Biographers International Organization

In this week’s episode we interview Alison M. Parker, author of Unceasing Militant: The Life of Mary Church Terrell, published by the University of North Carolina Press in December 2020. Parker’s book is the first full-length biography of Terrell, one of the most prominent African American activists of her time, and whose career bridged the late nineteenth century to the civil rights movement of t...

In this week’s episode, we interview Janice P. Nimura, author of The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine, published in January 2021 by W. W. Norton & Company. Her previous book, Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey from East to West and Back, was a New York Times notable book in 2015. Her essays and book reviews have appeared in The New...

In this week’s episode, we interview former lawyer and college professor Jayne E. Zanglein, author of The Girl Explorers: The Untold Story of the Globetrotting Women Who Trekked, Flew, and Fought Their Way Around the World, published March 2, 2021, by Sourcebooks. Zanglein was interviewed in her home in North Carolina on March 18th, 2021, via Zoom by writer and BIO member Lisa Napoli.   &nbsp...

In this week’s episode, we interview Martha Ackmann, author of These Fevered Days: Ten Pivotal Moments in the Making of Emily Dickinson, published Feb 25, 2021, by W. W. Norton & Company. Ackmann’s award-winning books include The Mercury 13: The True Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of Space Flight, and Curveball: The Remarkable Story of Toni Stone, First Woman to Play Profession Baseball...

In this week’s episode, we interview Stephen Heyman, author of The Planter of Modern Life: Louis Bromfield and the Seeds of a Food Revolution, published April 14, 2020, by W.W. Norton & Company. Heyman, a former features editor for The New York Times Style Magazine, also has written for The Times, Slate, Vogue, and many other publications. He was interviewed in his home in Pittsburgh on March...

In this week’s episode, we interview Hilary Holladay, author of The Power of Adrienne Rich: A Biography, published November 17, 2020, by Nan A. Talese. Holladay was interviewed in her home in Orange Country, Virginia, on March 8, 2021, via Zoom by writer and BIO member Lisa Napoli.

In this week’s episode, we interview three-time biographer David Michaelis, author of Eleanor, a new single-volume biography of first lady Eleanor Roosevelt released by Simon and Schuster in October 2020. Michaelis was interviewed in his home in Westchester County, New York, on February 11, 2021, via Zoom, by writer and BIO member Lisa Napoli.

In this week’s episode, we interview Leslie Brody, author of  Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy, published in December, 2020 by Seal Press. Brody was interviewed in her home in southern California via Zoom on December 23, 2020, by writer and BIO member Lisa Napoli.

We’re back…and we wish nothing but the best for you in 2021! In this week’s episode, we interview Philip Clark, author of  Dave Brubeck: A Life in Time , a biography of jazz pianist, Dave Brubeck. Clark was interviewed by writer and BIO member Lisa Napoli via Zoom on December 10th, 2020.

This week we feature an archived presentation from the City University of New York’s Leon Levy Center for Biography. In October 2013, distinguished historian and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Levering Lewis delivered the sixth annual Leon Levy Biography Lecture. Levering Lewis is the author of critically acclaimed biographies of W.E.B. DuBois and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This week we feature an archived interview from the City University of New York’s Leon Levy Center for Biography. Author Silvana Paternostro was interviewed by editor Cristobal Pena about her book, Solitude & Company: The Life of Gabriel Garcia Marquez Told with Help From His Friends, Family, Fans, Arguers, Pranksters, Drunks and a Few Respectable Souls. Published by Seven Stories Press in 201...

This week we feature an interview with veteran journalist Jonathan Alter. Alter’s fourth presidential biography, His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life, was published by Simon & Schuster in October 2020. It’s the first full-length biography of the oldest living president in American history. Alter is a long-time contributor and political analyst for NBC and MSNBC, and recently he was interv...

This week we feature an archived “live” presentation from the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Leon Levy Center for Biography. On September 25, 2019, historian David Nasaw, an award-winning author of biographies about Joseph P. Kennedy, William Randolph Hearst, and Andrew Carnegie, delivered the Levy Center’s 12th Annual Lecture. Nasaw’s engaging presentation was titled...

This week we feature an archival interview from the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Leon Levy Center for Biography. Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Jeffrey C. Stewart and David Levering Lewis discussed Stewart’s biography, The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke, published by Oxford University Press in December 2017. This interview was recorded on September 21, 2018.   Jeffrey C. Stewart David...

This week we feature an archival interview from the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Leon Levy Center for Biography. Hermione Lee, distinguished British biographer, former president of Oxford University’s Wolfson College, and winner of the 2020 BIO Award , was interviewed by fellow award-winning author Gary Giddins. Lee’s books include biographies of writers Willa Cather, Edi...

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...

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 Le...

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 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.

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. Photo by Philip Bermingham

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. Photo by Philip Bermingham

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.

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.

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.

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.