Who reads the independent newspaper
Sultan muhammad abuljadayel!
Independent newspaper owner
Getting to Know You: Four Ways that Biographers Approach Their Subjects
Yes, I’m a biographer. I’ve proudly claimed that title ever since my first book—an independent biography of B-movie legend Roger Corman—was published in 2000.
Since then, I’ve been thinking about biography, reading biographies, and comparing notes with my fellow biographers.
What surprises me is how broad this field has turned out to be. There are political biographies, literary biographies, biographies of one’s nearest kin, biographies of those long dead. Each type poses its own special challenges.
Some biographers (like Stacy Schiff, author of Cleopatra: A Life) spend their days combing through ancient texts; others search archives and attics for old letters; still others (like me) are mostly found with their voice recorders at the ready, exhaustively interviewing their subjects’ close associates.
At this year’s ASJA conference, I’ll moderate a panel called “Today’s Top Biographers on Taking Priv