“Biographers, like most writers, work alone,” says James McGrath Morris, the author of 2005’s The Rose Man of Sing Sing. “Whenever we get together, the conversations are loaded with shop talk… Very often the question that one struggles over alone, is the same one that others are puzzling over.” Combine that with the ongoing interest among readers for biographies, and Morris was sure that he had the makings of a solid online newsletter. And thus The Biographer’s Craft.
The current issue includes notice of recent prizes awarded to bios by David Nasaw and Peter Kay, along with a listing of recent biographical book deals and one of books about to arrive in bookstores, and an excerpt from Barbara Burkhardt‘s biography of William Maxwell. The newsletter will be available for free monthly e-mail delivery, supported by selling books through Powells.com as well as other advertising.