Podcasts

Welcome! Here’s where you’ll find fascinating discussions with biographers from around the country and the world.

If you are a member of BIO and would like to talk about your recently released biography, please contact Jennifer Skoog: jenny.skoog@gmail.com

Podcast Episode #50 – David Blight

This week we feature an archival interview from the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Leon Levy Center for Biography. Distinguished author and Yale University professor David Blight was interviewed by author and CUNY history professor James Oakes. Blight’s Pultizer Prize-winning book, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, was published by Simon and Schuster in 2018. This interview was recorded in front of a Levy Center audience on April 15, 2019. Read More »

Podcast Episode #49 – Bridgett M. Davis

In this week’s episode, we feature an archival interview from the City University of New York’s Leon Levy Center for Biography. Author Bridgett M. Davis was interviewed by author and Columbia University professor Farah Jasmine Griffin about Davis’s book, The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life in the Detroit Numbers. This interview was recorded in front of a live Levy Center audience on February 15, 2019. Read More »

Podcast Episode #48 – Peniel E. Joseph

In this week’s episode, we interview Peniel E. Joseph, distinguished University of Texas at Austin history professor and of author of The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. (Basic Books, 2020) – a biography that explores the lives and philosophies of two iconic African American leaders. This interview was recorded via an online Zoom session in July 2020.… Read More »

Podcast Episode #47 – David O. Stewart

In this week’s episode, we interview David O. Stewart, a versatile novelist and biographer who has examined the political lives of President Andrew Johnson, Aaron Burr, and James Madison. He is currently working on a biography of President George Washington. This interview was recorded in December 2019 in Washington, D.C.… Read More »

Podcast Episode #46 – Kitty Kelley, Part II

In this week’s episode, listen to the second part of our interview with veteran biographer Kitty Kelley. She has written biographies of Oprah Winfrey, the British Royal Family, and Nancy Reagan—just to name a few. Kelley spoke with BIO member John A. Farrell in February 2020 in Washington, D.C.… Read More »

Podcast Episode #45 – Kitty Kelley, Part I

In this week’s episode, we present the first of a two-part interview with veteran biographer, Kitty Kelley. She has written bestselling biographies of Frank Sinatra, the George Herbert Walker Bush family, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Elizabeth Taylor—just to name a few. Kelley spoke with BIO member John A. Farrell in February 2020 in Washington, D.C.… Read More »

Podcast Episode #44 – James H. Johnston

In this week’s episode, we interview James H. Johnston, author of From Slave Ship to Harvard: Yarrow Mamout and the History of an African American Family (Fordham University Press, 2015). This interview was recorded in December 2019 in Washington, D.C.… Read More »

Podcast Episode #43 – Lisa Napoli

In this week’s episode, we interview Lisa Napoli, author of her third book, Up All Night: Ted Turner, CNN and the Birth of 24 Hour News (Abrams Press, 2020). This interview was recorded via an online Zoom session in May 2020.… Read More »

Podcast Episode #42 – Eric K. Washington

In this week’s episode, we interview Eric K. Washington, first-time biographer and author of Boss of the Grips: The Life of James H. Williams and the Red Caps of Grand Central Terminal (Liveright, 2019). This interview was recorded via an online Zoom session in June 2020.… Read More »

Podcast Episode #41 – Ash Carter and Sam Kashner

This week’s podcast features Ash Carter and Sam Kashner, co-authors of  Life Isn’t Everything: Mike Nichols, as Remembered by 150 of His Closest Friends. The episode was recorded in November 2019 in Santa Monica, California. This is our last podcast of the year. Look for new episodes in early 2020.    … Read More »

Speakers

  • Abigail Santamaria
  • Aidan Levy
  • Alan Pell Crawford
  • Alejandro Madrid
  • Alison M. Parker
  • Allison Gilbert
  • Anastasia Curwood
  • Andrew Marble
  • Andrew Meier
  • Andrew Nagorski
  • Angela V. John
  • Annette Gordon-Reed
  • Anthony DeCurtis
  • Ash Carter
  • Ashley Brown
  • A’Lelia Bundles
  • Bernice Lerner
  • Betsy Rohaly Smoot
  • Beverly Gage
  • Beverly Gray
  • Brad Snyder
  • Brian Harker
  • Brian Jay Jones
  • Bridgette M. Davis
  • Bruce Kennett
  • Caleb Gayle
  • Candice Millard
  • Carla Kaplan
  • Carol Sklenicka
  • Caroline Fraser
  • Catherine Reef
  • Cathy Curtis
  • Celia Stahr
  • Chad Williams
  • Channing Gerald Joseph
  • Claudia Dreifus
  • Dan Blank
  • Daniel de Visé
  • Danny Fingeroth
  • Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos
  • David Blight
  • David Hajdu
  • David Levering Lewis
  • David Maraniss
  • David Michaelis
  • David Nasaw
  • David O. Stewart
  • David Remnick
  • David Waldstreicher
  • Dean King
  • Debby Applegate
  • Declan Taintor
  • Diana P. Parsell
  • Dinyar Patel
  • Doug Melville
  • E. James West
  • E. Stanly Godbold
  • Edward O'Shea
  • Eric K. Washington
  • Etta Madden
  • Eugene Meyer
  • Frances Wilson
  • Gaiutra Bahadur
  • Gary Ginsberg
  • Gayle Feldman
  • Gene Andrew Jarrett
  • Gerald Howard
  • Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
  • Gwendolyn Mink
  • Hans Renders
  • Heath Lee
  • Helen Rappaport
  • Hermione Lee
  • Hilary A. Hallett
  • Hilary Holladay
  • Holly Van Leuven
  • Ilyon Woo
  • Imani Perry
  • Iris Jamahl Dunkle
  • J. C. Hallman
  • James Atlas
  • James H. Johnston
  • James McGrath Morris
  • Janice P. Nimura
  • Jayne E. Zanglein
  • Jeff Pearlman
  • Jeffrey C. Stewart and David Levering Lewis
  • Jennifer Homans
  • Jennifer Skoog
  • John A. Farrell
  • John Brady
  • John Carey
  • John Kaag
  • John Markoff
  • Jonathan Alter
  • Jonathan Eig
  • Jonny Steinberg
  • Judith Thurman
  • Judy Tzu-Chun Wu
  • Julie Dobrow
  • Justin Gifford
  • Justin Martin
  • Justin Tinsley
  • Kai Bird
  • Karin Roffman
  • Katherine Flynn
  • Kathleen Stone
  • Kavita Das
  • Kerri Greenidge
  • Kevin McGruder
  • Kitty Kelley
  • Kitty Kelley Part I
  • Kitty Kelley Part II
  • Kostya Kennedy
  • Laurie Gwen Shapiro
  • Lerita Coleman Brown
  • Leslie Brody
  • Li Shan Chan
  • Linda Leavell
  • Lisa Napoli
  • Lydia Moland
  • Marc Leepson
  • Marcia Biederman
  • Marilyn Greenwald
  • Marilyn S. Greenwald
  • Mark Clague
  • mark lee gardner
  • Mark Silver
  • Marko Perko
  • Martha Ackmann
  • Mary Ann Caws
  • Mary V. Dearborn
  • Maryemma Graham
  • Megan Marshall
  • Melinda Ponder
  • Michael Hainey
  • Michael Kranish
  • Molly Ball
  • Monica Szurmuk
  • Natalie Dykstra
  • Neil Baldwin
  • Nicholas L. Syrett
  • Nigel Hamilton
  • Pamela Newkirk
  • Patrick Parr
  • Paul Fisher
  • Paulina Bren
  • Paulina L. Alberto
  • Peniel E. Joseph
  • Philip Clark
  • Philip Short
  • Rachel Jamison Webster
  • Rachel L. Swarns
  • Rachel Shteir
  • Raquel Ramsey and Tricia Aurand
  • Ray Anthony Shepard
  • RJ Smith
  • Robert Samuels 
  • Ruth Franklin
  • Sam Kashner
  • Sarah Burnes
  • Satvinder Juss
  • Sheena Harris
  • Silvana Paternostro
  • Sonja Williams
  • Soyica Diggs Colbert
  • Stacy Schiff
  • Stephen Budiansky
  • Stephen Heyman
  • Steve Hindle
  • Sung-Yoon Lee
  • Susan Page
  • Tamara Payne
  • Tanisha C. Ford
  • Thomas Hertog
  • Tim Duggan
  • Toluse Olorunnipa
  • Tom Reiss
  • Tomiko Brown-Nagin
  • Tonya Bolden
  • Ty Seidule
  • Tyrone McKinley Freeman
  • Vanda Krefft
  • Walter Isaacson
  • Wanda A. Hendricks
  • William Taubman
  • Winston James
  • Yun Li
  • Yunte Huang