BIO 2022 Fellowships and Prizes

December 14th, 2021

BIO encourages all members to review its three fellowships, now accepting applications for 2022. Please share information about the Rollin Fellowship and the Rowley Prize, which are open to nonmembers, with your friends, colleagues, and networks. The Hazel Rowley Prize The annual Hazel Rowley Prize is open to first-time biographers. The winner receives $2,000; a year’s membership in BIO; registration to the annual BIO Conference; and publicity for the author and project through BIO’s website… Read More »

BIO Announces Zoom Event with Debby Applegate

November 10th, 2021

Update: The recording of this event is available here. BIO’s “Reading Biography Like a Writer” series continues with its second Zoom event, featuring Debby Applegate on Tuesday, December 7, at 7 p.m. (Eastern Time). In conversation with Holly Van Leuven, Applegate will discuss what biographers can learn about the craft from Nancy Milford’s groundbreaking feminist biography Zelda: A Biography (Harper & Row, 1970). The book explores the tumultuous relationship between Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, a… Read More »

BIO Presents its 2021 Editorial Excellence Award to Bob Bender of Simon & Schuster

October 26th, 2021

Update: The recording of this event is available here. Bob Bender will receive BIO’s 2021 Editorial Excellence Award, presented annually to an outstanding editor of biography, on Thursday, November 18 from 7 p.m to 8 p.m. Eastern, at an online event featuring several of his authors: Marie Arana, David W. Blight, Scott Eyman, and Jeff Guinn. Registration for the Zoom event is available at this link. Bender is Vice President and Executive Editor… Read More »

Join Us for a Special Zoom Workshop with Ruth Franklin

October 3rd, 2021

    Update: The recording of this event is available here.   Please join us for a special Zoom workshop with Ruth Franklin as she discusses what biographers can learn about writing biography from closely reading one of her favorites, The Quest for Corvo: An Experiment in Biography (1934), in which A.J.A Symons attempts to chronicle the life of an elusive writer whom he discovers to be part priest, part con man. She will… Read More »

New BIO Roundtables and a Special YA Biography Event

July 9th, 2021

BIO is introducing two new roundtables for members. These are opportunities for members to meet once a month or so via Zoom to network and discuss their projects. Please contact the hosts to join. —Science biography (including nature and medicine): Gabriella Kelly-Davies —Global biography (to discuss the challenges of writing global and international biography): Victoria Phillips And the YA Biography roundtable, hosted by Heidi King, is welcoming new members and is holding a… Read More »

David Levering Lewis Looks at Two Black American Leaders in BIO Conference Keynote

June 8th, 2021

After receiving the 2021 BIO Award from Pamela Newkirk, David Levering Lewis spoke on “Black Biography Matters: A Prophet and A President.” The prophet was W. E. B. Du Bois, the subject of Levering’s two-volume, Pulitzer Prize-winning biography. The president was Barack Obama. Lewis started his talk by giving a mini-bio of an unnamed figure: A biracial American who did not face the extreme discrimination other Blacks did, thanks in part to having one white… Read More »

BIO Honors Award Winners at Conference

June 8th, 2021

As it does every year, BIO recognized the winners of several awards on the first day of its 2021 virtual conference. The presentations and winners’ remarks were prerecorded; winners of all but two of the awards had already been announced. You can see a video of the award presentations here. Shepard Service Award On the video, attendees learned that Sonja D. Williams was the winner of the Ray A. Shepard Service Award, given to… Read More »

A. N. Wilson Wins 2021 Plutarch Award

May 21st, 2021

A. N. Wilson’s The Mystery of Charles Dickens (HarperCollins) has won the 2021 Plutarch Award for the best biography of 2020. Wilson is a prolific writer, whose previous books include biographies of Charles Darwin, Prince Albert, C. S. Lewis, and Queen Elizabeth II, among many others. He is also a prize-winning novelist. Named after the famous Greek writer, BIO awards the Plutarch to the best biography of the year, chosen by a committee of five… Read More »