A Life in Biography

Latest Episodes:

A Collector’s Item: A Dialogue About Biography Mar 25, 2023

Show notes

The correspondence of Carl Rollyson and Samuel R. Delany, a latter day version of Oscar’s Wilde’s The Critic as Artist, in the form reminiscent of a Platonic dialogue.

The Ethics of Biography and a Confession Mar 18, 2023

Show notes

The ethics of biography apply not only to the biographer but also to those who choose to cooperate with a biographer and those who do not.

Finding Jackie: A conversation with Oline Eaton about her new biography Feb 11, 2023

Show notes

Pay attention to the subtitle of Finding Jackie: A Life Reinvented. How Oline Eaton deals with the making and unmaking and making of a fascinating life.

Remembering a great friend & biographer with Mary Dearborn, Diana Jacobs, Sydney Stern, Amanda Vaill Feb 08, 2023

Show notes

We celebrate the late Marion Meade, novelist and biographer of Dorothy Parker, Buster Keaton, Woody Allen, and others by her fellow biographers and friends.

The tables are turned: Author and publisher Karen Christensen interviews me! Feb 01, 2023

Show notes

Some penetrating questions and comments on my practice as a biography in an interview with Karen Christensen

Dealing with sources, people and archive, the good,, the bad, and the ugly, with Doug Munro Jan 29, 2023

Show notes

My resident Pacific Islands historian/biographer, Doug Munro,, discusses the successes and failures with sources, in the archives and in person, and I respond with my own tales of horror and deliverance

The History Wars! In Australia, but it happens here too. Biographers Beware Jan 22, 2023

Show notes

Part 2 of a conversation with Pacific Islands historian/biographer, Doug Munro, about the cross overs between history and biography, and on the polarization in Australia and here.

A new biography of William Faulkner’s great-grandfather, avatar and precursor Jan 14, 2023

Show notes

Historical archeologist Jack Elliott explains why we need a new biography of Faulkner’s great-grandfather. Listen to an authentic Mississippi voice!

Doug Munro on Biography and History: Where They Meet and Deviate Jan 08, 2023

Show notes

A conversation about why history was not enough for Doug Munro, and why he turned to biography, which is also quite not enough

Choosing My Subjects: A Fireside Chat Dec 31, 2022

Show notes

A year end podcast reflecting on the contingencies of biography.