A Life in Biography
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jul 14, 2024 • 51min
Emily. Van Duyne discusses her new, ground breaking book, Loving Sylvia Plath
You think you know the Plath story? Ah, but who gets to tell it, and why do they do so, and how does someone like Ted Hughes commandeer the narrative?
Jul 7, 2024 • 34min
Ghostwriter, biographer, novelist, Shakespeare, Faulkner—we cover it all in Lawrence Wells’s work
What happens when a writer is hired to do a biographical novel seeking to prove Shakespeare was not Shakespeare, and how years later, the project becomes two books of nonfiction and fiction
Jun 30, 2024 • 35min
Marcia Biederman on her fascinating book about abortion in 19th C. New England
Marcia Biderman writes biography like a mystery story. There is much to learn from her.
Jun 12, 2024 • 12min
A few more words about branding.
This won’t take long.
Jun 9, 2024 • 35min
Building Your Brand and Best Practices
Advice you may not want to take.
May 19, 2024 • 40min
Robert Hamblin discusses his new book, a kind of biography of William Faulkner in verse
An important Faulkner critic and biographer introduces us to new way of understanding Faulkner, his fiction, and his life
May 13, 2024 • 38min
I have reloaded the episode with Roger Lewis talking about his Taylor-Burton biography.
A loading issue made me repost this exciting talk with Roger Lewis.
May 5, 2024 • 48min
A talk with Jared Stearns about his new biography of Marilyn Chambers and the world of hardcore
How does a biographer deal with the world of pornography and so-called porn stars. Jared Stearns knows how in his biography, Pure: The Sexual Revolutions of Marilyn Chambers.
Apr 22, 2024 • 1h 10min
The Existential Loneliness of the Long Distance Biographer
This podcast is not as pretentious or self-pitying as you might suppose.
Apr 14, 2024 • 41min
Malcolm W. Browne reporting from Vietnam and other biographical matters with Ray Boomhower
Ray Boomhower talks about what it is like to be a journalist in Vietnam and about what it is like writing biographies of journalists.
