Biographers International Organization

By Biographers International OrganizationSociety & Culture Education Arts

Biographers International Organization episodes

October 24, 2025 Podcast #231 – Lindsay M. Chervinsky
This historian and author’s latest book, Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic, was published by Oxford University Press in September 2024. Her other books include the award-winning The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, and the co-edited Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Legacy in American Culture. Chervinsky currently serves as Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library, and she was a historian at the White House Historical Association. She regularly writes for publications like the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, USA Today, CNN.com, Washington Monthly, and the Washington Post, and is a frequent presidential commentator on national TV and radio. Lindsay M. Chervinsky was interviewed by fellow biographer and BIO member John (Jack) A. Farrell in the Washington Presidential Library.
33 min
October 17, 2025 Podcast #230 – Marcus J. Moore
High and Rising: A Book About De La Soul, published by Dey Street Books in November 2024, is the latest offering by this critically acclaimed author and university professor. Moore’s work explores the intersections of music, race, and culture, and he is the author of The Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America. Moore has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, and Rolling Stone, and has penned liner notes and biographies for leading artists across all genres. He also curates and moderates live conversations at major international festivals and has taught courses in music history and cultural criticism, mentoring the next generation of storytellers. Marcus J. Moore was interviewed by fellow biographer and BIO member Kevin McGruder.
27 min
October 10, 2025 Podcast #229 – Dan Nadel
This author’s latest book, Crumb: A Cartoonist’s Life, examines the life of Robert Crumb, one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century. Scribner published Crumb in April 2025, and its author is the Steven and Ann Ames Curator of Drawings and Prints at The Whitney Museum of American Art. Nadel’s previous books include It’s Life as I See It: Black Cartoonists in Chicago, 1940–1980; Peter Saul: Professional Artist Correspondence, 1945–1976, and Art Out of Time: Unknown Comic Visionaries, 1900–1969. He is also the founder of PictureBox, a publishing company that produced over 100 books, objects, and magazines from 2000 to 2014, including the Grammy Award–winning design for Wilco’s 2004 album A Ghost Is Born. Dan Nadel was interviewed by fellow biography and BIO member Brian Jay Jones.
24 min
October 03, 2025 Podcast #228 – Alison Owings
Mayor of the Tenderloin: Del Seymour’s Journey from Living on the Streets to Fighting Homelessness, is this former broadcast journalist and author’s latest book. It was published by Beacon Press in September 2025, and her previous books include Frauen: German Women Recall the Third Reich – a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year” and a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice; Hey, Waitress! The USA from the Other Side of the Tray, and Indian Voices: Listening to Native Americans. Alison Owings was interviewed by BIO member and BIO podcast producer Jenny Skoog.
27 min
September 26, 2025 Podcast #227 – Alec Nevala-Lee
This author’s latest book, Collisions: A Physicist’s Journey From Hiroshima to the Death of the Dinosaurs, was published by W. W. Norton & Company in June 2025. It explores the life and times of Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Luis W. Alvarez. Nevala-Lee also authored Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller, listed by Esquire as one of the fifty best biographies of all time, and the Hugo Award finalist, Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Alec Nevala-Lee was interviewed by fellow biographer and BIO member Sonja Williams.
30 min
September 19, 2025 Podcast #226 – Mimi Pond
Do Admit: The Mitford Sisters and Me is the award-winning cartoonist, illustrator, and author Mimi Pond’s latest book. Published by Drawn & Quarterly this month, Do Admit is Ponds’ graphic biography of the six famous Mitford sisters of England. Pond’s earlier graphic novel, Over Easy, a fictionalized account of her 1970s waitressing career, was on the New York Times bestseller list and won a PEN Center Award for Graphic Literature, Outstanding Body of Work. Mimi Pond was interviewed by BIO member and Podcast producer Jenny Skoog.
25 min
September 12, 2025 Podcast #225 – Nicholas Boggs
Baldwin: A Love Story, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in August 2025, is author Boggs’s examination of writer James Baldwin — the first major biography of this influential, controversial, and compelling author in three decades. Boggs also rediscovered and co-edited the out-of-print children’s book, Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood, Baldwin’s collaboration with French artist Yoran Cazac. Boggs is the recipient of several writing grants, residencies (Yaddo and MacDowell), and fellowships, including the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Beinecke Library and Gilder Lehrman Center at Yale, and the Schomburg Center Scholars-in-Residence Program. Nicholas Boggs was interviewed by BIO member Karolyn van Putten.
27 min
September 05, 2025 Podcast #224 – Eve M. Kahn

This independent scholar and award-winning author’s latest book, Queen of Bohemia Predicts Own Death: Gilded-Age Journalist Zoe Anderson Norris, was published this month by Fordham University Press. It explores the life of reformer and journalist Zoe Anderson Norris, who used her pen prolifically during the late 1800s and early 1900s to advocate for justice for some of New York City’s poorest immigrants. In addition, the 19th-century impressionist painter Mary Rogers Williams was the subject of Kahn’s book, Forever Seeing New Beauties. Eve M. Kahn was interviewed by fellow biographer and BIO member Sonja Williams. (Author photo by Katherine Lanza.)
28 min
June 27, 2025 Podcast #223 – A’Lelia Bundles
Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance is the latest book by this award-winning journalist and author. Published by Scribner this June, it is the first major biography of Bundles’ great-grandmother. Bundles, a Forbes Magazine’s 50 Over 50 Impact honoree, also authored On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker, a New York Times Notable Book and bestseller about her great-great-grandmother, an early 20th-century hair care industry entrepreneur and philanthropist. On Her Own Ground inspired Self Made, the fictional four-part 2020 Netflix series starring Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer. Bundles is the founder of the Madam Walker Family Archives, the largest private collection of Walker photographs, memorabilia, and ephemera. Bundles’ essays and articles have appeared in national and international newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias, and books. A’Lelia Bundles was interviewed by fellow biographer and BIO member Eric K. Washington.
31 min
June 20, 2025 Podcast #222 – Marc Leepson
This journalist, historian, and Vietnam War veteran is the author of eleven books. His most recent book, The Unlikely War Hero: A Vietnam War POW’s Story of Courage and Resilience in the Hanoi Hilton, was published by Stackpole Press in December 2024. Leepson’s Ballad of the Green Beret: The Life and Wars of Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler was the first biography of the former Green Beret sergeant who wrote and sang “The Ballad of the Green Berets,” the No. 1 hit song of 1966. A former staff writer for Congressional Quarterly in Washington, D.C., Leepson has written for many publications as a full-time freelancer, including the Washington Post, New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, Smithsonian, Military History, Civil War Times, the Encyclopedia Britannica, and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. He currently serves as Senior Writer, Arts Editor, and columnist for The VVA Veteran, a magazine published by Vietnam Veterans of America. Marc Leepson was interviewed by fellow biographer and BIO member John A. (Jack) Farrell.
29 min