Biographers International Organization

The Kitty Kelley Dissertation Fellowship in Biography will provide $25,000 to a doctoral student who is writing a dissertation in English focused on the life of another person or upon the lives of two or more individuals. This generous fellowship is endowed by Kitty Kelley, a founding member BIO and long-time advocate for biography and biographers, as well as the bestselling author of multiple biographical works where she has displayed courage and deftness in writing… Read More »

The 2025 BIO Conference is tentatively scheduled for June 5–6, in Washington, D.C. The Program Committee co-chairs, Natalie Dykstra and Linda Leavell, invite BIO members to submit proposals. The Program Committee will review these proposals for possible inclusion in the 2025 program. The Committee seeks panels that address the concerns of beginning biographers (basics), the craft of biography (craft), issues of interest to a broad range of biographers (issues and innovations), and topics related to… Read More »

Biographers International Organization (BIO) is excited to announce that Yepoka Yeebo’s ANANSI’S GOLD: The Man Who Looted the West, Outfoxed Washington, and Swindled the World (Bloomsbury) is the winner of the 2024 Plutarch Award for the Best Biography of 2023. The Plutarch is the only international prize of its kind. Named after the famous Greek writer, the Plutarch is awarded to the best biography of the year by a committee of five distinguished biographers,… Read More »

The 2024 BIO Conference is now underway at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York. You can view the digital conference program here. The following events and sessions will be live-streamed for virtual attendees: Thursday, May 16, 2024 4:00 p.m.–4:45 p.m.: Member Readings: BIO members read excerpts from their recent biographies. 4:45 p.m.–5:30 p.m.: Presentation Robert and Ina Caro Research/Travel Fellowships, the Chip Bishop Fellowship, the Francis “Frank” Rollin Fellowships, and the Hazel Rowley… Read More »

Krithika Varagur and Keri Walsh are the winners of the 2024 Robert and Ina Caro Travel Fellowships for travel. They will receive $5,000 each for research trips to archives or important settings in their subjects’ lives. Varagur is at work on a group biography, The Singh Princesses: Three Sisters at the End of Empire, to be published by Penguin Press. Varagur will use the fellowship to make a research trip to Germany.   Keri Walsh… Read More »

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.          … Read More »

Ramin Ganeshram and Kevin McGruder are the winners of the 2024 Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowship for biographical works-in-progress that make a significant contribution to our understanding of the Black experience.    Ramin Ganeshram won for her biographical project Stirring Liberty: How George Washington’s Enslaved Chef Transformed American Cuisine and Secretly Cooked His Way to Freedom, a biography of Hercules Posey. Fortuitously after the fact, her proposed book was sold to Simon & Schuster’s 37 Ink… Read More »

A distinguished panel of judges from the Biographers International Organization (BIO) is proud to announce the five books that have been short-listed for the 2024 Plutarch Award, the only international literary award for biography judged exclusively by biographers. These five biographies uphold the high standard set by earlier Plutarch winners for the quality of research, the literary merit of the writing, and the originality and significance of the project. You will find this year’s five… Read More »