4/15/17

BIO Invites Biographers, Historians, Memoirists to Boston May 19-21



            On May 19-21, Emerson College will host the 2017 Biographers International Organization Annual Conference.   The Conference will offer a wide selection of panel discussions and workshops for BIOGRAPHERS, HISTORIANS, MEMOIRISTS and anyone interested in  “Life Writing”—true stories about real people. 
            What sparks a biographer? How do you choose a subject? What are the challenges of writing about celebrities or the “hidden figures” of history? Whose lives matter and who should tell their story? How do you solve the riddle of research—where to go, how far down the research trail and when to quit? How do you organize a biography? How do you deal with family issues?  Do you avoid controversy or embrace it? How do you make a film trailer or bring your book to the stage, screen or broadcast? What are the advantages or pitfalls of DIY publishing?   
            Experienced, award-winning biographers will address these questions and more at the 2017 BIO Conference.
            On Friday, May 19, BIO will offer afternoon tours of Boston’s top archival sites—the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Boston Athenaeum—a group reading of excerpts from new biographies, and the Opening Reception.
            The Saturday morning Plenary Session features a conversation between two prolific, award-winning, biographers whose recent works explore the Boston Kennedy legacy—Larry Tye (Bobby Kennedy: the Making of a Liberal Icon, 2016) and David Nasaw--(The Patriarch:  The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy, 2012).  They will discuss the question:  “How did this privileged, sheltered son of an arch conservative who cared little about poverty, racism, or liberal values become the Bobby Kennedy who ran for president in 1968?”  
            Morning workshop topics include: The Organized Biographer; The Challenges of Writing about the Known; Women in Love; Going Indie; Writing about Family Matters; The Challenges of Writing about the Unknown; Boston and New England Lives; and Parallel Lives.
            The Lunchtime keynote address will be presented by 2017 BIO Award winner Candice Millard. Millard’s Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape and the Making of Winston Churchill was named New York Times top ten book of the year of 2016.
            Afternoon Round Table Discussions will cover divergent topics including: First-time Biographers; First-person Narration; Biographies of Family Members; Group Biography; Women’s Lives; Sexuality in Biography; U.S. History before 1945; U.S. History after 1945; Literary Biography; Celebrities and Popular Culture; Visual and Performing Arts.
            Late afternoon workshop topics will include: Slice of Life; Controversy; Beyond the Book Review; Off the Page and Onto the Stage, Screen and Broadcast; Birth of a Biography; Biography and Style; Whose Lives Matter; and Lessons from Presidents’ Lives.
            Sunday in-depth workshop topics will include: Assembling Your Book; Making a Book Trailer; Writing Your First Biography; and Book Proposals.
            For more information and to register, visit http://biographersinternational.org/2017-bio-conference/

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