Popular Culture (Jared Stearns)
Group Biography (Lauren Arrington)
Events
2026 BIO Conference
Biographers International Organization welcomes biographers, editors, agents, publishers, and publicity professionals to the 16th annual BIO Conference. BIO is honored to partner with the Leon Levy Center for Biography at CUNY Graduate Center in New York City to host this event.
2026 BIO Conference
The 2026 BIO Conference will take place Thursday, May 28, and Friday, May 29, at CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. Off-site library and archive tours will also be available. Optional pre-conference virtual roundtables will take place the week of May 18.
Visit the Lodging tab for information about discounted room blocks at nearby hotels. Those in need of financial assistance may apply for a Chip Bishop Fellowship here.
BIO members who have a new biography published between June 1, 2025, and May 30, 2026, are invited to participate in the 3-Minute Members’ Reading. Please send the title of your book, the name of its publisher, and the month of publication here.
Face-to-face coaching sessions are available to conference participants who seek advice from an experienced biographer. Each session lasts 45 minutes and costs $50, paid directly to the coach. To request a coaching session, email a one-page description of your project along with a specific question or two.
Program
Optional pre-conference roundtable discussion groups offer biographers with shared interests the opportunity to meet and connect before the conference begins. These small-group conversations are facilitated by a host (named in parentheses below), who will guide introductions, answer questions, and lead a focused discussion.
The roundtables will take place online approximately one week before the conference and are open exclusively to in-person registrants. Each one-hour session is limited to 10 participants, and you may sign up for only one roundtable. A list of roundtable options will be available when you purchase your ticket; please sign up as early as possible, but no later than May 15. Because space is limited, register only if you plan to participate. The roundtable host will contact you with a link shortly before the scheduled meeting.
All times are New York (Eastern Daylight) Time.
Monday, May 18
1:00–2:00 p.m.
Tuesday, May 19
2:00–3:00 p.m.
Science, Medicine, and Technology (Karen Torghele)
Literary Biography (Steve Paul)
First-Time Biographers (Linda Leavell)
Women’s Lives (A’Lelia Bundles)
Literary Biography (Steve Paul)
First-Time Biographers (Linda Leavell)
Women’s Lives (A’Lelia Bundles)
7:00–8:00 p.m.
Overlooked Lives (Pamela Toler)
Military History (Marc Leepson)
Visual and Performing Arts (Natalie Dykstra)
Military History (Marc Leepson)
Visual and Performing Arts (Natalie Dykstra)
Wednesday, May 20
2:00–3:00 p.m.
Politics and Law (Kathleen Stone)
Women’s Lives (Iris Dunkle)
Women’s Lives (Iris Dunkle)
7:00–8:00 p.m.
Social Justice (Louise “Lucy” Knight)
Black Biography (Rachel Swarns and Emily Bernard)
Black Biography (Rachel Swarns and Emily Bernard)
All times listed are New York (Eastern Daylight) time.
Note: Tours are limited to those who signed up in advance. If you would like to participate, you must select the tour of your choosing as a ticket add-on when you register for the conference through Humanitix. Capacity is limited.
10:00–11:30 p.m.
TOUR: New York Public Library (limited to 40)
Welcome reception and archive introductions.
TOUR: Century Association archives (limited to 20)
Experts from the Century Association, a private club founded in 1847 by leading figures in the arts and culture world and housed since the 1890s in a grand neoclassical clubhouse in midtown, will give BIO members a clubhouse tour. Highlights from the art collection, library, and archives will shed light on luminaries, including artists (Hiram Powers, Winslow Homer, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Paul Manship, Romare Bearden), architects (Stanford White, Charles Platt), and writers (William Cullen Bryant, Henry James).
Welcome reception and archive introductions.
TOUR: Century Association archives (limited to 20)
Experts from the Century Association, a private club founded in 1847 by leading figures in the arts and culture world and housed since the 1890s in a grand neoclassical clubhouse in midtown, will give BIO members a clubhouse tour. Highlights from the art collection, library, and archives will shed light on luminaries, including artists (Hiram Powers, Winslow Homer, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Paul Manship, Romare Bearden), architects (Stanford White, Charles Platt), and writers (William Cullen Bryant, Henry James).
10:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
TOUR: New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (limited to 20).
The visit will include a guided building tour, including research resources, and an exclusive show and tell of select treasures from the Music and Recorded Sound Division. After the tour, attendees are invited to explore the Library’s current exhibitions on Magic and the choreographer Martha Graham.
The visit will include a guided building tour, including research resources, and an exclusive show and tell of select treasures from the Music and Recorded Sound Division. After the tour, attendees are invited to explore the Library’s current exhibitions on Magic and the choreographer Martha Graham.
11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
TOUR: New York Historical (limited to 15)
12:00 p.m.
Registration opens, CUNY Graduate Center (365 Fifth Ave, Concourse Level)
1:00–2:30 p.m.
TOUR: NYPL Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (limited to 15)
The Schomburg Center is celebrating its Centennial! Join Associate Director of Collections Dr. Crystal Moten for a tour of the centennial exhibits from a biographical perspective. She will walk you through the current exhibits and highlight the many individuals who helped shape the Schomburg Center into what it is today.
The Schomburg Center is celebrating its Centennial! Join Associate Director of Collections Dr. Crystal Moten for a tour of the centennial exhibits from a biographical perspective. She will walk you through the current exhibits and highlight the many individuals who helped shape the Schomburg Center into what it is today.
1:00–3:00 p.m.
WORKSHOP: Writing Effective Book Proposals (Advance registration required)
A successful book proposal strives to distill your project – efficiently and eloquently – to the agents and editors you pitch. How does your project add to the greater cultural conversation? Why are you uniquely prepared to write this life? How will you tell it, and what new sources, voice, point of view, and conclusions will you offer? Those are among the questions veteran editor Susan Leon will address in this session intended to help you identify what you need to do to create a saleable proposal.
A successful book proposal strives to distill your project – efficiently and eloquently – to the agents and editors you pitch. How does your project add to the greater cultural conversation? Why are you uniquely prepared to write this life? How will you tell it, and what new sources, voice, point of view, and conclusions will you offer? Those are among the questions veteran editor Susan Leon will address in this session intended to help you identify what you need to do to create a saleable proposal.
2:00–3:15 p.m.
TOUR: Morgan Library Special Collections (limited to 15)
Attendees will have the chance to view objects and collections from the Morgan Library & Museum’s Literary and Historical Manuscripts department (LHMS). Curators from the department will be on hand to discuss materials on view and answer questions about the department’s holdings. LHMS preserves the Morgan’s modern manuscripts, with special strengths in nineteenth- and twentieth-century British and American literature, along with key collections such as the Pierre Matisse Gallery archive, the Paris Review archive, and a growing assortment of letters, journals, editing notebooks, and shooting scripts by the filmmaker James Ivory.
Attendees will have the chance to view objects and collections from the Morgan Library & Museum’s Literary and Historical Manuscripts department (LHMS). Curators from the department will be on hand to discuss materials on view and answer questions about the department’s holdings. LHMS preserves the Morgan’s modern manuscripts, with special strengths in nineteenth- and twentieth-century British and American literature, along with key collections such as the Pierre Matisse Gallery archive, the Paris Review archive, and a growing assortment of letters, journals, editing notebooks, and shooting scripts by the filmmaker James Ivory.
3:30–5:00 p.m.
Member Readings & Awards Presentation, CUNY Graduate Center Auditorium
3-Minute Readings by BIO members with biographies published June 1, 2025–May 30, 2026. Space is extremely limited; sign-ups are first-come, first-served. Send book info with publication date, a brief author bio (50-100 words), a high-res cover image, and the subject’s date of birth, to president@biographersinternational.org and tfloreani [at] gmail.com.
Award Presentations: the Robert and Ina Caro Research/Travel Fellowships, the Clio Fellowship, the Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowships, the Hazel Rowley Prize, the Chip Bishop Fellowship, the Biblio Award, and the Ray A. Shepard Service Award.
3-Minute Readings by BIO members with biographies published June 1, 2025–May 30, 2026. Space is extremely limited; sign-ups are first-come, first-served. Send book info with publication date, a brief author bio (50-100 words), a high-res cover image, and the subject’s date of birth, to president@biographersinternational.org and tfloreani [at] gmail.com.
Award Presentations: the Robert and Ina Caro Research/Travel Fellowships, the Clio Fellowship, the Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowships, the Hazel Rowley Prize, the Chip Bishop Fellowship, the Biblio Award, and the Ray A. Shepard Service Award.
5:30–7:30 p.m.
Welcome Reception, The Century Association, 7 W. 43rd St. (near Fifth Avenue), Midtown Manhattan, a short walk from the Graduate Center
All times listed are New York (Eastern Daylight) time. During ticket checkout, in-person attendees must choose which panels to attend during the four sessions on Friday.
All panels and plenaries at CUNY Graduate Center.
8:00–8:40 a.m.
Registration and Breakfast
8:40–9:00 a.m.
Welcome from BIO President Steve Paul and Leon Levy Center Executive Director Kai Bird, Auditorium
9:00–10:00 a.m.
JAMES ATLAS PLENARY, Auditorium
10:15–11:15 a.m.
BASICS
In the Right Hands: Biographers as Collectors
CRAFT
Radical Biography for Teens
BUSINESS
What Do Editors Want?
ISSUES
Life Writing and Difference: A Conversation on Race and Biography
In the Right Hands: Biographers as Collectors
CRAFT
Radical Biography for Teens
BUSINESS
What Do Editors Want?
ISSUES
Life Writing and Difference: A Conversation on Race and Biography
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
BASICS
Using Genealogical Tools to Research Your Biographical Subject
CRAFT
Dancing About Architecture: Writing Biographies of Musicians
BUSINESS
Beyond the Launch: Audience Outreach for the Long Term
ISSUES
Troublemakers
Using Genealogical Tools to Research Your Biographical Subject
CRAFT
Dancing About Architecture: Writing Biographies of Musicians
BUSINESS
Beyond the Launch: Audience Outreach for the Long Term
ISSUES
Troublemakers
12:30–2:30 p.m.
Lunch and Awards Presentation, Auditorium
BIO Award and Keynote Address by T.J. Stiles, followed by presentation of the Plutarch Award
BIO Award and Keynote Address by T.J. Stiles, followed by presentation of the Plutarch Award
2:45–3:45 p.m.
BASICS
The Agents’ View
CRAFT
Experimenting With Biographical Form
BUSINESS
University Presses Make the Grade
ISSUES
The Sixties, Revisited
The Agents’ View
CRAFT
Experimenting With Biographical Form
BUSINESS
University Presses Make the Grade
ISSUES
The Sixties, Revisited
4:00–5:00 p.m.
BASICS
Attention Must Be Paid: Writing about Forgotten Lives
CRAFT
Queering Biography
BUSINESS
Life-Writing for Hire
ISSUES
How 1776 Speaks to Us Today
Attention Must Be Paid: Writing about Forgotten Lives
CRAFT
Queering Biography
BUSINESS
Life-Writing for Hire
ISSUES
How 1776 Speaks to Us Today
5:00–7:00 p.m.
Closing Reception, Graduate Center Concourse Lobby
Face-to-face coaching sessions are available to conference participants who seek advice from an experienced biographer. Each session lasts 45 minutes and costs $50, paid directly to the coach. To request a coaching session, email a one-page description of your project along with a specific question or two to president@biographersinternational.org.
Keynote Speaker
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Title
T.J. Stiles
T.J. Stiles, noted author of bestselling books about historical American figures, has been chosen to receive the 2026 BIO Award from Biographers International Organization (BIO). Established in 2010, the annual award honors an individual who has advanced the art and craft of biography. The award will be presented on May 29, 2026, at BIO’s annual conference in New York City.
Plenary Speakers
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Prizewinning author of eight books and the recipient of the 2015 National Humanities Medal.
Ron Chernow
is the prizewinning author of eight books and the recipient of the 2015 National Humanities Medal. His first book, The House of Morgan, won the National Book Award, Washington: A Life won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography, and Alexander Hamilton—the inspiration for the Broadway musical—won the George Washington Book Prize. He has twice been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and is one of only three living biographers to have won the Gold Medal for Biography of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. A past president of PEN America, Chernow has been the recipient of nine honorary doctorates.
National Book Critics Award finalist whose most recent book is the national bestseller
Brenda Wineapple
is a National Book Critics Award finalist whose most recent book is the national bestseller, Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy and the Trial that Riveted a Nation, named a Best Book of 2024 by The New Yorker, among other publications. Her other books include The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation and Ecstatic Nation: Confidence, Crisis, and Compromise, 1848-1877, both named best books of the year by The New York Times, and the award-winning White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Hawthorne: A Life. A recipient of a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ambassador Award, an American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, two National Endowment Fellowships in the Humanities, as well as a National Endowment Public Scholars Award, she was recently a Fellow at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers and is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She regularly contributes to The New York Review of Books and, previously, was Washington Irving Professor of Modern Literary and Historical Studies at Union College and executive director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography. Her biography of Fiorello La Guardia will be published as part of the Yale University Series of Jewish Lives next year.
Final-year student in the Biography and Memoir Program at CUNY Graduate Center
Brian Kerrigan
is a final-year student in the Biography and Memoir Program at CUNY Graduate Center. After a twenty-year career on Wall Street, and following a lifelong dream to put pen to paper, he is currently working on his first book, a memoir entitled Tertullian’s Balcony, detailing his experiences as a survivor of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.
About the Conference
Of all the programs and services provided to BIO members, the Biographers International Organization is proudest of its annual conference. Each year, BIO brings together some of the finest practitioners of the craft of biography to guide, mentor, encourage, and advise attendees on a wide range of topics related to writing, researching, and selling biography.
The conference also offers a unique opportunity to hear some of biography’s best—and best-known—writers share their stories. During the James Atlas Plenary, prominent biographers such as Douglas Brinkley, Annette Gordon-Reed, David Remnick, Stacy Schiff, T.J. Stiles, and Evan Thomas began the day in casual conversation. The afternoon features a keynote lecture by the recipient of the BIO Award. Past recipients include Robert Caro, Ron Chernow, Arnold Rampersad, Jean Strouse, and Claire Tomalin. Panel sessions throughout the day offer tips for novice biographers, an examination of the craft of biography, and an exploration of issues relevant to seasoned biographers. A highlight of the conference is the presentation of the Plutarch Award for the year’s best biography.
Members tell us one of their favorite things about the conference is the opportunity to meet and mingle with their fellow writers. The BIO conference offers numerous opportunities to socialize and share stories with fellow biographers, from the Friday night cocktail reception to lunchtime roundtables and the Saturday evening closing reception.
What verve, enthusiasm, and warmth I felt at the BIO conference, both from the leadership and from fellow biographers—published and prestigious to unpublished and aspiring! The experience was a mega booster shot for participants who were able to tour the oldest library in our country, listen to presenters who are developing an exciting new approach to our genre, and interact with successful authors/coaches who were willing to share information from marketing techniques to tracking footnotes in a new computer program. The breadth and depth of knowledge held and shared by professional writers like you are truly awe-inspiring.
Besides, we had so much fun—talking, talking, talking and listening, listening, listening! We were among peers who love using good language and sharing experiences and techniques in a mutual goal to bring the achievements of society’s movers and shakers to light.
Martha Nodine
Registration
Register before April 1 to take advantage of the early-bird rate.
BIO Member Admission (until April 1): $295.00 + Sales tax
BIO Member Admission (after April 1): $345.00 + Sales tax
General Admission: $395.00 + Sales tax
Workshop: Book Proposals, 1:00 PM–3:00 PM (Thursday, May 28): $60.00 + Sales tax
Online Only BIO Member Admission: $49.00 + Sales tax
Online Only General Admission: $99.00 + Sales tax
During ticket checkout, in-person attendees must choose which particular panels to attend during the four panel time-slots on Friday.
Online attendees will see all events held in the Auditorium at the Graduate Center, including award presentations and one panel for each session. (Which panels will be streamed online from the Auditorium will be announced in May.)
Optional pre-conference roundtable discussion groups will be online the week before the conference, open only to in-person registrants, Limited to ten participants each. Meet other biographers with similar interests before attending the conference. There will be a list of choices when you purchase your tickets; sign up as soon as possible but no later than May 15. Please do not sign up unless you plan to participate.
Thursday, for in-person registrants, there will be a choice of free optional tours. Choose tours when you register for tickets. Capacity is limited.
Please note that refunds are available only until May 1.
