MAY 17–1 9, 2019 BIOGRAPHERS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE NEW YORK CITY LEON LEVY CENTER FOR BIOGRAPHY THE GRADUATE CENTER CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK The 2019 Plutarch Award Biographers International Organization is proud to present the Plutarch Award for the best biography of 2018, as chosen by our members. Congratulations to the ten nominees: The 2019 BIO Award Recipient: James McGrath Morris James McGrath Morris first fell in love with biography as a child reading newspaper obituaries. In fact, his steady diet of them be- came an important part of his education in history. In 2005, after a career as a journalist, an editor, a book publisher, and a school- teacher, Morris began writing books full-time. Among his works are Jailhouse Journalism: The Fourth Estate Behind Bars; The Rose Man of Sing Sing: A True Tale of Life, Murder, and Redemption in the Age of Yellow Journalism; Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power; Eye on the Struggle: Ethel Payne, The First Lady of the Black Press, which was awarded the Benjamin Hooks National Book Prize for the best work in civil rights history in 2015; and The Ambulance Drivers: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and a Friendship Made and Lost in War. He is also the author of two Kindle Singles, The Radio Operator and Murder by Revolution. In 2016, he taught literary journalism at Texas A&M, and he has conducted writing workshops at various colleges, universities, and conferences. He is the progenitor of the idea for BIO and was among the found- ers as well as a past president. Morris is currently working on a biography of Tony Hillerman, the late au- thor of groundbreaking mysteries set in the Navajo Nation. He makes his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. BIO Officers Irwin Gellman Ruth Franklin Susan Quinn Cathy Curtis, President Annette Gordon-Reed Nigel Hamilton Will Swift Deirdre David, Michael Holroyd Marc Leepson Amanda Vaill Vice President Eric Lax Pamela Newkirk Marc Leepson, David Levering Lewis Karin Roffman Caro Fellowship Treasurer Andrew Lownie Justin Spring Committee Dean King, Secretary Megan Marshall Deirdre David, Chair John Matteson Conference Site Caroline Fraser Board of Directors Alice Mayhew Committee Marc Leepson Kai Bird Jon Meacham Deirdre David, Chair Deirdre David Marion Meade Patricia Auspos Coaching Organizer John A. Farrell Andrew Morton Barbara Fisher Cathy Curtis Carla Kaplan Joanny Moulin John Richetti Kitty Kelley Arnold Rampersad Justin Spring Membership Sarah Kilborne Hans Renders Committee Louise (Lucy) W. Knight Stacy Schiff BIO Award Committee Kitty Kelley, Chair Linda Leavell Martin J. Sherwin Cathy Curtis, Chair Heath Lee Gayfryd Steinberg Deirdre David Publicity Committee Anne Boyd Rioux T.J. Stiles Linda Leavell Billy Tooma, Co-Chair Justin Spring Jean Strouse Carl Rollyson Steve Weinberg, Billy Tooma Will Swift Will Swift Co-Chair Marlene Trestman William Taubman Steve Weinberg Sonja Williams Terry Teachout Development Ike Williams Rowley Prize Committee Advisory Council Committee Deirdre David, Co-Chair Debby Applegate, Chair Conference Program Carla Kaplan, Chair Will Swift, Co-Chair James Atlas Committee Sarah Kilborne Taylor Branch Linda Leavell, Co-Chair Dean King Program Editor Douglas Brinkley Anne Boyd Rioux, Greg Daugherty Robert Caro Co-Chair Plutarch Award Ron Chernow Art Direction Kai Bird Committee Fearless Future Tim Duggan Kate Buford Megan Marshall, Chair Amanda Foreman Greg Daugherty Peniel E. Joseph On our cover: 5th Avenue at 23rd Street in Manhattan23rdStreetAvenuein at 5th cover:our On 3 Biographers International Organization Plenary Session David Remnick, Stacy Schif , and Judith Thurman in conversation 8:15–9:15AM LOCATION: PROSHANSKY AUDITORIUM David Remnick has been the edi- American Academy of Arts and Letters, she was named a tor of The New Yorker since 1998. Library Lion of the New York Public Library. Schiff is at His books include the Pulitzer work on a biography of Samuel Adams, to be published by Prize-winning Lenin’s Tomb: The Little, Brown. Last Days of the Soviet Empire; King of the World: Muhammad Ali Judith Thurman has been a staff and the Rise of an American Hero; writer at The New Yorker since 2000 and The Bridge, a biography of and a contributor since 1987, spe- Barack Obama. cializing in cultural criticism. She has written about Paleolithic cave Stacy Schif won the Pulitzer art; artisanal tofu in Japan; hy- Prize in 2000 for Véra (Mrs. perpolyglots—people who speak Vladimir Nabokov). She is the au- more than eleven languages; and thor as well of Saint-Exupéry, a about literature, fi lm, photogra- fi nalist for the Pulitzer Prize, phy, translation, and performance and A Great Improvisation: Franklin, art. From the short sketch of a hijabi designer in Brooklyn, France, and the Birth of America, to the long profi le of a kimono master in Kyoto, and a re- awarded the George Washington portage on the career of Yves Saint Laurent (a piece cho- Book Prize and the Ambassador sen for the “Best American Essays of 2003”), Thurman has Book Award. Her Cleopatra: A explored fashion as a cultural phenomenon. She is the au- Life has been translated into 30 languages and won the thor of Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller, which won the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography. David National Book Award for nonfi ction in 1983 and was the McCullough deemed Schiff ’s most recent book, The Witches: basis for Sydney Pollack’s Oscar-winning fi lm Out of Africa; Salem 1692, “brilliant from start to fi nish.” Like Cleopatra, it Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette, which won the Los Angeles was a No. 1 best seller. Times and Salon Book Awards for Biography in 1999; and Cleopatra’s Nose: 39 Varieties of Desire, a collection of her New Praised for her meticulous scholarship and her witty Yorker essays. style, Schiff has contributed frequently to the New York Times op-ed page and the New York Times Book Review, as Thurman’s honors include the Harold D. Vursell Memorial well as to many national publications. She has received fel- Award for prose style from the American Academy of lowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Arts and Letters; the Rungstedlund Prize from the Royal Endowment for the Humanities, and the Center for Danish Academy; and the 2019 Mary McCarthy Prize, from Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. The Bard College, for the life’s work of a woman writer. She is a recipient of an Academy Award in Literature from the chevalier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Our 2019 Keynote Speakers: JUSTICE Friday Saturday Sunday IN Nikole Hannah-Jones Taylor Branch Hampton Sides The New York Times Pulitzer Prize Bestselling author of Magazine Winner “On Desperate Ground” Special Featured Speaker AMERICA Margot Lee Shetterly - Author, “Hidden Figures” Seibert,Elena by photo JudithThurmanCurt Richter. by photo July 19 - 21, 2019 REGISTER NOW: themayborn.com f StacySchi 4 Biographers International Organization Panels—Concourse Level of the Graduate Center BASICS conference papers, and walking tours, and about whom she Adventures in the Archives is always eager to answer questions. 9:30–10:30AM CRAFT A nuts-and-bolts look at the joys and perils of archi- The Art, Craft, and Market for val research. Topics to be addressed include plan- Young Readers’ Biographies ning research trips for maximum efficiency, building 9:30–10:30AM productive relationships with archivists and librar- ians, do’s and don’ts of hiring research assistants, and A senior editor and three award-winning authors using technology in the archival setting and on your share their knowledge of writing and editing biogra- home computer. phies for young readers—from picture books and ju- veniles, to young adults. It is an opportunity to under- Moderator stand the similarities and differences between writing for adults and younger readers (ages 4 to 18), regard- Journalist and historian Marc Leepson is the author of ing craft elements such as subject choice, a slice-of-life nine books. That includes Saving Monticello, Flag: An American Biography, and three biographies of humans: Lafayette: vs. cradle-to-grave life story, archival research, and Idealist General (2011), What So Proudly We Hailed: Francis creating a narrative that engages the reader. Scott Key, A Life (2014), and Ballad of the Green Beret: The Life and Wars of Army Sgt. Barry Sadler (2017). He has written for Moderator many magazines, newspapers, and reference books, includ- Ray Anthony Shepard’s debut young adult biography, ing the Encyclopedia Britannica and the Dictionary of Virginia Now or Never! 54th Massachusetts Infantry’s War to End Slavery, Biography. He was elected to BIO’s board of directors in 2013 received star reviews from School Library Connection and and serves as the organization’s treasurer. His website is Kirkus, was listed by the New York Public Library as one of www.marcleepson.com. the Best Books of the Year for Teens, and named the Carter G. Woodson Honor Book by the National Council of Social Panelists Studies. Junior Library Guild and Scholastic Book Fairs se- Ellen F. Brown is a lawyer and an award-winning free- lected Now or Never! for their subscribers. lance writer whose work has appeared in many print and online publications. She co-authored the book Margaret Panelists Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind: A Bestseller’s Odyssey from Tonya Bolden, author, co-author, or editor of more than Atlanta to Hollywood and is now working on a book about forty books, is a recipient of the Children’s Book Guild literary estates. Brown holds an M.F.A. in nonfiction writ- of Washington, D.C.’s Nonfiction Award for her body of ing and also has worked as a rare book and manuscript work.