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
Jan 21, 2024 • 37min
You’ve heard of Chaplin and Keaton, but Al Christie?—the subject of Mark Kearney’s new biography
Al Christie: Hollywood’s Forgotten Film Pioneer by Mark Kearney. A wide ranging discussion of a pioneer Hollywood filmmaker, how to write his biography, and what implications there are for biographers of film figures.
Jan 15, 2024 • 30min
Tim Christian discusses his audiobook version of Hemingway’s Widow
How to do a biography as an audiobook
Jan 14, 2024 • 30min
The author records his book: Tim Christian on Hemingway’s Widow
Tim Christian describes the process of doing an audiobook, with some very specific advice and technical specifications.
Jan 7, 2024 • 51min
Biographer Ruth Laney discusses her decades of work on the life and world of Ernest J. Gaines
Cherie Quarters: The Place and People That Inspire Ernest J. Gaines: biography, memoir, history, and an evocation of the material world out of which a great American writer fashioned his fiction.
Dec 24, 2023 • 10min
Whose biography is it, anyway? My answer to Joyce Carol Oates
A brief podcast, what you might call a short snort, about those who malign biography.
Dec 17, 2023 • 27min
Honey Traps! Why spies make good if spooky biographical subjects.
A talk with Henry Schlesinger about his book on Honey Traps and the biographies of alluring spies.
Dec 11, 2023 • 41min
A slightly trimmed version of my talk with Chris Wallace about biographers and political lives
What happens when the biographer becomes part of the story? Chris Wallace shows us in her unique book, Political Lives.
Dec 10, 2023 • 41min
A conversation with Chris Wallace about her book Political Lives and how biographers get the story
A discussion of a unique book by Chris Wallace, a journalist turned scholar, and how biographers interact with their subjects.
Dec 3, 2023 • 41min
Come On! Get Happy! How Summer Stock with Judy Garland and Gene Kelly got made
Join David Fantle and Tom Johnson for a lively discussion of the backstory and performances and production of the MGM musical, Summer Stock
Nov 22, 2023 • 41min
Danny Fingeroth’s new biography of Jack Ruby
How to deal with a figure so involved with conspiracy theories: What does a biography have to add to history?
