2025 Plutarch Award Shortlist Announced

April 22nd, 2025

A distinguished panel of judges from the Biographers International Organization (BIO) is proud to announce the five books shortlisted for the 2025 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.

This year’s five shortlisted titles and detailed information are listed below in alphabetical order by author’s name. Information about the longlist titles is available here.

Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar by Cynthia Carr
“Shaved her legs and then he was a she,” Lou Reed sang in “Walk on the Wild Side,” his song about Candy Darling and other New York City counterculture icons of the 1960s and 1970s. As Carr demonstrates in this haunting and deeply sympathetic portrait, it wasn’t anywhere near that easy. From Candy’s years growing up in Long Island—as a child who “looked like a girl dressed in boy’s clothing,” she was abused by her father as well as her peers—and continuing through her glamorous yet down-and-out twenties, when she was crashing in friends’ spare rooms even as Andy Warhol made her one of his “superstars,” her life was marked by discrimination, poverty, and physical trauma, which culminated in hormone treatments that likely contributed to her tragic death from stomach cancer at age twenty-nine. Working with archival interviews done by a close friend of Candy’s as well as her own detailed research, Carr insists on her subject’s individuality even as Candy comes to represent something larger: the immense bravery of living as a transgender person at a time when it was illegal for men even to wear women’s clothing in public. 

The Icon and the Idealist: Margaret Sanger, Mary Ware Dennett, and the Rivalry That Brought Birth Control to America by Stephanie Gorton
Deeply researched, engagingly written, and with urgent timeliness, The Icon and the Idealist explores the shared goals and contentious rivalry of the two very different women who led the fight for female reproductive freedom in the United States. On the one hand, the icon: radical, attractive, and flamboyant Margaret Sanger, a former New York City slum nurse who founded the nation’s first birth control clinic in Brooklyn and later Planned Parenthood. On the other, the idealist: plain-looking, college-educated Mary Ware Dennett, who, after getting ditched for another woman by her architect husband, left New England for bohemian life in New York City. Initially friends and allies, both Sanger and Dennett believed that a woman’s freedom depended on her ability to control childbearing. They clashed, bitterly, over strategy. Gorton deftly avoids the trap of a right/wrong dichotomy and instead portrays the nuanced, flawed humanity and heroic strengths of each reformer.

John Lewis: A Life by David Greenberg
Greenberg succeeds admirably in breaking through the encrusted story of an icon to reveal the figure beneath the myths. The John Lewis brought to life in this meticulously reported work overcomes not only the brutal racism of the Jim Crow South but his own doubts and vulnerabilities as he moves through the stations of the cross of the 1960s civil rights movement and on to an astonishing second act as the “conscience of Congress” during seventeen terms in Washington. This is a classic, straightforward biography, and the depth of Greenberg’s research shines through, illuminating the importance of John Lewis through hundreds of interviews, archival documents, FBI files, and most of all the empathetic but honest sensibility of the author. 

The Scapegoat: The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham by Lucy Hughes-Hallett
With a novelist’s eye for the extraordinary, Hughes-Hallett conjures an entire bygone world: the masques, dances, art, food, and attitudes towards “effeminacy,” among other curious subjects, of Jacobean era England. At the center of it all is George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, who rose from humble beginnings to become the favorite—and lover—of King James I, as well as (in the words of his unreliable detractors) “a devil, a spotted monster, a comet that disrupted the natural order.” Hughes-Hallett sketches Villiers with obvious sympathy, and her portrait is stylish, vivid, and frequently surprising. This biography mixes sexual politics with passages on warfare and Westminster, making for an engagingly modern take on a dramatic period of history. 

The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon by Adam Shatz
Long after the death in 1961 of thirty-six-year-old psychiatrist and revolutionary Frantz Fanon, his theories of decolonization have shaped contemporary revolutions while fascinating and polarizing intellectuals and artists around the world. Biographer Adam Shatz has parlayed his lifelong interest in this “thinker of global significance” into a compelling biography of Fanon’s journey from Martinique to France and finally Algiers—a book that, as Shatz writes, is deeply tuned into the “gaps, silences, tensions, and contradictions” of this “nomad who never stopped looking for a home.”

The winner of the 2025 Plutarch Award for the Best Biographer of 2024 will be announced on Friday, June 6, at the annual BIO Conference in Washington, D.C. Information about the conference can be found here.

Shennette Garrett-Scott and Fara Dabhoiwala win 2025 Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowships

April 20th, 2025

Shennette Garrett-Scott and Fara Dabhoiwala are the recipients of the 2025 Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowship, awarded for biographical works-in-progress that significantly advance our understanding of the Black experience. The selection committee was particularly struck by the engaging clarity of their prose and how these distinguished academics bring complex histories vividly to life for a broad readership.

Garrett-Scott won for her project, Titan: The Life of Maggie Lena Walker, a biography of the pioneering early 20th-century financier and civic leader. Walker was the first Black woman in the United States to charter and lead a bank, and her visionary leadership helped establish Richmond, Virginia’s Jackson Ward as a nationally recognized “cradle of Black capitalism.”

Dabhoiwala won for his project, Black Genius: In Search of Francis Williams, which explores the life of an Enlightenment-era polymath born to enslaved African parents in Jamaica at the close of the 17th century. Educated as a free man in England, Williams later returned to Jamaica, where, as a well-positioned figure, he established a school for free Black children.

Shennette Garrett-Scott is an award-winning scholar and public historian. She serves as the Paul and Debra Gibbons Professor and Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies at Tulane University. A leading authority on Black business history, she specializes in African American women’s enterprise, labor, and activism. Her acclaimed book, Banking on Freedom: Black Women in U.S. Finance Before the New Deal (2019), has received numerous honors, including awards from the Southern Historical Association, the Association of Black Women Historians, and the Organization of American Historians (OAH). Her forthcoming book, Black Enterprise: How Black Capitalism Made America (W. W. Norton), is slated for publication in 2026.

Fara Dabhoiwala is a Professor of History at Princeton University, specializing in the social, cultural, and intellectual history of the English-speaking world from the Middle Ages to the present. Prior to joining Princeton, he spent two decades on the faculty at the University of Oxford, where he is now a life fellow of All Souls College and Exeter College. He is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books, The Guardian, and the London Review of Books, and has produced radio and television programs for the BBC and other outlets. Dabhoiwala is the author of the widely acclaimed The Origins of Sex: A History of the First Sexual Revolution (2012), which has been translated into several languages, and of What Is Free Speech? The History of a Dangerous Idea, forthcoming this year.

BIO’s Rollin Fellowship, named for Frances (“Frank”) Anne Rollin Whipper, one of America’s first recorded African American biographers, seeks to help remediate the disproportionate reflection of Black lives and voices in published biography and to encourage diversity in the field. BIO launched the Rollin Fellowship in 2020 and first presented an award of $2,000 to a single winner in May 2021 and again in 2022. As of May 2023, with a generous donation from Kitty Kelley, BIO increased the award to $5,000 each for two winners. The fellowship also awards the recipients a year’s membership in BIO, registration to the annual BIO Conference, and publicity through BIO’s marketing channels. This year’s Rollin Prize Committee consisted of Eric K. Washington (chair), Tamara Payne, and A’Lelia Bundles.

Dawn Porter, American Documentary Filmmaker, Wins 2025 BIO Award

April 7th, 2025

Photo: Kevin Scanlon

Dawn Porter has been awarded the 2025 BIO Award, an honor bestowed annually by the Biographers International Organization, to a distinguished colleague who has made significant contributions to the art and craft of biography.

Porter is an acclaimed American documentary filmmaker and founder of Trilogy Films, known for her storytelling on social justice, history, and cultural icons. Her celebrated documentaries, including Trapped, John Lewis: Good Trouble, and The Lady Bird Diaries, air on platforms such as HBO, Netflix, CNN, and PBS. Her recent work, Luther: Never Too Much, highlights the life and legacy of Luther Vandross. Produced with Sony Music Entertainment, Jamie Foxx’s Foxxhole, and Colin Firth’s Raindog Films, this intimate portrayal of the Grammy-winning artist was released in theaters and premiered on CNN/MAX on January 1, 2025.

Porter’s achievements are widely recognized. Trapped earned a Peabody Award and the Sundance Special Jury Prize for Social Impact Filmmaking, while John Lewis: Good Trouble won the 2021 NAACP Image Award. She received the Critics’ Choice Impact Award in 2022 and Gracie Awards in both 2022 and 2023. Recently, Porter was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, awarded the National Humanities Medal by former President Joe Biden, and received the IDA Career Achievement Award.

Porter’s 2024 MSNBC series, The Sing Sing Chronicles, offers unprecedented access to the Sing Sing Correctional Facility, providing a raw look at justice and redemption. Coincidentally, Porter’s Lady Bird documentary was based on a book by BIO member Julia Sweig, who also served as an executive producer for the film.

A former attorney, Porter holds degrees from Swarthmore College and Georgetown Law. Known for elevating marginalized voices and illuminating U.S. history’s lesser-known stories, she is a prominent figure in documentary filmmaking. She resides in New York City.

Of her award, Porter said, “It is truly an honor to receive this award. I feel extraordinarily lucky that my career affords me the opportunity to immerse myself in the stories of so many fascinating and influential people. Thank you BIO for recognizing documentary biography as a discipline!”

“Having Dawn Porter as this year’s BIO Award recipient widens our lens on biography beyond books to include insightful and illuminating documentaries about Congressman John Lewis, Vernon Jordan, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, White House photographer Pete Souza, and Luther Vandross,” says awards committee member A’Lelia Bundles, author of Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance. “Her films have brought these American stories to life for millions of viewers on several networks and streaming platforms including ESPN, HBO, PBS, CNN, and Netflix.”

The BIO Award recognizes a colleague who has made distinguished contributions to the art and craft of biography. Previous honorees are (in alphabetical order): Kai Bird, Taylor Branch, Robert Caro, Ron Chernow, Richard Holmes, Kitty Kelley, Hermione Lee, David Levering Lewis, Megan Marshall, Candice Millard, James McGrath Morris, Arnold Rampersad, Stacy Schiff, Jean Strouse, and Claire Tomalin.

Porter will deliver the keynote address at the 2025 BIO Conference on Friday, June 6th in Washington, DC.

2025 BIO Conference Registration Now Open!

February 26th, 2025

Registration for the 2025 BIO Conference is now open. Co-sponsored with the Leon Levy Center for Biography, the two-day event will occur both in person and online June 5-6, 2025, at The National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Please note: topic-specific roundtables, which have traditionally been held during lunch the second day of the conference, will be held virtually one week before the conference.

Attending in person provides rich opportunities for socializing with fellow biographers and choosing from various panels. It comes at an affordable price of $295 before April 1 and $345 thereafter. For those who prefer streaming access only to selected panels and presentations, the cost is just $49 for members. Those needing financial assistance may also apply for a Chip Bishop Fellowship here.

Click here for more detailed program information. Click here to register for the conference via Eventbrite.

The conference will again feature panels, workshops, off-site tours, short readings of new books by members, presentations of the Biblio Award and fellowship winners, and the much-anticipated announcement of the Plutarch Award for the Best Biography of 2024.

BIO aims to provide a safe, welcoming environment for everyone. The Board of Directors asks all registrants to read the BIO Code of Conduct on the registration form and agree to abide by it. Please direct questions about registration to Michael Gately, BIO’s executive director.

2025 Plutarch Award Longlist Announced

February 25th, 2025

The 2025 Plutarch Award longlist has been decided. This year’s award committee consists of BIO members Ruth Franklin (chair), Vanda Krefft, Lance Richardson, David Maraniss, and Lisa Napoli.

“The 2025 Plutarch Committee reviewed close to 150 books by first-time and experienced biographers, issued by major presses and small academic publishers, on subjects who made their lives in worlds as different as ancient Rome and modern-day Hollywood,” says Franklin. “Many took the traditional cradle-to-grave approach; a few left us debating whether they should even be called biographies. According to the standards set by earlier committees, we looked for a balance of rigorous research, irresistible writing, and original ideas. Some of these books have already appeared on many other ‘top ten’ and ‘best of’ lists; we’re excited to bring attention to others that will likely be new to you. All of them opened up new worlds to us or offered new perspectives on the familiar.”

The titles, listed in alphabetical order by authors’ last names, are as follows:

Max Boot, Reagan: His Life and Legend (Liveright)

Political columnist Max Boot interviewed over 100 of Reagan’s aides, friends, and family members, and researched thousands of newly available documents to write what critics call “the best biography of Ronald Reagan to date.” Boot contextualizes Reagan’s life and provides a nuanced look at the 40th president.

Cynthia Carr, Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Cynthia Carr puts Candy Darling, a transgender icon and Warhol film star, back into the spotlight in this meticulously researched biography. Candy Darling died at the young age of 29, in 1974, a time in which conversations about gender identity were just beginning.

Margalit Fox, The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: The Rise and Fall of an American Organized-Crime Boss (Random House)

Fredericka Mandelbaum’s rise from tenement poverty to vast wealth in Gilded Age New York City was not a simple rags-to-riches tale. Margalit Fox’s well-researched and flamboyantly told biography captures the fascinating story of a woman who rose through the ranks of New York City society by becoming a criminal mastermind.

Stephanie Gorton, The Icon & the Idealist: Margaret Sanger, Mary Ware Dennett, and the Rivalry That Brought Birth Control to America (HarperCollins)

Stephanie Gorton provides a richly researched and bold perspective on the clash between two women—Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett—whose activism led the way to the modern discourse over women’s reproductive freedoms. Gorton weaves details of how race, class, and gender, as well as the Great Depression and the eugenics agenda impacted the fight for bodily autonomy and access to birth control into this portrait of rivals whose work affected generations to come.

David Greenberg, John Lewis: A Life (Simon & Schuster)

Most people know of John Lewis’s work in the civil rights movement, but David Greenberg’s biography goes beyond this, covering Lewis’s rise into politics, his work as a voting rights activist, and his dedication to nonviolence and justice. Greenberg uses sources ranging from archives to interviews with almost 300 people, as well as footage of Lewis speaking from his hospital bed in Selma to create a fully dimensional picture of this icon of civil rights and freedom.

Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Survival Is A Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde (Macmillan)

Alexis Pauline Gumbs is the first researcher to fully explore the depths of Audre Lorde’s manuscript archives. As a result, she has written a biography that captures Lorde’s teachings, creativity, resilience, and her deep engagement with the planet itself in a way that does justice to this force of poetic nature.

Lucy Hughes-Hallet, The Scapegoat: The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham (Harper)

In a biography that reads much like a novel, Lucy Hughes-Hallet explores the world of the Duke of Buckingham, James I’s confidant, advisor, and lover, and the dynamic world of early modern England.

Heath Hardage Lee, The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon: The Life and Times of Washington’s Most Private First Lady (Macmillan)

Heath Hardage Lee shows the elusive Pat Nixon as few have seen her. While the press portrayed this First Lady as elusive and “plastic,” Nixon did important work for humanitarianism, equal rights, and political policy. This biography portrays a woman that deserved her accolade as the “Most Admired Woman in the World.”

Adam Shatz, The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon (Macmillan)

This is the thrilling story of Frantz Fanon, the intellectual activist who wrote revolutionary works about race and the psychology of power. His work challenged white supremacy and racial capitalism and still resonates today.

Jackie Wullschläger, Monet: The Restless Vision (Penguin Random House)

Drawing on thousands of letters and unpublished resources, Jackie Wullschläger reveals a new perspective on the life of one of the most important painters of the 19th century, Claude Monet. The author shows how his tumultuous love life impacted his painting and gives readers a new understanding of Monet’s work as well as his life.

The winner will be announced during the 2025 BIO Conference, occurring June 5 and 6 at The National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

BIO partners with Troy University to Sponsor National Conference on Black Biography

January 21st, 2025

BIO will host the first major national conference on Black biography in over 40 years. Telling the Stories of Black Lives through Biography will be co-sponsored by Troy University-Montgomery, Alabama, and will take place on March 21-22, 2025. The conference will feature a full day of speakers, panel discussions, receptions, and other activities.

Telling the Stories of Black Lives through Biography is the brainchild of author and longtime BIO board member Ray Anthony Shepard, who says of the conference, “On March 21 and 22, 2025, as the nation begins to commemorate its founding, a cadre of biographers and biography enthusiasts will gather in Montgomery, Alabama, to consider this critical question: How can we honestly celebrate the 250th anniversary of the American Republic without reckoning with the role of the slave system and its impact on America today? Montgomery is a symbolic forge of Black lives inside America—where the heat of slavery flamed, and the hammer of civil rights toughened the resolve of a 21st-century America.”

The conference keynote speaker will be A’Lelia Bundles, author of On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker, a New York Times Notable Book about her entrepreneurial great-great-grandmother and the nonfiction inspiration for Self Made, the fictional Netflix/Warner Bros. series starring Octavia Spencer. Her latest book, Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance, the first major biography of her great-grandmother, will be published by Scribner on June 10, 2025.

David Greenberg will also be a featured speaker at the conference. He is a professor of history and journalism and media studies at Rutgers University. His latest book, John Lewis: A Life (Simon & Schuster, 2024), has been called “panoramic and richly insightful” (Brent Staples, The New York Times) and a biography that “captures Lewis’s life, achievements, and times with heart-stopping precision” (Booklist).

Learn more about the conference and register here.

Read the press release.

Call for 2025 BIO Conference Proposals

June 21st, 2024

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 Washington, D.C. Our tentative theme is “Potomac Fever.” Please refer to the programs of past conferences for guidance.

To propose a panel, send an email here with “BIO Conference Proposal” in the subject line and your last name in the file name of any attachment. The proposal shall include:

• A title
• Your name and contact information
• A description of the panel (about 100–150 words)
• If possible, a list of potential panelists and a moderator. Panelists should be published biographers or other experts on the topic, and together they should represent a diversity of perspectives and backgrounds. It is not necessary to obtain commitments from them before submitting the proposal.

There is no guarantee of acceptance of any proposal, and accepted proposals are subject to modification by the Program Committee to create a balanced conference. The committee will notify authors of proposals no later than December 1.

Application deadline:  August 30, 2024.

If you have questions, please direct them here.

The 2024 BIO Conference is Now in Progress!

May 16th, 2024

The 2024 BIO Conference is now underway at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York. You can view the digital conference program here.