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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