Annual Conference
Annual Conference Panels
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10:15 AM–11:15 AM
Tools and Strategies for Research, Organizing, and Writing
Moderator: Steve Paul
Panelists: Timothy Christian, Caleb J. Gayle, Carl Rollyson
It’s a long way from index cards to 21st-century software but many biographers find themselves immersed in massive amounts of material and wondering if they have the right tools to manage it. What are some tricks of the trade and useful ideas from experts: Old standbys Microsoft Word and Excel work for many people. So does Scrivener. And what about Evernote and CamScanner, or other document scanning apps? Panelists will also share a variety of useful and reliable research resources (hello, newspapers.com).
Graphic Biographies
Moderator: Brian Jay Jones
Panelists: Ken Krimstein, Dan Nadel
Inspired at least in part by the powerful and successful Maus books by Art Spiegelman, a new generation of artists and cartoonists have expanded the genre of narrative life stories told in visual formats. What kind of research, structuring, and writing decisions go into creating a graphic biography? What does the market look like today for this kind of work?
What Editors Want
Moderator: Will Swift
Panelists: Amy Caldwell, William Frucht, John A. Glusman, Hilary Redmon
This panel will explore what top editors are looking for from biographers in the current market where publishing tastes and trends are constantly changing. The editors will discuss how biography fits into their publishing lists, what conventional and inventive approaches work, and what subject areas and/or historical eras are most salable. They will offer biographers practical advice for setting priorities and avoiding pitfalls in writing proposals and manuscripts.
Crossing Borders: Issues in Writing a Transnational Biography
Moderator: Patricia Laurence
Panelists: Mary Ann Caws, Celia Stahr
Many contemporary biographers cross national borders to write about subjects who live in different countries, cultures, religions and languages. When an American biographer ventures into new terrains, the life and work of a subject may be seen anew as it is placed in an international matrix that frees the subject from cultural perspectives that may limit discussions in their own country. Some writers are welcomed for their comparative perspectives and some misunderstood or criticized for “trespassing” on cultural terrains. Cultural understanding in the world may now be at a low point, but it is through art, as Eudora Welty says, “that one country can nearly always speak reliably to another, if the other can hear at all. Art, though, is never the voice of a country; it is an even more precious thing, the voice of the individual, doing its best to speak, not comfort of any sort, indeed but truth.” This panel will discuss the risks, difficulties, reception and joys of their work in crossing borders.
11:30 AM–12:30 PM
When Biography Is Not a Book
Moderator: Laurie Gwen Shapiro
Panelists: Barbara Kopple, Penny Lane, Greg Young, Daniel Zalewski
What does it take to tell life stories beyond the boundaries of a hard-cover book? Filmed documentaries, long-form journalism, and, increasingly, the art of audio narratives and podcasts offer a bounty of opportunities and alternatives to book-length biography.
Trick or Treat? Can You Trust Your Subject’s Autobiography?
Moderator: James McGrath Morris
Panelists: Angela V. John, Louise (Lucy) W. Knight, Judith P. Zinsser
At first sight autobiographies and memoirs seem to be veritable treasure-troves for the biographer. They appear to take us directly to our subjects and provide the personal touch that can so often be missing. But how valuable are such ‘ego documents’? Can we be over-reliant on them? Are they not frozen snapshots, reflecting just one point in time, so that they can misleadingly be taken to represent their creators’ views for once and for all? How dependable is a person’s view of her/himself? Does the autobiography/memoir perhaps hoodwink us into thinking that we ‘know’ that person? How much do we invest in our subject and might our biographies unwittingly become a version of our own autobiography?
Book Promotion in the Age of Social Media
Moderator: Lisa Napoli
Panelists: Liz Dubelman, Allison Gilbert, Brian Jay Jones
Do you need Twitter, etc. to succeed as an author? Will a Facebook campaign land you on a bestseller list? What kind of promotion will your publisher, if you have one, engage in? It’s one sort of excruciating to research, write, and find a publisher for a book; it’s another to get it out in the world. Come here how some others are navigating the all-encompassing always-on world of book marketing in the age of social media.
Race, History, Legacies
Moderator: Caleb J. Gayle
Panelists: Gene Andrew Jarrett, Kevin McGruder, Rachel L. Swarns
The field of Black biography has expanded exponentially as historians, journalists, and biographers uncover long-hidden stories of America in archives, documents, periodicals and material closets. Publishers have responded, especially since the social upheavals of 2020, with an increasing effort to share the stories that emanate from Black Americans, Black culture, and from the race-related tragedies that have defined the nation’s long history.
3:15 PM–4:15 PM
Popping the Questions: The Art of the Interview
Moderator: Holly George-Warren
Panelists: Anthony DeCurtis, Sheila Weller
Biographers who are also veteran music and popular culture journalists (Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, New York Times) offer insider tips on the art of the interview with a diversity of subjects, from celebrities to behind-the-scenesters. They’ll share strategies for approaching difficult sources, for interviewing and writing about living subjects, and for managing such issues as conflicting memories and reconciling remembered accounts with documented facts.
Secrets and Lives: Ethical Dilemmas in Biography
Moderator: Megan Marshall
Panelists: Paul Fisher, Ruth Franklin, Abigail Santamaria
When it comes to seeking clues to our subjects’ secrets, what boundaries are uncrossable? Once private matters are uncovered, are there limits to disclosure? And what about the un-recoverable, when there are powerful hints but no solid evidence? This panel expands on an issue raised in BIO’s Facebook group after one member asked for feedback about software capable of removing the top layer of ink from crossed-out passages in her subject’s private journals. Does our allegiance to the craft grant us permission to overrule our subject’s wishes? What is our responsibility to readers? To what extent are ethical boundaries determined by content (how potentially explosive is the revelation?), or distance in time and the passage of generations? Is the biographer’s internal compass a reliable guide? How should the biographer accommodate to 21st-century expectations regarding what was once taboo? Panelists will discuss the quandaries they’ve faced and the decisions they’ve reached.
The Art of the Proposal
Moderator: Eric K. Washington
Panelists: Faith Childs, Sam Hiyate, Emily Wunderlich
Drafting and refining a book proposal has become one of the essential ingredients to selling your book and yourself to potential agents and editors. As many biographers find, it’s one of the most difficult but important parts of the process and one way writers can focus their goals and convince even themselves of the necessity of their projects.
Biography and the Law
Moderator: Kathleen Stone
Panelists: Beverly Gage, Marion Orr, Brad Snyder
Law and justice rather than writers’ legal issues are the subjects of this panel: Panelists will share their experience and stories of how the lives of Supreme Court justices, lawyers, lawmen, and lawmakers draw biographers and readers into the grand sweep of history.
4:30 PM–5:30 PM
Back to the Archives
Moderator: Victoria Phillips
Panelists: Susannah Hollister, Emily Setina, Carolyn Vega
As authors of current and forthcoming biographies, our panel will discuss the following questions: How can we pitch Asian or Asian American themed content for broad audiences? What surprises and challenges come from researching across language, borders, and specific art forms? How do we gain the trust of our subjects’ families, and how does the past reveal itself to the digital age?
Group Biography
Moderator: Sarah S. Kilborne
Panelists: Kerri Greenidge, Justin Martin, Janice P. Nimura
There’s no one way to tell a life story, of course, and there’s no one way to write a group biography. Many writers find that focusing on multiple subjects provides a compelling, comprehensive, and satisfying way to recount a movement or a moment in time. How do biographers select group subjects and then organize and handle those threads and inter-relationships as the arc of their book unfolds?
The Trial: A Window on the World of Publishing
Moderator: Gayle Feldman
Panelists: Katy Hershberger, Mary Rasenberger, Gail Ross
The federal antitrust court case brought by the Justice Department against Random House’s proposed merger with Simon & Schuster riveted the publishing world over three weeks in 2022. Testimony by editors, agents, and others brought some eye-opening details about the inner workings of publishing houses and how they treat authors and their potential books. Staff members of Publishers Lunch covered the trial extensively and published their reports and testimony transcripts in The Trial. This panel will delve into the details and what it all means for aspiring and veteran authors.
Complicated Icons
Moderator: Carla Kaplan
Panelists: David Maraniss, Tamara Payne, Stacy Schiff
What do you do when your subject is iconic but contradictory, legendary but also perplexing? How can famous figures be brought back to life as the full and rounded people they once were when readers may believe they already know all that there is to know about them? This panel features eminent biographers who have struggled with complicated and difficult icons, making their characters convincing by devising critical strategies for revealing the demanding truths that enduring legends can all too easily gloss.