B I O
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May 15, 2010 8:00AM–6:30PM
Campus Center, University of Massachusetts Boston !"/0&-&/1&)2-,'/+3&-4
Interim O!cers Bylaws Committee Debby Applegate, Dona Munker Nigel Hamilton, President Carol DeBoer-Langworthy James McGrath Morris,Vice President Barbara Burkhardt Secretary/Treasurer Harry van Bommel Interim Board Lesley Co!n BIO Award Nomination Committee Gayle Feldman Marc Pachter Louise W. Knight Will Swift Paul Maher, Jr. Carl Rollyson Charles J. Shields Carol Berkin Steve Weinberg N.S. Gill Planning Committee Site Committee Debby Applegate ( ) Ray Anthony Shepard, Ray Anthony Shepard,ex o! cio Nigel Hamilton Chair James McGrath MorrisSite Committee Chair Bernice Lerner Tonya Johnson Robert O’Keefe Carl Rollyson Rob Velella Charles J. Shields D. Quincy Whitney Margaret Walters Program Publishing Committee National Advisory Board David Cottingham Deirdre Bair Melissa Nathanson Douglas Brinkley Phyllis McKee, Robert Caro Ray Anthony Shepard Doris Kearns Goodwin Joan Hedrick Conference Photographer Justin Kaplan Paul Maher, Jr. Eric Lax David Levering Lewis Andrew Lownie BIO’s logo by Stephanie Morris John Matteson William S. McFeely ConferenceMcKee Program Graphics Design and by Web Design Jon Meacham www.mckeedesignweb.com Marion Meade Nancy Milford Susan Ronald Stacy Schi" Martin J. Sherwin Kenneth Silverman William Taubman Terry Teachout Brenda Wineapple
2 B I O #$%&'# to the (rst Compleat Biographer Conference and the inaugural meeting of Biographers International Organization (BIO).
In 2008 James McGrath Morris, editor of the newsletter, published an open Biographer’s Craft Wcall for a new organization that would serve the practical needs of professional biographers. This proposal produced an unexpected outpouring of enthusiasm and excitement, and by the spring of 2009, scores of volunteers were working to put the building blocks of BIO into place. Practicing biographers from all professional paths, including some of the most distinguished writers of our era, devoted their time and talents to the often tedious work of composing by-laws, securing sponsors, arranging facilities, and the thousand other details required to create something of lasting historic signi(cance. Our deepest thanks go to the many committee members who helped lay this foundation, especially to Jamie Morris, who carried the heaviest administrative load. Special thanks are owed to our superb site committee in Boston led by Ray Anthony Shepard, and to Nigel Hamilton, a Senior Fellow here at the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies, who served as BIO’s ambassador and forged a special relationship between our organization and the University that made it possible for us to hold our conference here.
Now comes the fun part! Today we begin building the vibrant community of professional peers that so many of us have longed for as we’ve sat alone in our silent studies. Whether we are here to discuss the technical aspects of composition and the strategies of the publishing industry, or just to meet those rare people who also do what we do, this is our opportunity to shape the future of our craft as we want it to be. I hope you will register as a founding member of BIO, and consider donating some of your time and treasure to its success. In your registration material and around the conference you will (nd donation envelopes and volunteer sign-up sheets. I urge you to use them.
If we are entering a new golden age of biography, as many publishers believe, then we are the vanguard of this renaissance. Thank you for contributing to this historic occasion and to the future success of BIO. Enjoy the conference!
Debby Applegate Interim President
B I O 3 51.&67%&
7:30–8:00)' Registration
8:00–8:50)' Breakfast Opening: • Welcome by Ray Anthony Shepard,
• AddressChair of Boston by Interim Site Committee President Debby Applegate • Approval of bylaws and election of board
9:00–10:30)' First round of workshops and panels
10:45)'–12:15*' Second round of workshops and panels
12:30–1:45*' Lunch Keynote • Welcome by University of Massachusetts Boston Provost Winston Langley • Introduction of speaker by James McGrath Morris • Presentation of BIO Award to Jean Strouse by BIO President • Keynote address by Jean Strouse
2:00–3:30*' Third round of workshops and panels
3:45–5:15*' Fourth round of workshops and panels
5:30–6:30*' Closing reception and book signings
Agent Roundtable & Speed Dating • Roundtable from 10:45)' to 12:15*' in the Point Lounge • Dating from 2:30 to 5:00*' in the Alumni Lounge
4 B I O 8'/&%4)'/6)8'/&%+4(4
Working with Primary Documents: A discussion by archivists and biographers on the challenges and opportunities of working in archives today. 9:00–10:30AM and 10:45AM–12:15PM
Moderator 2003 she co-hosted the Thirteenth International Conference on Virginia Woolf and edited a PHYLLIS E. STEELE is a professional archivist with a selection of papers on for doctorate in American history. She worked for over Clemson University DigitalWoolf Press.in the Real She World also serves 25 years in government, academic, and corporate as a consultant for international digital publishing archives. She was a (eldworker and contributor for projects, including , , and Andrea Hinding, ed., Woolf Online Plath Pro"les Women’s History Sources Survey . (1979), and is a co-compiler of the Women, Writing, and Mental Illness (1981) and the Ohio Municipal NANCY MILFORD! is the author of two biographies: Records Manual (Ohio, 1984). Since Localtaking Government early retirement Records , about the life of Zelda Fitzgerald, and Zelda Savage asHandbook the Company Archivist for New England Financial, . spent 29 Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay Zelda she has been working as a consulting archivist and weeks on the bestseller list in hardcover, New York Times historian. Currently, at the request of the Littleton was a (nalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Historical Society, she is working on a biography of Book Award, and was translated into twelve languages. Herbert J. Harwood (1854–1910), a civic leader, Milford is currently writing a biography of Rose businessman, historian, legislator, and farmer from Kennedy. She was a founder of the Writers Room in Littleton, MA. New York City, the (rst urban writers’ colony in the nation, providing workspace for writers year-round. Milford was a Fulbright scholar in Turkey in 1999 and Panelists has held a Guggenheim Fellowship. She has taught at KATHRYN ALLAMONG JACOB, a social and cultural Brown University, Vassar College, the University of historian, is the curator of manuscripts at the Michigan, Princeton University, and Hunter College, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women and is now the Founding Director, Emerita, of the in America at the Radcli"e Institute at Harvard Leon Levy Center for Biography at the Graduate University. Prior to joining the Schlesinger sta" Center at the City University of New York. in 1999, Jacob was the archivist at Johns Hopkins SUSAN QUINN is the author of University, assistant historian of the United States and A Mind of Her. HerOwn: Senate, an archivist at the National Archives, mostThe Life recent of Karen book Horney is Marie Curie: A Life a program director at the National Historical Furious Improvisation: How the Publications and Records Commission, and deputy WPA and a Cast, which of Thousands tells the Made story High of Art the Out Federal of director of the American Jewish Historical Society. TheatreDesperate TimesProject, led by Hallie Flanagan. Her current Her most recent book, project grew out of the last book: its working title , King of the Lobby: The Life andis both Times is . aof biography Sam Ward Manof Sam About Ward Washington and a inhistory the Gilded of Age,lobbyists It Harrywill focus and Franklin: on the closeA Partnership relationship That Saved of Harry the Nation and the lobby in the years after the Civil War. Hopkins with FDR during all the years of his KAREN V. KUKIL is associate curator of special presidency. Quinn is the recipient of Guggenheim collections at Smith College, where her primary and Rockefeller grants. Her biography of Horney responsibilities include teaching and reference received the Winship award. Her biography of Marie services in the Mortimer Rare Book Room and Curie was a (nalist for the Los Angeles Book Prize the Sophia Smith Collection of Women’s History. and the Fawcett Book Prize and won the Grand She is also on the faculty of the Smith Archives Prix des Lectrices de ELLE. has been Concentration Program. She edited translated into nine languages.Marie Curie published by FaberThe Unabridged in London Journals of Sylvia Plath, and Anchor Books in New York in 2000. In !Second session panel only
B I O 5 Marketing Your Biography: It’s one thing to write the darn thing; it’s entirely another matter to "nd readers. 9:00–10:30AM and 10:45AM–12:15PM
Moderator JAMES BRADLEY is the celebrated author of bestseller , later madeNew into York a BERNICE LERNER is author, speaker, and consultant. criticallyTimes acclaimedFlags ( oflm Our directed Fathers by Clint Eastwood. She is director of adult learning at Hebrew The book is the true story of the six men, including College, and a senior scholar at the Center for the Bradley’s father, who raised the +ag in 1945 on Iwo Advancement of Ethics and Character at Boston Jima, an image made iconic in the most reproduced University’s School of Education. She is the author photograph in history. In addition to of he has published the bestseller Flags of, asOur well The (University Triumph of Woundedof Notre Souls: Dame Seven Press, Holocaust 2004). Survivors’ She asFathers , an in-depth explorationFlyboys of isLives presently working on a dual biography of her TheodoreThe Imperial Roosevelt’s Cruise foreign policy that became an mother, a Holocaust survivor, and Brigadier Hugh instant and bestseller. Llewelyn Glyn Hughes, liberator of the Bergen- New York Times Wall Street Journal Belsen concentration camp. YEN CHEONG is the Associate Director of Digital Media and Publicity at Viking Penguin, part of the Penguin Group (USA). She writes the Book Publicity Panelists Blog and also serves as secretary of the Publishers Publicity Association (PPA). Cheong graduated with a degree in history from Yale University. ANNE C. HELLER is the author of , named a Notable BookAyn of Rand 2009 and bythe theWorld She Made . She is also a magazine editor who has Newworked York forTimes or contributed to the , , , , , Antioch, Review, Esquire Redbook, andTriQuarterly others. MostVogue recently,Lear’s sheMademoiselle was the executiveRolling Stone editor of the magazine development group at Condé Nast Publications. LISSA WARREN has worked at several Boston publishing houses including David R. Godine, Houghton Mi,in, and Perseus Publishing, and is currently Vice President, Senior Director of Publicity and Acquiring Editor at Da Capo Press, where she has worked on biographies of everyone from Shakespeare forger William-Henry Ireland to DEBBY APPLEGATE is a summa cum laude graduate President James Monroe to comedian George Carlin. of Amherst College and was a Sterling Fellow at She is the author of Yale University, where she received her Ph.D. in (Carroll & Graf,The Savvy 2004). Author’s Guide to Book American Studies. Her (rst book, Publicity The Most Famous, won theMan 2007 in America: Pulitzer The BiographyPrize for of Biography Henry Ward and Beecher was a (nalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and was named one of the best books of 2006 by the , NPR’s , New, York Times , Book Review , Fresh Air Washington, and Post Seattle Times Chicago Tribune Magazine.San FranciscoApplegate Chronicle is the interimAmerican president ofHeritage Biographers International Organization.
6 B I O Writing a Winning Proposal: Tips on writing a winning proposal for a biography. 9:00–10:30AM and 10:45AM–12:15PM
Moderator Krauss, and , by StraightMary Lovell, on Till Morning: as well as The the Biography prize-winning of Beryl SALLY DEAN HAMBLEN HILL is a genealogist who booksMarkham has written articles for the byIn the Matter late Honorable of Color: Race A. and Leon the AmericanHigginbotham, Legal , the New England Historic, and the and Jr.,Process Pulitzer Prize winner Genealogical Register . She American is currently Genealogist working on the by Dale Maharidge, and And Their Children by Professor After Them abstractionMay#ower Descendant and annotation of the diaries of an 18th- George Chauncey. In 1997Gay she New started York the Susan century Boston shopkeeper named Benjamin Walker, Rabiner Literary Agency as a boutique agency researching many of his neighbors and major (gures dedicated to big idea books, the type of books she and events of his time period, 1726–1749. The published as an editor. Together with her husband, diaries are full of fascinating details and information she is the co-author of found nowhere else—and will serve as an excellent Thinking Like Your Editor: How to source for historians, genealogists, and other students Write Great Serious Non"ction and Get It Published. of the colonial period. JOHN TAYLOR “IKE” WILLIAMS, a founder of Kneerim & Williams, specializes in biography, history, politics, natural science, and anthropology. Panelists He represents Howard Gardner, Joseph J. Ellis, ROBERT KANIGEL is the author of six books, three E.O. Wilson, Tim Berners-Lee, Charles Ogletree, of them biographies. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, James MacGregor Thewas Man a (nalist Who Knew for the In "Nationalnity: A Life Burns, Rev. Peter J. Gomes, Richard Wilbur, Drew Bookof the Genius Critics Ramanujan Circle Award. , about Gilpin Faust, and Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, among the e!ciency expert FrederickThe Winslow One Best Way Taylor, got others. He was a member of the NEA Literary Panel, a front-page review in the chair of the Boston Lawyers Committee for Civil and was the basis for a PBSNew special, York Times Book. ReviewHe is Rights, co-chair of the Fine Arts Work Center, and a currently working on a group biographyStopwatch of literary director of the Boston Book Festival. He also places visitors to the Great Blasket, a tiny island o" the dramatic rights, such as the feature (lm , west coast of Ireland, in the early 20th century. from by Alston Purvis, and a PublicHistory Enemies Its provisional title is and it is ChannelThe seriesVendetta based on the late Howard Zinn’s under contract with Knopf.The Land He of is the a Youngprofessor in the . Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies at MIT, A People’s History of the United States where he helped found its Graduate Program in Science Writing. SUSAN RABINER has spent most of her adult life in New York publishing. She started at Random House trade and Vintage paperbacks, was a senior editor at the New York o!ce of Oxford University Press, St. Martin’s Press, and Pantheon Books, and became editorial director at Basic Books. Among the books she is most proud of having worked on as an editor are three bestsellers: by the late Iris Chang, The Rape byof NankingProfessor Lawrence The Physics of Star Trek
B I O 7 New Ways to Publish: An overview from digital books to I-Universe. Authors discuss the technology, money, and viability of going it on your own. 9:00–10:30AM and 3:45–5:15PM
Moderator RICHARD LENA is a cofounder of the Brattle CARL ROLLYSON, Professor of Journalism at Baruch Publishing Group, a curriculum developer, and College, the City University of New York, has an instructional designer specializing in print published more than 40 books ranging in subject and multimedia learning experiences for diverse matter from biographies of Marilyn Monroe, audiences. For nearly 20 years he has worked in Lillian Hellman, Martha Gellhorn, Norman Mailer, educational publishing, conceptualizing, designing, Rebecca West, Susan Sontag, and Jill Craigie to and managing the development of large-scale studies of American culture, genealogy, children’s educational products and product lines in various biography, (lm, and literary criticism. He has media forms including print, software, web-based, authored more than 500 articles on American and video, and audio. European literature and history. For four years (2003–2007) he wrote a weekly column, “On Biography,” for the , and was President Panelists of the Rebecca West New Society York Sun (2003–2007). He is TANYA HALL is a seasoned media veteran, recognized currently researching a biography of Amy Lowell in the (elds of business development, distribution, (awarded a “We the People” NEH grant) as well as a and publishing. In her current role, Tanya drives biography of Dana Andrews for University Press of Greenleaf ’s business development e"orts, working Mississippi. with authors to develop their publishing programs ILL RIPPE is a consultant and analyst with more and developing strategic partnerships to grow B T than 20 years of experience in helping publishers Greenleaf ’s reputation as a leading independent solve the most demanding work+ow, production, publisher. Prior to her current role, she built and output problems. Starting out in typesetting, Greenleaf ’s distribution organization, working page production, and editorial work, he has watched directly with retailers and wholesalers to develop digital publishing evolve from an afterthought to one of the fastest-growing distribution businesses in the core of many publishers’ businesses. Clients the industry. Before joining the publishing industry, include major publishers such as McGraw-Hill, Tanya worked as a television producer for and Reed Business Information, Houghton Mi,in Cable Networks. Extra! E! Harcourt, Pearson, Scholastic, and Random House. As Vice President and Lead Analyst for the Gilbane Group, he advises clients through all phases of the publishing lifecycle and typically plays an active part in determining how technology will help publishers develop products for print, the Web, and other electronic formats.
8 B I O Selecting a Subject: Discussion by several biographers about how they selected or rejected subjects for their books. 9:00–10:30AM and 2:00–3:30PM
Moderator l’Académie Française), (Ed. du Rocher, 2001), (Flammarion,Virginia Woolf 2005, Prix Anna HARRIET REISEN’s de NoaillesMax deJacob l’Académie Française) and (Henry Holt,Louisa 2009),May Alcott: was The named Woman by Behind , published by Flammarion in AprilPhilippe 2010. theLittle Women to its “Ten Standout Books WithSoupault her husband Guy Bennett she has organized of 2009”Wall Street list, Journal by to its list of the Ten Best and curated several conferences and exhibits on Non(ction BooksBookpage of 2009, by Booklist to its list French and American literary exchanges and on of the Five Top Adult Non(ction Books for Young the representations of their two cities, Los Angeles Adult Readers, and as a (nalist for the Non(ction and Paris. She teaches French and French literature Award of the Massachusetts Center for the Book. at USC. She was named “Knight of the Order Reisen also produced (with Nancy Porter) and wrote of Academic Palms” by the French Minister of the PBS documentary biography of Education in 2007. American Masters , named byLouisa Booklist May Alcott: as Top The Video Woman of Behind 2009. Little Women STEVE WEINBERG began his professional writing career in 1969 as a newspaper reporter. The word counts couldn’t hold him, so he switched to magazine Panelists sta" writer. The word counts still couldn’t hold CAROL DEBOER-LANGWORTHY teaches in the him, so he began writing books. His (rst book, a Non(ction Writing Program of Brown University. biography, appeared in 1978. Since then, he has She edited the autobiography and diaries of Neith published seven other books, including biographies Boyce (1872–1951) for publication and is now of Armand Hammer (Little, Brown, 1989) and Ida working on a literary biography of this innovative Tarbell (W.W. Norton, 2008), and a book about the founding member of the Provincetown Players. craft of biography, , published by With a Ph.D. in American Studies, her interests University of MissouriTelling Press. the Untold He lives Story in Columbia, include documentary editing, personal narrative, and Missouri, where he served as executive director of autobiography as well as biography. Investigative Reporters and Editors, an organization BEATRICE MOUSLI is the author of numerous with international membership, and teaches reporting books, among them , and writing courses at the University of Missouri (Ent’revues,Intentions 1996),histoire d’une revue littéraire Journalism School. des années vingt (IMEC, 2003),Les Editions du (Flammarion,Sagittaire 1919–1979 1998, Grand Prix de laValery Biographie Larbaud de
Agents’ Roundtable: Representing Biographers in a Changing World of Biography. 10:45AM–12:15PM
Moderator Panelists: ANDREW LOWNIE is a graduate of the Universities ANN COLLETTE spent 15 years as a freelance writer of Cambridge and Edinburgh, and the author and editor before joining the Helen Rees Literary of a biography of the writer John Buchan and a Agency ten years ago, a background that comes in forthcoming life of the spy Guy Burgess. He has run handy when developing (rst books. Her (ction list his own literary agency since 1988, having previously includes literary, horror, mystery, women’s (ction, been a journalist, bookseller, and publisher. In 1997 and crime novelists, including Steven Sidor and Vicki he founded the Biographers Club, a networking Lane. Her non-(ction interests include biography, and social club crossed with pressure group for memoir, pop culture, and military (particularly biographers based in Britain, of which he is now Vietnam and anything set in the WWII Asian President. theater). continued
B I O 9 an extensive estate list that includes James Jones, continued from previous page George Axelrod, Elia Kazan, Arthur Rubinstein, JEFF KLEINMAN is a literary agent, intellectual and Cornell Woolrich. A major force in biographies property attorney, and founding partner of Folio and memoirs, among other genres, Nevins has Literary Management, $$%, a New York literary represented Goldie Hawn, illusionist Criss Angel, agency that works with all of the major U.S. Don Felder of the Eagles, Tony Curtis, David publishers (and, through subagents, with most Eisenhower and his wife, Julie Nixon, Taboo from international publishers). He’s a graduate of Case the Black-Eyed Peas, actress Marlee Matlin, Lauren Western Reserve University (J.D.), the University Bacall (National Book Award), Larry Collins and of Chicago (M.A., Italian), and the University of Dominique Lapierre ( ), Kirk Virginia (B.A. with High Distinction in English). As Douglas, and the mega-sellingI’ll Dress You in Mourning an agent, Je" feels privileged to have the chance to by Heidi MurkoWhat". to Expect When learn an incredible variety of new subjects, meet an You’re Expecting extraordinary range of people, and feel, at the end NINA RYAN is a freelance editor and literary agent of the day, that he’s helped to build something—a with the Cowles-Ryan Agency who has worked wonderful book, perhaps, or an author’s career. His in book publishing for twenty years. Formerly an authors include Charles Shields, the extraordinary associate editor at Random House, and an agent and biographer of Harper Lee ( and the YA director of subsidiary rights at the Palmer & Dodge version, ), and HeidiMockingbird Ardizzone, biographer Agency in Boston (now Kneerim & Williams), she of Belle Ida Am Costa Scout Greene ( ). brings substantial experience to the process of An Illuminated Life evaluating, editing, developing, and marketing books COLLEEN MOHYDE became a partner in the Doe for publication. She has worked closely with many Coover Agency in 1992 after a decade as an editor at writers to develop book proposals and manuscripts Little, Brown & Company. As an agent she represents published by houses such as Alfred A. Knopf, Henry an eclectic and wide-ranging list of literary (ction, Holt, Doubleday, Macmillan, Penguin-Putnam, and biography, history, politics and current events, other major publishers. She received an M.A. from popular science, and memoir. Her authors include the Columbia School of Journalism and a B.A. from Pulitzer Prize winners, PEN Award recipients, and the University of Pennsylvania. bestsellers. The agency’s biographies includeNew York Times CHRISTINA (KIT) WARD has been an independent Stand Facing the Stove: The by StoryAnne of Mendelson; the Women Who literary agent in the Boston area since 1992. She was Gave America the Joy of Cooking , previously an editor with Little, Brown & Company, Bound for the Promised by Kate Land: Cli" Harrietord Larson; Tubman andPortrait of an where she edited the collected letters of Louisa American Hero Make by Gentle May Alcott and a biography of John Muir. As an Matthewthe Life of This Maxwell World: TheTaylor Vision Kennedy. of Robert F. Kennedy agent, she represents a diverse list of non(ction and literary (ction, with a keen interest in biography and ALAN NEVINS started his book career working for memoir. Biographies she has represented include the famed super agent Irving “Swifty” Lazar and by Tracy later melded the Lazar Agency into Renaissance DaughertyHiding Man: (aA BiographyNew York of TimesDonald NotableBarthelme Book of Literary & Talent. After a three-year stint associated 2009), with the Michael Ovitz company, AMG, he then by MarionMysteries Mainwaring, of Paris: The and Search for Morton Fullerton created a literary division at music mogul, The Firm. by HowardSkylark: TheMans Life,(eld. Lies, and In 2008 Renaissance became fully independent again Inventions of Harry Atwood and currently represents more than 75 writers, with
Reception and Book Signing • Network with agents, editors, and panelists. Meet members of BIO’s Board. Chat with other biographers. 5:30-6:30*'
10 B I O Trends in Biography: A look at the future of biography. 10:45AM–12:15PM and 2:00–3:30PM
Moderator GAYLE FELDMAN was educated at the Philadelphia High School for Girls, the University of D. QUINCY W HITNEY was the primary arts feature Pennsylvania, and Girton College, Cambridge writer for the University, and has lived in the U.K., France, and the for 14 years. She Boston also Sunday served Globe as Newsletter New Hampshire Editor Weekly People’s Republic of China as well as her native U.S. for the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen She has worked in book publishing since 1976— and the American Textile History Museum. as an editor in London, as Book News Editor of From 2004 to 2006, she was a research fellow , and currently as U.S. Correspondent in the Musical Instruments Department of the forPublishers the Weekly of London. She has been awarded Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, a National Bookseller Arts Journalism Research Fellowship at where she completed her research for the biography Columbia University, a Ransom Center Fellowship at of internationally renowned female American the University of Texas, and two Ragdale Foundation violinmaker Carleen Maley Hutchins. Her (rst book, residencies. Her cancer memoir, (History Press, 2008), , was published by W.W.You Don’t Norton Have into wasHidden the History result of New a Smithsonian Hampshire Institution research 1994;Be Your herMother monograph study of prize-winners and project she completed for the 1999 American bestsellers, Folklife Festival when New Hampshire was the , wasBest andpublished Worst of by Times: NAJP The atChanging the Columbia Business of featured state. She is currently writing the Hutchins JournalismTrade Books School in 2003; and she is under contract biography. to Random House for a biography of its cofounder, Bennett Cerf. Panelists MEGAN MARSHALL is the author of two non(ction HELEN ATSMA is a Senior Editor at Henry Holt & books and has published numerous essays and Company. Her non(ction authors include Mignon reviews in the , the , Fogarty ( , the New Yorker Atlantic ,Monthly the Slate Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better , a bestseller), Rhoda Janzen Online New, the York Times Book Review, the London , Writing New York Times ( , a memoir), Paul Fisher andReview elsewhere. of Books Her New biography Republic Boston Review Mennonite in a Little Black Dress ( ), The Peabody Sisters: (2005) House of Wits: An Intimate Portrait of the James Family Charles J. Shields (biography on Kurt Vonnegut, wonThree theWomen Francis Who IgnitedParkman American Prize, Romanticism awarded by the forthcoming), and Alex von Tunzelmann ( Society of American Historians; the Mark Lynton Red , a history of the Cold War in the Caribbean, History Prize, awarded by the Anthony Lukas Prize Heat forthcoming). Fiction authors include Catherine Project jointly sponsored by the Columbia School O’Flynn ( , winner of the Costa First of Journalism and Harvard’s Nieman Foundation; What Was Lost Novel Award), Eugenia Kim ( the Massachusetts Book Award in non(ction; and The Calligrapher’s , winner of the 2009 Borders Original was a (nalist for the Pulitzer Prize in biography Daughter Voices Award), Helen Garner ( , a B&N and memoir. She served as a judge in non(ction for The Spare Room Discover selection), and Bo Caldwell ( the 2008 National Book Awards, and was recently City of Tranquil , forthcoming). elected to the Executive Board of the Society of Light American Historians.
B I O 11 Dealing with the Family: Veteran biographers discuss issues of permissions, copyright, authorization, and other pitfalls of working with a subject’s family or heirs. 10:45AM–12:15PM and 3:45–5:15PM
Moderator MELISSA NATHANSON is working on a full-scale biography of Harry A. Blackmun, who served as an associate justice on the United States Supreme Court from 1970 to 1994 and is best known as the author of . A graduate of Barnard College and NewRoe York v. Wade University School of Law, she formerly practiced corporate law on Wall Street. Her current project has been enriched by generous cooperation from Blackmun family members, especially Justice Blackmun’s three extraordinary daughters, Nancy, Sally, and Susie. This is her (rst book.
Panelists CHARLES J. SHIELDS resides in Barboursville, KITTY KELLEY’s highly anticipated biography of Virginia, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains Oprah Winfrey was published last month with a (rst with his wife, Guadalupe, a former Chicago printing in excess of a half-million copies. Her four elementary school principal. He is the author of previous books, chronicling the lives of the Bush (2006), dynasty ( , 2004); the British royal family (2008),Mockingbird: as wellA Portrait as biographies of Harper Lee and historiesI Am for Scout ( The, 1997); Family Nancy Reagan ( young people. His biography of Kurt Vonnegut will The Royals , 1991); andNancy Frank Reagan: Sinatra be published by Henry Holt & Co. in the spring of (The Unauthorized, 1986), Biography each debuted at #1 on the 2011. His Way Hardcover Non(ction bestseller list.New Ms. York Times WILL SWIFT writes about presidential families. Kelley’s other biographies, While doing research he has talked with members (1981) and (1978),Elizabeth also were Taylor: The Last Star Jackie Oh! New York Times of the Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Johnson families. bestsellers. Her books have been published in 36 His (rst book, (Wiley, languages. 2004) tells the Thestory Roosevelts of two and ruling the Royals dynasties—the NANCY KRIPLEN is the author of two biographies: Roosevelts and the British Royal family—and their and interactions over a 125-year period. His book Dwight Davis: The Man and the Cup The Eccentric (Smithsonian,The Billionaire: John D. MacArthur—Empire. She was Builder, formerly Reluctant on 2008)Kennedys recounts Amidst the the Gathering Kennedy Storm family’s emergence thePhilanthropist, sta"s of Relentless magazine Adversary and Scripps Howard’s on the world stage during the onslaught of World Time. The biography that originally War II. Will grew up in a suburb of Boston, and has openedIndianapolis her Times eyes to the possibilities of this genre was worked in Hyannisport, Massachusetts, where he (rst Gene Smith’s book about the met Kennedy family members during the turbulent lastWhen days the Cheering of Woodrow Stopped, Wilson. summer of 1968. He lives in Manhattan and in the historic Nathan Wild House, once visited by FDR, in Valatie, New York.
12 B I O Self-Editing: Tips on how best to prepare your manuscript for publication in the post-Max Perkins era. 2:00–3:30PM and 3:45–5:15PM
Moderator (Louisiana State University Press, 2009), Deadly Sins (Harvard University NIGEL HAMILTON has published 20 works of Press,Ludivico 2009), Ariosto’s and Orlando Furioso biography and history, including , the o!cial (NorthwesternGeorge Sanders, Zsa University Zsa, and Me: Press, three-volume biography of WorldMonty War II leader Field 2009).Essays on A the new Movies novel, , will be issued by Marshal Montgomery—which won the Whitbread Northwestern in the Thefall. Duke’s Man Award for Biography and the Templar Medal for Military History. He is also author of T.J. STILES is the author of The First Tycoon: The , which was a bestsellerJFK: and Reckless was , winner of the 2009 Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt dramatizedYouth for ABC-TVNew York as Times a mini-series starring National Book Award and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize. Patrick Dempsey. He has written two volumes His was winner of Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War of a trilogy on the life of the 42nd President, the Ambassador Book Award and the Peter Seaborg and Bill Award for Civil War Scholarship. He held the Gilder Clinton: An American, as well Journeyas two worksBill on Clinton: the history Mastering Lehrman Fellowship in American History at the andthe Presidency practice of biography, , Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Biography:. His A latest Brief Historywork, a and Writers at the New York Public Library, taught historicalHow to biography Do Biography: of theA Primer last twelve presidents, non(ction creative writing at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, and has written for the New York American Caesars: Lives of , thewill Presidents be published from Franklin September D. 7 , , , Times Book Review The Wall Street Journal Smithsonian The (YaleRoosevelt UP). to George He is W. a BushSenior Fellow in the McCormack online, and other publications. He now lives Atlantic Graduate School of Policy Studies, University of in San Francisco with his wife and son. Massachusetts Boston. Hamilton is the Interim Vice MARIA ASCHER is a Senior Editor at Harvard President of Biographers International Organization. University Press, and a manuscript editor of wide renown. She holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature Panelists from Harvard University. Her research interests include modernism, exile, the theory of translation, DAVID R. SLAVITT, educated at Andover, Yale, and and the rhetoric of autobiography. She is the translator Columbia, is the author of more than 90 books— of (among other works) Marguerite Yourcenar’s three- novels, poetry, reportage, and translations. He was volume autobiography. The (rst volume, , the movie reviewer for in the 1960s, and was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, wasDear a (nalist Departed co-editor of the Johns NewsweekHopkins Complete Roman for the Scott Moncrie" Prize for translation from the Drama as well as the Penn Complete Greek Drama. French, sponsored by the French Ministry of Culture Among his recent publications: and the Arts Council of England. (Harvard University Press,Boethius’ 2008), Consolation of Philosophy The Seven
B I O 13 New Frontiers in Electronic Research: An overview of the new resources now available, from government documents to newspapers, photographs, and "lms. 2:00–3:30PM and 3:45–5:15PM
Moderator general collections. Also, Dr. Parr directs a sta" of digital reference specialists who provide digital ROB VELELLA is an independent scholar with a focus reference and chat services for the Library’s Ask-a- on antebellum American literature. He served as Librarian program. This same team promotes and the guest curator for Houghton Library’s exhibit explores the ways in which online tools may be used “Margaret Fuller: Woman of the Nineteenth to promote and enhance the Library of Congress’s Century” in early 2010 and assisted in the curatorial programs and services. Her extended service at the duties of the Boston Public Library exhibit “The Library includes serving as the American history Raven and the Frog Pond: Edgar Allan Poe and specialist in the Humanities and Social Sciences Boston” beginning in late 2009. His articles have Division and experience in the Manuscript, Rare appeared in print and online for , Book, and Music Divisions. She specializes in the the , and elsewhere. HeConcord holds Magazine an M.A. Early Republic period, 1789–1860. in EnglishBaltimore and Sun Publishing from Rosemont College, where he specialized in the history of publishing and JOANNE RILEY is Associate University Librarian at digital design. the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Joseph P. Healey Library, the director of the Massachusetts Studies Project, director of the Mass. Memories Panelists Road Show, and cofounder of the Massachusetts HOLLY HENDRICKS has consulted with cultural Studies Network. In previous work in the (eld organizations and historic sites on digital, archival, of ethnomusicology she published an analysis and genealogical projects. At the Massachusetts of the life and career of 16th-century musician Historical Society she developed the XML and Tarquinia Molza. XSLT code to create the online version and cumulative index for 45 volumes of the documentary edition of the Adams Papers. She serves as historian of the Arlington Street Church and holds masters degrees in both Computer Science and Library and Information Studies. MARILYN K. PARR is the Public Service and Collections Access O!cer and Head of the Digital Reference Section at the Library of Congress. She currently manages the overall book service functions in the three general collections reading rooms and retrieval services for the millions of items in the
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14 B I O Funding Your Work: In addition to advances, this panel will look at how to obtain research grants and other means of supporting one’s work. 2:00–3:30PM and 3:45–5:15PM
Moderator are forthcoming, from Pantheon/Vintage and the Library of America. MARTIN QUITT is professor emeritus of history at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He is JAMES MCGRATH MORRIS is the author of Pulitzer: A completing a biography of Stephen A. Douglas. He , which the Life in Politics, Print, and Power New York Times has published shorter biographical pro(les of early said “reads like a novel.” His previous book, The Rose political leaders, a book on family history, another Man of Sing Sing: A True Tale of Life, Murder, and Redemption on the Virginia colonial legislature, and articles on , was selected as a in the Age of Yellow Journalism Washington American constitutionalism, Anglo–Native American Best Book of the Year for 2004 and was optioned Post relations, and colonial elite formation. He is a as a (lm and released as an audio book. He is also frequent facilitator for the Osher Lifelong Learning the editor of the monthly and one of Biographer’s Craft Institute at UMass Boston. the founding members of Biographers International Organization, now serving as its Interim Secretary. Panelists JIM MORTENSON has worked in various administrative roles at the University of Massachusetts Boston for ANDRÉ BERNARD is Vice President and Secretary of 17 years. He currently serves as the communications the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and training manager for research and sponsored which awards fellowships in 78 (elds. Fellowships programs within the O!ce of the Vice Provost have been granted to biographers since 1926. Before for Research and Strategic Initiatives. One of his coming to the Foundation he worked in book responsibilities is to identify federal, state, local, and publishing, serving most recently as Publisher of private funding opportunities to support the university’s Harcourt Brace. He is the author of several books research clusters, make the necessary multidisciplinary about writers and publishing, including connections, and then disseminate funding and . HisRotten work has opportunities to faculty and research sta". He has a B.A. beenRejections translated Now into All tenWe Needlanguages, Is a Title most recently in History and an M.A. in Professional Writing, both Mandarin Chinese and Finnish. Two more books from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
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B I O 15 @&'/)5(-"74&)94)(.&)<=>=)*92)AB'-6)C&1+$+&/( This year’s BIO Award—the (rst of many, we hope—is being presented to biographer Jean Strouse, Director of the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Members of Biographers International Organization (BIO) will give the award each year to a colleague who has made a major contribution to advancing the art and craft of biography. “Strouse’s astonishing, masterful, and inspiring work on Alice James and J. Pierpont Morgan has made her a biographer’s biographer,” says Debby Applegate, the Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer who is serving as BIO’s interim president. “As the (rst recipient of this award, she is setting a high standard for future honorees.” A native of California, Strouse has been a book critic, a proli(c writer of magazine articles, and the recipient of fellowships from several foundations, including the MacArthur and John Simon Guggenheim Memorial foundations. Her won the Bancroft Prize in 1980, and her second life Alice James: A Biography study, , won acclaim for its realistic portrayal of the man and its lucid Morgan: American Financier explanation of his (nancial work.
51.&67%&)'()')D%'/1& Agent Roundtable & Speed Dating • Roundtable from 10:45)' to 12:15*' in the Point Lounge • Dating from 2:30 to 5:00*' in the Alumni Lounge Room # 3540 3545 2540 2545 2555B 9:00– Marketing Your Working New Ways to Selecting a The Proposal 10:30)' Biography with Primary Publish Subject Documents 10:45)'– Trends in Working The Proposal Dealing with Marketing Your 12:15*' Biography with Primary the Family Biography Documents 12:30– Lunch 1:45*' 2:00– Selecting a Electronic Self-Editing Funding Your Trends in 3:30*' Subject Research Work Biography 3:45– Dealing with Electronic Funding Your Self-editing New Ways to 5:15*' the Family Research Work Publish 5:30– Reception and Book Signings 6:30*'
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