The best biography of 2023 to be announced on
May 17, 2024 at the 14th annual BIO Conference
April 27, 2024; New York, NY– A distinguished panel of judges from the Biographers International Organization (BIO) is proud to announce the five books that have been short-listed for the 2024 Plutarch Award, the only international literary award for biography judged exclusively by biographers. These five biographies uphold the high standard set by earlier Plutarch winners for the quality of research, the literary merit of the writing, and the originality and significance of the project.
You will find this year’s five short list titles, in alphabetical order by author’s name, listed below. Detailed information for each longlisted title, including the Committee’s notes, is available HERE, and information regarding the annual BIO Conference can be found HERE.
Jonathan Eig KING: A Life (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Howard Fishman TO ANYONE WHO EVER ASKS: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse (Dutton)
Lisa M. Hamilton THE HUNGRY SEASON: A Journey of War, Love, and Survival
(Little, Brown and Company)
Prudence Peiffer THE SLIP: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever (Harper)
Yepoka Yeebo ANANSI’S GOLD: The Man Who Looted the West, Outfoxed Washington, and Swindled the World (Bloomsbury)
“The 2024 Plutarch Award Committee received some 200 books by first-time and experienced biographers, issued by small and large publishers, on subjects who made their lives in worlds as vastly different as ancient Greece and Silicon Valley,” said Carol Sklenicka, chair of the committee. “We pulled back from books that fill holes in the available research with fiction but welcomed unconventional group subjects and timelines. We admired biographers who could find the sweet spot where facts speak plainly yet powerfully. Each biography on our shortlist evinces intellectual curiosity, rigorous research, and a distinct narrative voice that tells a story and wins readers’ trust.”
BIO President Steve Paul added, “We are all grateful for the committee’s obvious care, devotion to quality, and astute thought in handling this assignment. I am particularly impressed by the fact that each of these books is so different from the others in strategy and style, illustrating the wide range of possibilities in our craft.”
2024 Plutarch Jury members:
Carol Sklenicka (chair), Patricia Albers, Vanda Krefft, William Souder, and Ethelene Whitmire.
