that it had acquired seven hours of audio interviews conducted between Samuel Beckett and his biographer James Knowlson, which had been hidden for three decades. The recordings will be available as part of the university’s Special Collections. Knowlson said, “Previously, only about three minutes of Beckett’s voice existed, so these tapes provide an extremely rare insight into his life and character.” Read more here. 

A recent article in Esquire, by Sophie Vershbow, considers the ramifications that Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter may have for the book community. Vershbow writes: “The recent chaos at Twitter has left many communities on the platform wondering—what happens if we wake up tomorrow and the lights are off for good? One such community is ‘Book Twitter,’ made up of writers, editors, agents, booksellers, publishers, literary organizations, and everyone in between.” Hear what various authors have to say about the importance of this digital space and what may happen if it disappears here. 

Literary Hub recently published the full text of biographer Craig Brown’s talk delivered at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. It offers many pearls of wisdom, such as: “An entirely comprehensive biography would last as long as its subject’s life—or infinitely longer, given all the other lives that would have intersected with it.” Read the rest of his master class here. 

by Karen Torghele 
sold to Yale University Press 
by Andrew Zack at The Zack Company 

by Judy Pearson 
sold to Mayo Clinic Press
by Dani Segelbaum at Carol Mann Agency

More titles HERE

Michael Burgan 
Nigel Cameron 
Mary Dearborn
Irwin Gellman 
Marilyn Greenwald 
Nigel Hamilton  
Diane Jacobs 
Eve M. Kahn 
Marc Leepson 
Bernice Lerner 
Jon Meacham 
Kevin McGruder 

Lisa Napoli 
Judy Pearson 
Carl Rollyson  
Sydney Ladensohn Stern 
Karen Torghele 
Amanda Vaill 
Eric K. Washington 
Paula Tarnapol Whitacre 
Susan Wider 
Sonja Williams 
Gretchen Woelfle 

Whatever state your biography’s in—vague idea, proposal, well underway—BIO’s experienced biographers can help. BIO offers a one-hour coaching session via phone or email for the member discounted rate of $60. (Coaches may charge more for subsequent hours.) Learn more about the program here.

Are you a student, or do you know one who is interested in biography? BIO now has a special student membership rate. Visit the BIO website to find out more.