A Life in Biography

A podcast by: Carl Rollyson

Talks and interviews about the life of biography as experienced by a biographer over forty years and fourteen biographies, dealing with subjects ranging from Sylvia Plath to William Faulkner, Marilyn Monroe to Susan Sontag, and much more.

213 Episodes

Malcolm W. Browne reporting from Vietnam and other biographical matters with Ray Boomhower
Published 2024-04-14

Biography in the Prison House of Modernism, Part 2
Published 2024-04-07
A new Greta Garbo biography by Lois Banner, with new sources and insights
Published 2024-03-23
Mary Dearborn discusses her new biography of Carson McCullers
Published 2024-03-17
Sylvia Plath’s “Mirror” and the Prison House Modernism
Published 2024-03-10
Authors vanish after they die and are revived. A talk with the biographer of Carolyn Wells.
Published 2024-03-03
A rollicking interview with Paul Alexander about his new biography of Billie Holiday.
Published 2024-02-25
My listeners respond
Published 2024-02-18
Why Biography Doesn’t Belong
Published 2024-02-11
A talk with Marian Janssen, biographer of Carolyn Kizer, one of the wild women of American poetry
Published 2024-02-04
How close is too close when it comes to the biography of your subject?
Published 2024-01-28
You’ve heard of Chaplin and Keaton, but Al Christie?—the subject of Mark Kearney’s new biography
Published 2024-01-21
Tim Christian discusses his audiobook version of Hemingway’s Widow
Published 2024-01-15
The author records his book: Tim Christian on Hemingway’s Widow
Published 2024-01-14
Biographer Ruth Laney discusses her decades of work on the life and world of Ernest J. Gaines
Published 2024-01-07
Whose biography is it, anyway? My answer to Joyce Carol Oates
Published 2023-12-24
Honey Traps! Why spies make good if spooky biographical subjects.
Published 2023-12-17
A slightly trimmed version of my talk with Chris Wallace about biographers and political lives
Published 2023-12-11
A conversation with Chris Wallace about her book Political Lives and how biographers get the story
Published 2023-12-10
Come On! Get Happy! How Summer Stock with Judy Garland and Gene Kelly got made
Published 2023-12-03

213 Episodes

Malcolm W. Browne reporting from Vietnam and other biographical matters with Ray Boomhower

Biography in the Prison House of Modernism, Part 2

A new Greta Garbo biography by Lois Banner, with new sources and insights

Mary Dearborn discusses her new biography of Carson McCullers

Sylvia Plath’s “Mirror” and the Prison House Modernism

Authors vanish after they die and are revived. A talk with the biographer of Carolyn Wells.

A rollicking interview with Paul Alexander about his new biography of Billie Holiday.

My listeners respond

Why Biography Doesn’t Belong

A talk with Marian Janssen, biographer of Carolyn Kizer, one of the wild women of American poetry

How close is too close when it comes to the biography of your subject?

You’ve heard of Chaplin and Keaton, but Al Christie?—the subject of Mark Kearney’s new biography

Tim Christian discusses his audiobook version of Hemingway’s Widow

The author records his book: Tim Christian on Hemingway’s Widow

Biographer Ruth Laney discusses her decades of work on the life and world of Ernest J. Gaines

Whose biography is it, anyway? My answer to Joyce Carol Oates

Honey Traps! Why spies make good if spooky biographical subjects.

A slightly trimmed version of my talk with Chris Wallace about biographers and political lives

A conversation with Chris Wallace about her book Political Lives and how biographers get the story

Come On! Get Happy! How Summer Stock with Judy Garland and Gene Kelly got made