News | Biographers International Organization

Conference

2026 BIO Conference Registration Now Open!

Registration for the 2026 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 May 28 and 29, 2026, at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. Topic-specific roundtables will be held virtually approximately 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 $395 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 Humanitix. The conference will again feature panels, off-site tours, a workshop, short readings of new books by members, presentations of the BIO Award and fellowship winners, and the much-anticipated announcement of the Plutarch Award for the Best Biography of 2025. 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…

February 16, 2026

News

Register Now for Biography Lab 2026

You can now register for Biography Lab 2026, BIO’s fourth annual online forum, which will take place via Zoom on Saturday, January 24, 2026. This event brings together biographers and publishing professionals for in-depth discussions on the craft and challenges of biography. It welcomes participants of all levels. Register here. The event is free for BIO members and $60 for nonmembers. (The nonmember admission fee includes a one-year BIO membership.) The plenary speaker will be David Denby, staff writer for The New Yorker and author of Eminent Jews: Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, Mailer (Henry Holt & Company, 2025). Denby will explore the research and narrative strategies behind writing an unconventional group biography. The program also features forums led by Brian Jay Jones, Dr. Ashley D. Farmer, and Susan Page, with sessions on creative lives, biographical work without traditional archives, and the uncovering of surprise connections in the lives of prominent women. Full schedule details and additional information are available on the event page.

December 18, 2025

News

Apply for BIO 2026 Fellowships and Prizes

Biographers International Organization (BIO) invites applications for its 2026 fellowships and prizes, which support and celebrate the craft of biography at every stage—from dissertation research to debut works and beyond. These awards recognize exceptional promise, fund essential research, and amplify diverse voices shaping the future of biographical writing. The Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowship Deadline: February 1, 2026 The Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowship awards $5,000 each to two authors working on a biographical project about an African American figure or figures whose story deepens our understanding of the Black experience. Recipients also receive a year’s membership in BIO, registration to the annual BIO Conference, and publicity through BIO’s marketing channels. The fellowship seeks to address the historic underrepresentation and suppression of Black lives and voices in published biographies. It reflects BIO’s commitment not only to supporting working biographers but also to advancing diversity in the field. The Robert and Ina Caro Research/Travel Fellowship Deadline: February 1, 2026 Established in honor of Robert and Ina Caro, this annual fellowship supports biographers with a work in progress who need funding for research trips to archives or key locations in their subjects’ lives. It reflects BIO’s dedication to helping authors produce deeply researched, context-rich…

October 19, 2025

News

New BIO Fellowship Supports Archival Research for Biographers

A new fellowship supporting archival research by biographers is now open for applications. The Clio Fellowship for Archival Research, established by Biographers International Organization (BIO), awards $5,000 to one or more biographers to help fund travel to collections essential to their book projects. Biographers depend on access to letters, manuscripts, and personal papers—primary sources often housed in libraries and archives around the world. Named for Clio, the Greek muse of history and memory whose name means “to make famous,” the fellowship underscores BIO’s commitment to advancing the art and craft of biography by easing the financial challenges of archival research. The fellowship is endowed by Linda Leavell, former BIO president, long-time advocate for biographers, and author of Holding On Upside Down: The Life and Work of Marianne Moore (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013), which won both the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography and BIO’s Plutarch Award. Open to all BIO members writing in English and working on a book-length biography, the Clio Fellowship supports travel to archives relevant to a writer’s project. A publishing contract is not required, and the fellowship may fund one or more recipients each year. Biography is defined broadly as the narrative of an individual’s…

October 17, 2025

News

Beinecke Library to Host Free Biography Symposium Featuring BIO Members

The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University will host Three Conversations on Contemporary Biography on Friday, October 10, 2025, from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The symposium, presented in partnership with Yale Public Humanities, will feature leading voices in the field—including BIO Vice President Heather Clark—alongside Farah Jasmine Griffin, Robin D. G. Kelley, Nathan Kernan, Eileen Myles, and BIO member Francesca Wade. The event is free and open to the public, with lunch and a closing reception provided. Schedule Highlights: 11:45 a.m. — Conversation 1: Heather Clark and Francesca Wade (introduced by Eve Sneider) 12:45 p.m. — Lunch (Mezzanine Level) 1:35 p.m. — Conversation 2: Nathan Kernan and Eileen Myles (introduced by Professor Langdon Hammer) 2:40 p.m. — Conversation 3: Farah Jasmine Griffin and Robin D. G. Kelley (introduced by Beinecke Curator Melissa Barton) 3:45–4:30 p.m. — Closing Reception The symposium will take place at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, 121 Wall Street, New Haven, CT. For full details, visit: campuspress.yale.edu/beineckebiographysymposium

September 19, 2025

Awards

Kate Medina Receives BIO’s 2025 Editorial Excellence Award

Biographers International Organization (BIO) is pleased to announce that Kate Medina is the 2025 recipient of the Editorial Excellence Award. Established in 2014, this annual award honors an editor for outstanding work in the service of biography and literature. Medina will be presented with the award Tuesday, October 7, at the New York Society Library in New York. Register HERE to attend, 6pm - 7:30pm at 53 E. 79th Street. The event is free but seating is limited and registration is required. Scheduled speakers will be Jonathan Darman, Andrea Elliott, Jon Meacham, and Evan Thomas. “The BIO Awards Committee is honored to present this year’s Editorial Excellence Award to Kate Medina, who recently retired from her position as Executive Vice President, Associate Publisher, and Executive Editorial Director at Random House,” says Committee Chair Heather Clark. “There, she edited Isabel Wilkerson, Jon Meacham, Gloria Steinem, Sandra Day O’Connor, Katherine Boo, Tom Brokaw, E. L. Doctorow, Emma Cline, Anna Quindlen, and Tracy Kidder, among many others.” Biographer Jon Meacham adds, “Henry James might well have had Kate in mind when he wrote that we should all strive to be someone on whom nothing is lost.” According to Publishers Weekly, “Medina began her career in…

September 15, 2025

Conference

Call for 2026 BIO Conference Proposals

The 2026 BIO Conference is tentatively scheduled for May 28–29 in New York City, and the Conference Committee—co-chaired by Jared Stearns—invites members to submit panel proposals for consideration. The Committee welcomes proposals in three broad categories: Basics – guidance for beginning biographers Craft – exploring the art and technique of biography Issues, Business, Publishing & Innovations – topics of broad professional interest The conference theme will be announced soon; however, proposals on any relevant topics are encouraged. For inspiration, you may wish to review programs from past BIO Conferences. To submit a proposal, please fill out this Google Form with the following: A panel title Your name and contact information A description of the panel (100–150 words) A list of potential panelists and a moderator (panelists should be published biographers or recognized experts, and the group should reflect a diversity of voices; preliminary names only are fine) Please note: not all proposals will be accepted. The Program Committee may modify selected proposals to create a balanced and engaging conference. Important dates: Proposal deadline: October 1, 2025 Notification of decisions by: December 1, 2025 Panelists and moderators will receive complimentary registration for the conference. Travel and lodging expenses, however, are not covered. Questions? Please contact Jared Stearns. Thank you for…

September 4, 2025

Awards

Valerie Waterhouse Wins Inaugural Kitty Kelley Dissertation Fellowship

Valerie Waterhouse has been named the recipient of the inaugural Kitty Kelley Dissertation Fellowship for her research on Malachi Whitaker (1895–1976), a British working-class writer known for her short stories and memoir. The $25,000 fellowship is awarded to a doctoral student in any department who is writing a dissertation in English that focuses on the life of another person or persons. It is endowed by Kitty Kelley, a founding member of BIO, the author of seven best-selling biographies, and a long-time advocate for biography and biographers. “Being chosen by a committee of published biographers as the inaugural winner of the Kitty Kelley Dissertation Fellowship is a game-changer for me," said Waterhouse. “Writing the first biography of any subject involves long, isolated hours in archives, libraries, on research trips, and in one’s own head. This prestigious affirmation gives me the confidence and support I need to continue and complete my work. Malachi Whitaker was a literary author writing stories about northern working-class people at the time of Virginia Woolf’s upper-class Bloomsbury. Her work fills a gap in English literary history. Thank you, Kitty Kelley, and BIO, for helping to bring attention to her life and work.” “The fellowship selection committee was…

June 30, 2025

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2026 BIO Conference Registration Now Open!

Register Now for Biography Lab 2026

Apply for BIO 2026 Fellowships and Prizes

New BIO Fellowship Supports Archival Research for Biographers

Beinecke Library to Host Free Biography Symposium Featuring BIO Members

Kate Medina Receives BIO’s 2025 Editorial Excellence Award

Call for 2026 BIO Conference Proposals

Valerie Waterhouse Wins Inaugural Kitty Kelley Dissertation Fellowship