Podcast
Biographers International Organization
Hosted by Biographers International Organization · EN
Sharing a passion for biography!
31episodes
Episodes
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Podcast #261 – Mary Lisa Gavenas
1w ago00:23:05Tap to summarizeSelling Opportunity: The Story of Mary Kay, published by Viking in April 2026, is this author’s latest book. Gavenas authored Color Stories: Behind the Scenes in America’s Billion-Dollar Beauty Industry, and she has worked as both a beauty editor and scholar of the beauty industry, especially as it relates to cultural history. She was recently named a Fellow at the Leon Levy Center for Biography. And this former Glamour, In Style, Mirabella editor, and columnist at Elle, has served as an advisory board member for The Dove Report: Challenging Beauty, and is cited as an expert source in media ranging from The New York Times to BBC-4. Fellow biographer and BIO member Lisa Napoli interviewed Mary Lisa Gavenas.
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Podcast #260 – Jon Meacham, Part II
2w ago00:20:04Tap to summarizePhoto by Heidi Ross American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union, published by Random House in February 2026, is the latest book by this Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer and historian. Meacham has authored New York Times bestsellers, including And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle; Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power; American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House; Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship; Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush; and His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope. He holds the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Chair at Vanderbilt University and is a fellow of the Society of American Historians. Fellow biographer and BIO member John A. Farrell interviewed Jon Meacham.
Transcribe →Podcast #259 – Jon Meacham, Part I
3w ago00:33:55Tap to summarizePhoto by Heidi Ross American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union, published by Random House in February 2026, is the latest book by this Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer and historian. Meacham has authored New York Times bestsellers, including And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle; Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power; American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House; Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship; Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush; and His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope. He holds the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Chair at Vanderbilt University and is a fellow of the Society of American Historians. Fellow biographer and BIO member John A. Farrell interviewed Jon Meacham.
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Podcast #258 – Hester Kaplan
May 800:30:59Tap to summarizePhoto by Rupert Whiteley This author’s Twice Born: Finding My Father in the Margins of Biography was published by Catapult Press in October 2025. Kaplan has authored novels and story collections, including The Edge of Marriage, winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in literary journals and anthologies, including The Best American Short Stories series. She is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Awards, and she was named a Mark Twain Fellow for Twice Born. BIO member and podcast producer Jenny Skoog Mondesir interviewed Hester Kaplan.
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Podcast #257 – Adam Henig
May 100:32:15Tap to summarizeBaseball’s Outcast: The Story of Ron LeFlore is this author’s latest book, published by Bloomsbury Academic in April 2026. Henig has also penned the well-received Watergate’s Forgotten Hero: Frank Wills, Night Watchman, as well as Alex Haley’s Roots: An Author’s Odyssey, and Baseball Under Siege: The Yankees, the Cardinals, and a Doctor’s Battle to Integrate Spring Training. His writings have appeared in Time, Tampa Bay Times, Washington Independent Review of Books, Detroit Metro Times, and BlackPast. He is an active member of the Biographers International Organization and the Society for American Baseball Research. BIO member and podcast producer Jenny Skoog Mondesir interviewed Adam Henig.
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Podcast #256 – Gayle Feldman
Apr 2400:26:06Tap to summarizePhoto by Michael Lionstar Nothing Random: Bennett Cerf and the Publishing House He Built is the latest book by veteran journalist and author Gayle Feldman. Published by Random House in January 2026, this biography explores the life of a driven young man who vowed to become a great publisher – and did. Feldman has served as a senior staff editor for Publishers Weekly and a U.S. correspondent for The Bookseller. Her features, reviews, and essays have appeared in a wide range of periodicals, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Times of London, The Nation, and The Daily Beast. Feldman’s previous books were You Don’t Have to Be Your Mother and Best and Worst of Times: The Changing Business of Trade Books. Fellow biographer and BIO member Lisa Napoli interviewed Gayle Feldman.
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Podcast #255 – “Four Paths, One Impossible Dream,” Part VI: Still Writing
Apr 1700:16:54Tap to summarizeIn this final episode of our six-part miniseries, we’re in January 2026. Kate’s already researching her next book, and it turns out it connects everything she’s ever written. Kevin has one goal: to finish first. Katie Rose has a draft proposal, three kids under five, and no intention of stopping. And Sara has a message for anyone who’s ever thought about writing a book. BIO Podcast producer Jenny Skoog guides listeners through this series’ finale. “Four Paths, One Impossible Dream” follows four authors navigating the challenges of writing biography. Over eight months in 2025, BIO Podcast producer Jenny Skoog spoke with comedian Sara Benincasa, tackling Abraham Lincoln; professor Kate Culkin, working on a book about Ralph Waldo Emerson’s daughters; historian Kevin McGruder, who has spent decades researching Harlem Renaissance writer Rudolph Fisher; and journalist Katie Rose Quandt, on the challenges of completing a book proposal while pregnant.
Transcribe →Podcast #254 – “Four Paths, One Impossible Dream,” Part V: Community and Solitude
Apr 1000:19:08Tap to summarizeSara offers her advice to anyone writing their first book: get a therapist and take a walk. Kate cut a story she loved — about two sisters fighting over politics in 1880 — because it didn’t belong. Kevin is in a race he didn’t sign up for, and Katie Rose is asked if she’s ever thought about quitting. She says no. She wants this book to exist; that’s enough. Part five of our podcast miniseries, produced by Jenny Skoog, explores the quiet, unglamorous work of writing biography — and what it actually feels like. “Four Paths, One Impossible Dream” follows four authors navigating the challenges of writing biography. Over eight months in 2025, BIO Podcast producer Jenny Skoog spoke with comedian Sara Benincasa, tackling Abraham Lincoln; professor Kate Culkin, working on a book about Ralph Waldo Emerson’s daughters; historian Kevin McGruder, who has spent decades researching Harlem Renaissance writer Rudolph Fisher; and journalist Katie Rose Quandt, on the challenges of completing a book proposal while pregnant.
Transcribe →Podcast #253 – “Four Paths, One Impossible Dream,” Part IV: Challenging the Canon
Apr 300:18:08Tap to summarizeIn this fourth episode of our six-part miniseries, Sara finds out that President Lincoln presided over the largest mass execution on American soil, and she wants to know why nobody taught her that. Kevin has a death certificate that answers a question other scholars keep pretending is a mystery. Katie Rose reads congressional testimony from a hundred years ago that could have been written this morning. And Kate has to reckon with the fact that one of her subjects was a racist. The ideas. The arguments. The stuff that keeps them up at night, and BIO Podcast producer Jenny Skoog explores these dilemmas with the four authors. “Four Paths, One Impossible Dream” follows four authors navigating the challenges of writing biography. Over eight months in 2025, BIO Podcast producer Jenny Skoog spoke with comedian Sara Benincasa, tackling Abraham Lincoln; professor Kate Culkin, working on a book about Ralph Waldo Emerson’s daughters; historian Kevin McGruder, who has spent decades researching Harlem Renaissance writer Rudolph Fisher; and journalist Katie Rose Quandt, on the challenges of completing a book proposal while pregnant.
Transcribe →Podcast #252 – “Four Paths, One Impossible Dream,” Part III: The Business of Biography
Mar 2700:16:42Tap to summarizeThe third episode of our six-part miniseries goes behind the scenes of biography’s business realities — the contracts, proposals, and market pressures authors navigate to get their books published. “Four Paths, One Impossible Dream” follows four authors navigating the challenges of writing biography. Over eight months in 2025, BIO Podcast producer Jenny Skoog spoke with comedian Sara Benincasa, tackling Abraham Lincoln; professor Kate Culkin, working on a book about Ralph Waldo Emerson’s daughters; historian Kevin McGruder, who has spent decades researching Harlem Renaissance writer Rudolph Fisher; and journalist Katie Rose Quandt, on the challenges of completing a book proposal while pregnant.
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