Welcome! Here’s where you’ll find fascinating discussions with biographers from around the country and the world.
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Podcast #260 – Jon Meacham, Part II
American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union, published by Random House in February 2026, is the latest book by this Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer and historian. Meacham has authored New York Times bestsellers, including And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle; Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power; American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House; Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship; Destiny and Power: … Read More »
Podcast #259 – Jon Meacham, Part I
American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union, published by Random House in February 2026, is the latest book by this Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer and historian. Meacham has authored New York Times bestsellers, including And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle; Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power; American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House; Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship; Destiny and Power: … Read More »
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Podcast #258 – Hester Kaplan
This author’s Twice Born: Finding My Father in the Margins of Biography was published by Catapult Press in October 2025. Kaplan has authored novels and story collections, including The Edge of Marriage, winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in literary journals and anthologies, including The Best American Short Stories series. She is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Awards, and she was… Read More »
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Podcast #257 – Adam Henig
Baseball’s Outcast: The Story of Ron LeFlore is this author’s latest book, published by Bloomsbury Academic in April 2026. Henig has also penned the well-received Watergate’s Forgotten Hero: Frank Wills, Night Watchman, as well as Alex Haley’s Roots: An Author’s Odyssey, and Baseball Under Siege: The Yankees, the Cardinals, and a Doctor’s Battle to Integrate Spring Training. His writings have appeared in Time, Tampa Bay Times, Washington Independent Review of Books… Read More »
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Podcast #256 – Gayle Feldman
Nothing Random: Bennett Cerf and the Publishing House He Built is the latest book by veteran journalist and author Gayle Feldman. Published by Random House in January 2026, this biography explores the life of a driven young man who vowed to become a great publisher – and did. Feldman has served as a senior staff editor for Publishers Weekly and a U.S. correspondent for The Bookseller. Her features, reviews, and essays have appeared in… Read More »
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Podcast #255 – “Four Paths, One Impossible Dream,” Part VI: Still Writing
In this final episode of our six-part miniseries, we’re in January 2026. Kate’s already researching her next book, and it turns out it connects everything she’s ever written. Kevin has one goal: to finish first. Katie Rose has a draft proposal, three kids under five, and no intention of stopping. And Sara has a message for anyone who’s ever thought about writing a book. BIO Podcast producer Jenny Skoog guides listeners through this series’ finale.… Read More »
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Podcast #254 – “Four Paths, One Impossible Dream,” Part V: Community and Solitude
Sara offers her advice to anyone writing their first book: get a therapist and take a walk. Kate cut a story she loved — about two sisters fighting over politics in 1880 — because it didn’t belong. Kevin is in a race he didn’t sign up for, and Katie Rose is asked if she’s ever thought about quitting. She says no. She wants this book to exist; that’s enough. Part five of our podcast miniseries,… Read More »
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Podcast #253 – “Four Paths, One Impossible Dream,” Part IV: Challenging the Canon
In this fourth episode of our six-part miniseries, Sara finds out that President Lincoln presided over the largest mass execution on American soil, and she wants to know why nobody taught her that. Kevin has a death certificate that answers a question other scholars keep pretending is a mystery. Katie Rose reads congressional testimony from a hundred years ago that could have been written this morning. And Kate has to reckon with the fact that… Read More »
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Podcast #252 – “Four Paths, One Impossible Dream,” Part III: The Business of Biography
The third episode of our six-part miniseries goes behind the scenes of biography’s business realities — the contracts, proposals, and market pressures authors navigate to get their books published. “Four Paths, One Impossible Dream” follows four authors navigating the challenges of writing biography. Over eight months in 2025, BIO Podcast producer Jenny Skoog spoke with comedian Sara Benincasa, tackling Abraham Lincoln; professor Kate Culkin, working on a book about Ralph Waldo Emerson’s daughters; historian Kevin… Read More »
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Podcast #251 – “Four Paths, One Impossible Dream,” Part II: The Work
In the second episode of our special six-part miniseries, the authors share updates on their research and writing. “Four Paths, One Impossible Dream” follows four authors navigating the challenges of writing biography. Over eight months in 2025, BIO Podcast producer Jenny Skoog spoke with comedian Sara Benincasa, tackling Abraham Lincoln; professor Kate Culkin, working on a book about Ralph Waldo Emerson’s daughters; historian Kevin McGruder, who has spent decades researching Harlem Renaissance writer Rudolph Fisher;… Read More »
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