questions for biography writing

Best questions for biography

Home » Questions » Best questions for biography

Writing a biography is an incredible way to preserve someone’s life story and share their experiences with the world. Whether you are writing a biography for a loved one, a historical figure, or a notable personality, having a list of well-thought-out questions is essential to gather all the necessary information. These questions serve as a guide to help you dig deeper into the person’s life, understand their journey, and showcase their accomplishments. In this article, we have compiled a comprehensive list of questions for biography that will assist you in creating a compelling narrative.

Before diving into the list of questions, it is crucial to understand that every biography is unique, and the questions you ask will depend on the individual you are writing about. It is essential to tailor the questions to suit their background, achievements, and the purpose of the biography. However, the following list provides a solid foundation to explore various aspects of a person’s life, including their childhood, education, career, relationships, and significant events.

Remember, a biography should not only focus on the person’s achievements but also provide insights into their personality, motivations, and struggles. These questions will help you create a well-rounded biography that captures the essence of the individual and leaves a lasting impact on your readers.

See these questions for biography

• What is your full name?
• Where and when were you born?
• Can you share some details about your childhood?
• What was your family background like?
• Who were your role models growing up?
• What were your favorite hobbies or activities as a child?
• Did you have any siblings? If so, how did they influence your life?
• What is your educational background?
• Who was your favorite teacher and why?
• What were your academic interests and strengths?
• Did you face any challenges or obstacles during your education?
• Can you recall any memorable experiences from your school days?
• How did your career journey begin?
• What motivated you to pursue your chosen career path?
• Did you face any setbacks or rejections while establishing your career?
• What were some significant milestones or achievements in your professional life?
• Who were your mentors or influencers in your career?
• What were some valuable lessons you learned from your professional experiences?
• How did you balance your personal and professional life?
• What led you to become involved in your community or charitable work?
• What are some of your most memorable moments in your career?
• Who are the most important people in your life?
• Can you share any stories about your relationships with family and friends?
• What are your core values and beliefs?
• What are some defining moments or turning points in your life?
• How do you handle challenges or adversity?
• What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
• How do you define success?
• What are your goals and aspirations for the future?
• What advice would you give to others aspiring to follow a similar path?
• Can you recall any funny or memorable anecdotes from your life?
• What are some of your favorite books, movies, or music?
• How do you unwind and relax?
• What are some of your favorite travel destinations?
• Have you ever faced any moments of self-doubt or imposter syndrome?
• What is the most valuable lesson you have learned in life?
• How do you want to be remembered?
• What legacy do you hope to leave behind?
• Is there anything else you would like to share about your life?

These questions for biography provide a starting point for your research and interview process. Remember to be respectful, empathetic, and open-minded while gathering information about someone’s life. A biography is an opportunity to honor and celebrate an individual’s journey, so approach it with care and curiosity. Good luck in creating a captivating biography that will inspire and educate readers for years to come!

Related Post:

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Best valentines day family feud questions

Best spread love quotes

Best valentineʼs jeopardy questions

Best spotless mind quotes

Best valentineʼs day questions for students

Best sports quotes about leadership

© the narratologist 2024

351 Life Story Questions to Ask People (Storytelling)

• Categories: Family Storytelling , Interviews & Questions
• Tags: Questions to Ask

Ask people these 351 life story questions for storytelling.

What questions do you ask people when interviewing them about their life stories? What writing prompts do you use to write their story? In this article, I have included 351-plus writing prompts and questions to interview others and write their stories. They are a little random, but you get an idea of what you can discuss. I would encourage you to add questions that come to you.

Using Open-ended Questions

You will note that many of the questions are open-ended questions. I believe open-ended questions are the best type of questions to ask others. Open-ended questions allow people to tell stories they want to share. An example of open-ended questions are:

• What did you like to do when you were a little girl?
• What did you do on your first date?
• Where do you like to go for a vacation?
• Who is your favorite author, and why?
• What some of your favorite experiences with your mom and dad?

When I interviewed my dad, I lived in a different state. I asked my dad if I could set up a series of telephone interviews that I could record. I chose to break up the interview into 10 60- to 90-minute sessions over six weeks. Each talk focused on a different time period or topic of his life. At the end of each interview, I outlined what I wanted to cover in the following interview to give my dad time to ponder what stories he wanted to share. During our interviews, he shared many personal stories that I had never heard. We laughed, cried, and shared many precious and tender moments.

I have prepared a couple of other resources that will provide value in interviewing for and writing individual, personal, and family narratives: “ Complete Guide for Conducting Oral History Interviews ” and “ Complete Guide to Writing A Personal Narrative .”

351 Life Story Questions to Ask Others

These 351 writing prompts and questions are part of a 28 article, 108 category series entitled “ 7,500-plus Questions About Life to Ask People When Writing Narratives .”  I have divided the writing prompts and questions to ask others into the following categories. Click on the category to be taken to the questions.

Early Years

School years-elementary school, school years-jr. high school, school years-high school, school years-college/university/trade school, grandparents, spouses parents, professional/career, military and war, personal experiences, request for artifacts.

• What is your full name, and why were you named that? (Maiden name for females)
• Who are your parents and your grandparents? a. Your parents? Please give full names. b. Your grandparents? Please give full names.
• What is your place of birth?
• What are your birth date and year?
• Were you named after someone?
• Where did you live during your early years?
• What are the earliest memories of your home?
• Did you have any nicknames as you were growing up? a. If yes, what would you like to share about the nickname?
• What chores did you have as a child? a. What memories do you have about your chores? b. Which chore did you dislike and why?
• What kind of books did you like to read? a. Did you have a favorite book or books series? b. Why did you like the books?
• What was your nighttime routine for going to bed? a. What memories would you like to share?
• Did you have favorite songs that you liked to sing?
• Why type of toys did you like to play with as a child?
• What types of games did you like to play? a. Indoors? b. Outdoors? c. Boardgames?
• What were your favorite foods as a child? Explain. a. Was there ever a time when you did not have enough to eat? Explain.
• What did you want to become when you grew up? (e.g., policeman, fireman, nurse, doctor)
• Who was the oldest person you remember as a child? a. What do you remember?
• Did you ever have any childhood diseases (e.g., measles, mumps, chickenpox) growing up? What do you remember?

Return to questions list.

• Where did you go to elementary school?
• What was the school like?
• Who were your friends in elementary school?
• What are your favorite memories about your friends?
• Who was your favorite teacher? Why?
• Were you ever bullied in elementary school? Explain.
• What memories do you have about elementary school?
• How did you go to school?
• Did you eat lunch at school or go home?
• What did you like to play?
• What did you like to do after school?
• What other memories would you like to share?
• Where did you go to school in Jr. High or Middle School?
• Who were your friends in Jr. High school?
• Were you ever bullied in Jr. High? Explain.
• What memories do you have about Jr. High school?
• What classes did you like most and why?
• What type of classes did you take for your elective classes? (e.g., band, shop, home education)
• Did you participate in after-school activities like sports, marching band, cheer or other activities? What are your memories?
• Were there any dress fads during your school years?
• What other memories about Jr. High would you like to share?
• Were you ever given any special awards for your studies or school activities?
• Describe yourself in High School.
• Where did you go to school in High School?
• Who were your friends in High school?
• Were you ever bullied in high school? Explain.
• What memories do you have of High School?
• What classes did you like most and why? Least, and why?
• What type of classes did you take for your elective classes?
• What kind of grades did you get in your classes?
• Did you participate in after-school activities like sports, marching band, cheer or other activities? What memories do you have?
• Did you date during High School? What were their names? What memories would you like to share?
• What did you wear to school? Describe it.
• What other memories about High School would you like to share?
• Did you and your friends have special hang-outs where you liked to spend time?
• How many years of education have you completed?
• Did you attend any school or training after high school?
• What can you tell me about your education?
• Why did you choose it as your field of study?
• Did you graduate? What memories would you like to share?
• Describe yourself as a young adult.
• Did you date as a youth? a. How older were you had your first date? b. What do you remember about your first date? c. Who was your first date?
• When did you first meet your spouse? a. Where was it? b. What do you remember about the first meeting? c. Describe your time dating? d. What attracted you to that person? e. Describe your time together. a. Describe them. f. How long did you know them before you got married? g. Describe your wedding proposal.
• Where and when did you get married? (Include date, place, church, etc.)
• Describe your wedding day and ceremony.
• Who was there? Best Man, Bride’s Maid, other wedding party members?
• Did you have a honeymoon? a. Where did you go?
• How would you describe your spouse(s)?
• What do (did) you admire most about them?
• How long have (were) you married?
• When and where did your spouse die? a. How died? b. Where buried?
• What advice would you give to your child or grandchild on their wedding day?
• Have you ever been divorced? What can you share?
• Do you have children?
• What are their names, birth dates and birthplaces?
• What is the story behind each name you gave your children?
• Did you adopt any children? a. Can your share your experiences of adoption?
• Describe the memory about learning you were going to be a parent for the first time?
• What memories do you have about each child?
• Describe the personalities of your children.
• What are some of the most memorable experiences you had with your children/family?
• What memorable experiences did you have with each child?
• What is some funny, humorous experience you had with your family?
• What were some trying times as a family? Explain? a. What did you do to overcome the time? b. How did it affect your family?
• What did you find most challenging about raising children?
• What do you consider to be rewarding about being a parent?
• How would you describe your parenting style as a parent?
• What are the lessons you learned as a parent?
• What were your happiest moments as a parent?
• Where were your saddest moments as a parent?
• What would you like to do over if you could as a parent?
• How did you treat each child?
• What do you consider to be the most complex decisions you made as a parent?
• What do you regret most as a parent?
• Who influenced you most as a parent?
• What were your happiest moments as a family?
• What were your tragic moments as a family?
• Did you move as a family? Why and where? a. How did the move affect your family?
• How did you first hear that you were a grandparent, and how did you feel about it?
• What advice would you pass on to your children/grandchildren?
• What can you tell me about your parents? a. What memories would you like to share about your mother? b. What memories would you like to share about your father? c. What memories would you like to share about your parents together?
• Did your parents stay together, divorce or pass away? If yes, did they remember? a. What memories would you like to share? b. Did you have any stepparents? c. What memories would you like to share?
• Do you remember hearing your parents describe their lives? a. What did they say?
• When and where did your parents die? a. What do you remember about it? b. How they died, were hospitalized, buried?
• Did your family belong to a religion? If yes, a. Did your parents and grandparents belong to the religion? b. Did you attend a church? c. What do you remember? d. Do you have any experiences you would like to share?
• What can you remember about your grandparents? a. What memories would you like to share about each of your grandmothers? b. What memories would you like to share about each of your grandfathers? c. What memories do you have about your grandparents together?
• Do you remember hearing your grandparents describe their lives? b. What did they say?
• Do you remember your great-grandparents? a. What do you know about them?
• Did you have any brothers and sisters? What were their names? a. What memories do you have about your brothers and sisters that you would like to share?
• How did your family have fun when you were a child?
• Where did your spouse’s parents live? a. What memories do you have about your spouse’s parents?
• When and where did your spouse’s parents die? c. What do you remember about it? d. How did they die, were hospitalized, buried?
• What details can you remember about the death of your spouse’s parents?
• What was your chosen career?
• Where did you receive training/education for your career?
• How did you decide on a career?
• What do you remember about your first job?
• Where have you worked? City? Company? a. What were the jobs? b. What do you remember about each job? c. Has work provided a good living? d. Describe a typical day at work? e. What did you like most/least about work?
• Did you have more than a career? Explain.
• What are some of your most memorable experiences/projects? • Have you retired? When would you like to retire?
• Did you serve in the military? a. What branch of the service did you serve? b. Why did you decide to join the military? c. When and where did you serve? d. Where were you trained? e. What was your training?
• Where were you stationed during active military duty? a. Describe each post and what you did? b. What are your memories of active duty? c. Do you remember your units? If yes, what were they?
• What was your highest rank?
• Did you ever serve in the war? Which one (s)? a. WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan, or other? a. What were the circumstances? b. Were you in a combat or support role? c. What campaigns were you in? What was your role in the campaign?
• Would you be willing to share your experiences and memories of war? a. If yes, where would you like to begin? b. Were you injured in war? Explain.
• How did your time in the military affect you? Explain.
• By what name/nickname do your friends call you? Does the name have a special meaning?
• What name are you known by among family?
• As you look back on your life, what would you consider to be the most important ____? Why? Explain your memories. a. Inventions? News events? World events? Politics? Technology advances?
• Talk about the differences in today’s life compared to the time as a child?
• Did you or your family experience events like prohibition, the depression, war? Explain. What do you remember?
• Have you had any health problems over the years? a. What were the health issues? b. When did the health issue arise? c. How did they affect your life? d. Where they heredity? e. What are they?
• What do you do regularly for exercise?
• Have you ever been hospitalized? If so, what for? a. Have you ever had surgery? b. What for? c. Do you or have you ever had habits that you would consider wrong? Explain? d. Do you still have them, or did you overcome them? Explain.
• Have you been a victim of crime? a. What happened? b. How did the incident affect your life?
• Have you ever been in a severe accident?
• Has anyone ever saved your life? a. Describe.
• How would you describe yourself politically? b. Are you Conservative or Liberal, and why?
• Who would you consider to be your good/best friend (s)? a. What are their names? b. How long have you known them? c. What do you like about them? d. What do you do together? a. What would your friend say about you?
• Have you ever met anyone that you would consider being a soul mate or kindred spirit? a. Who were they? b. Explain why you felt a special bond with them?
• What were the most (i.e., challenging, meaningful, troubling) decision(s) you have made in your life? Explain. a. What was the outcome? b. Do you consider the outcome to good or bad? Why?
• Who do you consider the most influential individuals in your life? a. Who were they? b. What did they do that influenced your life?
• What do you consider to be the essential advice you have received in life? a. Did you take that advice? b. What was the outcome? Explain.
• Is there anything you would change about yourself? Why? Explain.
• Describe moments/memories in your life when you were most stressed?
• What do you consider to be the tough times in your life? Why? Explain. a. What helped you get through the period? b. How did the experience affect you for good or bad?
• Describe times when you were scared? What happened?
• Have you ever played a musical instrument? a. If yes, what kind? Describe your experience.
• Are you or would you consider yourself to be creative? Explain.
• Have you ever made something for someone else? Explain?
• What types of service have you provided others? a. How does it make you feel? b. What were the outcomes of your service?
• What are moments in life when others served you? a. What was the most memorable time? b. What were the outcomes of the service?
• How would you describe your sense of humor?
• Have you ever played a practical joke on someone? a. Describe that experience and what you did.
• What type of activities have you enjoyed as an adult? a. Recreation? Hobbies? Personal enrichment? Relaxation? b. What did you like about each activity? c. A most memorable experience with each activity?
• When you were not working, what did you like to do?
• What would you consider to be the most exciting/wonderful experience in your life?
• Did you ever meet anyone famous? Who? a. Describe the experience.
• Have you ever belonged to any organizations or groups? a. What the group about? b. What drew you to join the group? c. What are your memorable experiences in the group? d. Are you still a member? If not, explain.
• Have you ever been awarded a price or award as an adult? Explain. a. What did you have to do to earn the award?
• Describe a time in your life when you felt most happy or at peace? a. Where were you, and what were you doing?
• Describe the beautiful place you have ever visited, and what was it like?
• Have you ever taken an extended trip or vacation? a. Where did you go? b. What did you do?
• What do you consider to be your favorite vacation? a. Where did you go, and why was it special?
• Do you have a place that is special to you where you like to visit? a. Where is it? b. Why is the place special? c. Can you share your memories?
• Have you ever had a pet? a. What was the animal? b. What was the name of the animal? c. How did the pet become part of your life? d. Do you have a favorite story about your pet?
• What is on your bucket list of things still to do? Why?
• Is there a time in your life that you would consider to be most memorable?
• What or who is your favorite and why: a. Animal? Artist? Athlete? b. Author? Boardgame? Book? c. Candy? Card game? Color? d. Cookie? Desert? Drink? e. Ice cream flavor? Flower? Fruit? f. Holiday? Meal? Movie star? g. Movie? Musical group? Musical instrument? h. Painting? Poem? Poet? i. Restaurant? Season? Singer? j. Song? Sport? Style of music? k. Tree? TV program? Vegetable?
• How would you describe each member of your family? a. Mother? b. Father, c. Siblings (brothers/sisters)? d. Children?
• Who fits the following descriptions and why? a. Animal lover? Best cook? Best gardener? Best housekeeper? b. Best looking? Best memory? Best storyteller? Biggest tease? c. Calmest? Funniest? Hardest worker? Most athletic? d. Most colorful? Most creative? Most frugal? Most generous? e. Most mischievous? Most politically active? Most reclusive? f. Most relaxed? Most sociable? Quietest? Shortest? g. Tallest? Wildest lifestyle?
• Do you have any artifacts like letters, journals, photos, movies, videos or audio recordings of older family members that can help tell your story?
• Would you allow me to make copies (e.g., Photograph, scan, read)?

Categories:

• Family Storytelling
• Author's Story
• Professional Storytelling
• Historical Records
• Interviews & Questions
• U.S. Census
• Writing ABC’s

You might also like:

• 318 Entertainment Questions to Ask People (Storytelling)

409 Friendship Questions to Ask People (Storytelling)

• 264 Historical Event Questions to Ask People (Storytelling)
• 155 Personality Trait Questions to Ask People (Storytelling)
• What You Can Learn from an Oral History Interview
• 7 Step Color-coded Filing System for Storytelling
• Meaning of Each Religious Emblem of Belief for U.S. Military Headstones
• 9 Steps to Writing Your Personal Narrative
• How to Create A Christmas Treasure Hunt (Tutorial and Examples)

We love writing stories. The mission of Begin My Story is to help and inspire you to write the stories that matter to you. Every life is a story worth remembering. We believe the stories you write will make a difference and have the power to connect, inspire, challenge, and help us not forget.

• Questions to Ask

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Recent Posts

• Personal Storytelling
• Research for Storytelling
• Storytelling How-to's

Other Links

Subscribe to our newsletter.

Learn How to Write Your Stories

Copyright © 2010-2024 • BeginMyStory.com, All Rights Reserved.

Copyright ©2024 • Begin My Story

Thank you for Subscribing!

Close and Return to Site

How to Write a Biography

Biographies are big business. Whether in book form or Hollywood biopics, the lives of the famous and sometimes not-so-famous fascinate us.

While it’s true that most biographies are about people who are in the public eye, sometimes the subject is less well-known. Primarily, though, famous or not, the person who is written about has led an incredible life.

In this article, we will explain biography writing in detail for teachers and students so they can create their own.

While your students will most likely have a basic understanding of a biography, it’s worth taking a little time before they put pen to paper to tease out a crystal-clear definition of one.

What Is a Biography?

A biography is an account of someone’s life written by someone else . While there is a genre known as a fictional biography, for the most part, biographies are, by definition, nonfiction.

Generally speaking, biographies provide an account of the subject’s life from the earliest days of childhood to the present day or, if the subject is deceased, their death.

The job of a biography is more than just to outline the bare facts of a person’s life.

Rather than just listing the basic details of their upbringing, hobbies, education, work, relationships, and death, a well-written biography should also paint a picture of the subject’s personality and experience of life.

Full Biographies

Teaching unit.

Teach your students everything they need to know about writing an AUTOBIOGRAPHY and a BIOGRAPHY.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ( 26 reviews )

Features of a Biography

Before students begin writing a biography, they’ll need to have a firm grasp of the main features of a Biography. An excellent way to determine how well they understand these essential elements is to ask them to compile a checklist like the one-blow

Their checklists should contain the items below at a minimum. Be sure to help them fill in any gaps before moving on to the writing process.

The purpose of a biography is to provide an account of someone’s life.

Biography structure.

ORIENTATION (BEGINNING) Open your biography with a strong hook to grab the reader’s attention

SEQUENCING: In most cases, biographies are written in chronological order unless you are a very competent writer consciously trying to break from this trend.

COVER: childhood, upbringing, education, influences, accomplishments, relationships, etc. – everything that helps the reader to understand the person.

CONCLUSION: Wrap your biography up with some details about what the subject is doing now if they are still alive. If they have passed away, make mention of what impact they have made and what their legacy is or will be.

BIOGRAPHY FEATURES

LANGUAGE Use descriptive and figurative language that will paint images inside your audience’s minds as they read. Use time connectives to link events.

PERSPECTIVE Biographies are written from the third person’s perspective.

DETAILS: Give specific details about people, places, events, times, dates, etc. Reflect on how events shaped the subject. You might want to include some relevant photographs with captions. A timeline may also be of use depending upon your subject and what you are trying to convey to your audience.

TENSE Written in the past tense (though ending may shift to the present/future tense)

THE PROCESS OF WRITING A BIOGRAPHY

Like any form of writing, you will find it simple if you have a plan and follow it through. These steps will ensure you cover the essential bases of writing a biography essay.

Firstly, select a subject that inspires you. Someone whose life story resonates with you and whose contribution to society intrigues you. The next step is to conduct thorough research. Engage in extensive reading, explore various sources, watch documentaries, and glean all available information to provide a comprehensive account of the person’s life.

Creating an outline is essential to organize your thoughts and information. The outline should include the person’s early life, education, career, achievements, and any other significant events or contributions. It serves as a map for the writing process, ensuring that all vital information is included.

Your biography should have an engaging introduction that captivates the reader’s attention and provides background information on the person you’re writing about. It should include a thesis statement summarising the biography’s main points.

Writing a biography in chronological order is crucial . You should begin with the person’s early life and move through their career and achievements. This approach clarifies how the person’s life unfolded and how they accomplished their goals.

A biography should be written in a narrative style , capturing the essence of the person’s life through vivid descriptions, anecdotes, and quotes. Avoid dry, factual writing and focus on creating a compelling narrative that engages the reader.

Adding personal insights and opinions can enhance the biography’s overall impact, providing a unique perspective on the person’s achievements, legacy, and impact on society.

Editing and proofreading are vital elements of the writing process. Thoroughly reviewing your biography ensures that the writing is clear, concise, and error-free. You can even request feedback from someone else to ensure that it is engaging and well-written.

Finally, including a bibliography at the end of your biography is essential. It gives credit to the sources that were used during research, such as books, articles, interviews, and websites.

Tips for Writing a Brilliant Biography

Biography writing tip #1: choose your subject wisely.

There are several points for students to reflect on when deciding on a subject for their biography. Let’s take a look at the most essential points to consider when deciding on the subject for a biography:

Interest: To produce a biography will require sustained writing from the student. That’s why students must choose their subject well. After all, a biography is an account of someone’s entire life to date. Students must ensure they choose a subject that will sustain their interest throughout the research, writing, and editing processes.

Merit: Closely related to the previous point, students must consider whether the subject merits the reader’s interest. Aside from pure labors of love, writing should be undertaken with the reader in mind. While producing a biography demands sustained writing from the author, it also demands sustained reading from the reader.

Therefore, students should ask themselves if their chosen subject has had a life worthy of the reader’s interest and the time they’d need to invest in reading their biography.

Information: Is there enough information available on the subject to fuel the writing of an entire biography? While it might be a tempting idea to write about a great-great-grandfather’s experience in the war. There would be enough interest there to sustain the author’s and the reader’s interest, but do you have enough access to information about their early childhood to do the subject justice in the form of a biography?

Biography Writing Tip #2: R esearch ! Research! Research!

While the chances are good that the student already knows quite a bit about the subject they’ve chosen. Chances are 100% that they’ll still need to undertake considerable research to write their biography.

As with many types of writing , research is an essential part of the planning process that shouldn’t be overlooked. If students wish to give as complete an account of their subject’s life as possible, they’ll need to put in the time at the research stage.

An effective way to approach the research process is to:

1. Compile a chronological timeline of the central facts, dates, and events of the subject’s life

2. Compile detailed descriptions of the following personal traits:

•      Physical looks
•      Character traits
•      Values and beliefs

3. Compile some research questions based on different topics to provide a focus for the research:

• Childhood : Where and when were they born? Who were their parents? Who were the other family members? What education did they receive?
• Obstacles: What challenges did they have to overcome? How did these challenges shape them as individuals?
• Legacy: What impact did this person have on the world and/or the people around them?
• Dialogue & Quotes: Dialogue and quotations by and about the subject are a great way to bring color and life to a biography. Students should keep an eagle eye out for the gems that hide amid their sources.

As the student gets deeper into their research, new questions will arise that can further fuel the research process and help to shape the direction the biography will ultimately go in.

Likewise, during the research, themes will often begin to suggest themselves. Exploring these themes is essential to bring depth to biography, but we’ll discuss this later in this article.

Research Skills:

Researching for biography writing is an excellent way for students to hone their research skills in general. Developing good research skills is essential for future academic success. Students will have opportunities to learn how to:

• Gather relevant information
• Evaluate different information sources
• Select suitable information
• Organize information into a text.

Students will have access to print and online information sources, and, in some cases, they may also have access to people who knew or know the subject (e.g. biography of a family member).

These days, much of the research will likely take place online. It’s crucial, therefore, to provide your students with guidance on how to use the internet safely and evaluate online sources for reliability. This is the era of ‘ fake news ’ and misinformation after all!

COMPLETE TEACHING UNIT ON INTERNET RESEARCH SKILLS USING GOOGLE SEARCH

Teach your students ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF THE INFORMATION ERA to become expert DIGITAL RESEARCHERS.

⭐How to correctly ask questions to search engines on all devices.

⭐ How to filter and refine your results to find exactly what you want every time.

⭐ Essential Research and critical thinking skills for students.

⭐ Plagiarism, Citing and acknowledging other people’s work.

⭐ How to query, synthesize and record your findings logically.

BIOGRAPHY WRITING Tip #3: Find Your Themes In Biography Writing

Though predominantly a nonfiction genre, the story still plays a significant role in good biography writing. The skills of characterization and plot structuring are transferable here. And, just like in fiction, exploring themes in a biographical work helps connect the personal to the universal. Of course, these shouldn’t be forced; this will make the work seem contrived, and the reader may lose faith in the truthfulness of the account. A biographer needs to gain and maintain the trust of the reader.

Fortunately, themes shouldn’t need to be forced. A life well-lived is full of meaning, and the themes the student writer is looking for will emerge effortlessly from the actions and events of the subject’s life. It’s just a case of learning how to spot them.

One way to identify the themes in a life is to look for recurring events or situations in a person’s life. These should be apparent from the research completed previously. The students should seek to identify these patterns that emerge in the subject’s life. For example, perhaps they’ve had to overcome various obstacles throughout different periods of their life. In that case, the theme of overcoming adversity is present and has been identified.

Usually, a biography has several themes running throughout, so be sure your students work to identify more than one theme in their subject’s life.

BIOGRAPHY WRITING Tip: #4 Put Something of Yourself into the Writing

While the defining feature of a biography is that it gives an account of a person’s life, students must understand that this is not all a biography does. Relating the facts and details of a subject’s life is not enough. The student biographer should not be afraid to share their thoughts and feelings with the reader throughout their account of their subject’s life.

The student can weave some of their personality into the fabric of the text by providing commentary and opinion as they relate the events of the person’s life and the wider social context at the time. Unlike the detached and objective approach we’d expect to find in a history textbook, in a biography, student-writers should communicate their enthusiasm for their subject in their writing.

This makes for a more intimate experience for the reader, as they get a sense of getting to know the author and the subject they are writing about.

Biography Examples For Students

• Year 5 Example
• Year 7 Example
• Year 9 Example

“The Rock ‘n’ Roll King: Elvis Presley”

Elvis Aaron Presley, born on January 8, 1935, was an amazing singer and actor known as the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Even though he’s been dead for nearly 50 years, I can’t help but be fascinated by his incredible life!

Elvis grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi, in a tiny house with his parents and twin brother. His family didn’t have much money, but they shared a love for music. Little did they know Elvis would become a music legend!

When he was only 11 years old, Elvis got his first guitar. He taught himself to play and loved singing gospel songs. As he got older, he started combining different music styles like country, blues, and gospel to create a whole new sound – that’s Rock ‘n’ Roll!

In 1954, at the age of 19, Elvis recorded his first song, “That’s All Right.” People couldn’t believe how unique and exciting his music was. His famous hip-swinging dance moves also made him a sensation!

Elvis didn’t just rock the music scene; he also starred in movies like “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock.” But fame came with challenges. Despite facing ups and downs, Elvis kept spreading happiness through his music.

Tragically, Elvis passed away in 1977, but his music and charisma live on. Even today, people worldwide still enjoy his songs like “Hound Dog” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Elvis Presley’s legacy as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll will live forever.

Long Live the King: I wish I’d seen him.

Elvis Presley, the Rock ‘n’ Roll legend born on January 8, 1935, is a captivating figure that even a modern-day teen like me can’t help but admire. As I delve into his life, I wish I could have experienced the magic of his live performances.

Growing up in Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis faced challenges but found solace in music. At 11, he got his first guitar, a symbol of his journey into the world of sound. His fusion of gospel, country, and blues into Rock ‘n’ Roll became a cultural phenomenon.

The thought of being in the audience during his early performances, especially when he recorded “That’s All Right” at 19, sends shivers down my spine. Imagining the crowd’s uproar and feeling the revolutionary energy of that moment is a dream I wish I could have lived.

Elvis wasn’t just a musical prodigy; he was a dynamic performer. His dance moves, the embodiment of rebellion, and his roles in films like “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock” made him a true icon.

After watching him on YouTube, I can’t help but feel a little sad that I’ll never witness the King’s live performances. The idea of swaying to “Hound Dog” or being enchanted by “Can’t Help Falling in Love” in person is a missed opportunity. Elvis may have left us in 1977, but he was the king of rock n’ roll. Long live the King!

Elvis Presley: A Teen’s Take on the Rock ‘n’ Roll Icon”

Elvis Presley, born January 8, 1935, was a revolutionary force in the music world, earning his title as the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Exploring his life, even as a 16-year-old today, I’m captivated by the impact he made.

Hailing from Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis grew up in humble beginnings, surrounded by the love of his parents and twin brother. It’s inspiring to think that, despite financial challenges, this young man would redefine the music scene.

At 11, Elvis got his first guitar, sparking a self-taught journey into music. His early gospel influences evolved into a unique fusion of country, blues, and gospel, creating the electrifying genre of Rock ‘n’ Roll. In 1954, at only 19, he recorded “That’s All Right,” marking the birth of a musical legend.

Elvis wasn’t just a musical innovator; he was a cultural phenomenon. His rebellious dance moves and magnetic stage presence challenged the norms. He transitioned seamlessly into acting, starring in iconic films like “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock.”

However, fame came at a cost, and Elvis faced personal struggles. Despite the challenges, his music continued to resonate. Even now, classics like “Hound Dog” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love” transcend generations.

Elvis Presley’s impact on music and culture is undeniable. He was known for his unique voice, charismatic persona, and electrifying performances. He sold over one billion records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling solo artists in history. He received numerous awards throughout his career, including three Grammy Awards and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Elvis’s influence can still be seen in today’s music. Many contemporary artists, such as Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, and Justin Timberlake, have cited Elvis as an inspiration. His music continues to be featured in movies, TV shows, and commercials.

Elvis left us in 1977, but his legacy lives on. I appreciate his breaking barriers and fearlessly embracing his artistic vision. Elvis Presley’s impact on music and culture is timeless, a testament to the enduring power of his artistry. His music has inspired generations and will continue to do so for many years to come.

Teaching Resources

Use our resources and tools to improve your student’s writing skills through proven teaching strategies.

BIOGRAPHY WRITING TEACHING IDEAS AND LESSONS

We have compiled a sequence of biography-related lessons or teaching ideas that you can follow as you please. They are straightforward enough for most students to follow without further instruction.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 1:

This session aims to give students a broader understanding of what makes a good biography.

Once your students have compiled a comprehensive checklist of the main features of a biography, allow them to use it to assess some biographies from your school library or on the internet using the feature checklist.

When students have assessed a selection of biographies, take some time as a class to discuss them. You can base the discussion around the following prompts:

• Which biographies covered all the criteria from their checklist?
• Which biographies didn’t?
• Which biography was the most readable in terms of structure?
• Which biography do you think was the least well-structured? How would you improve this?

Looking at how other writers have interpreted the form will help students internalize the necessary criteria before attempting to produce a biography. Once students have a clear understanding of the main features of the biography, they’re ready to begin work on writing a biography.

When the time does come to put pen to paper, be sure they’re armed with the following top tips to help ensure they’re as well prepared as possible.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 2:

This session aims to guide students through the process of selecting the perfect biography subject.

Instruct students to draw up a shortlist of three potential subjects for the biography they’ll write.

Using the three criteria mentioned in the writing guide (Interest, Merit, and Information), students award each potential subject a mark out of 5 for each of the criteria. In this manner, students can select the most suitable subject for their biography.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 3:

This session aims to get students into the researching phase, then prioritise and organise events chronologically.

Students begin by making a timeline of their subject’s life, starting with their birth and ending with their death or the present day. If the student has yet to make a final decision on the subject of their biography, a family member will often serve well for this exercise as a practice exercise.

Students should research and gather the key events of the person’s life, covering each period of their life from when they were a baby, through childhood and adolescence, right up to adulthood and old age. They should then organize these onto a timeline. Students can include photographs with captions if they have them.

They can present these to the class when they have finished their timelines.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 4:

Instruct students to look over their timeline, notes, and other research. Challenge them to identify three patterns that repeat throughout the subject’s life and sort all the related events and incidents into specific categories.

Students should then label each category with a single word. This is the thematic concept or the broad general underlying idea. After that, students should write a sentence or two expressing what the subject’s life ‘says’ about that concept.

This is known as the thematic statement . With the thematic concepts and thematic statements identified, the student now has some substantial ideas to explore that will help bring more profound meaning and wider resonance to their biography.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 5:

Instruct students to write a short objective account of an event in their own life. They can write about anyone from their past. It needn’t be more than a couple of paragraphs, but the writing should be strictly factual, focusing only on the objective details of what happened.

Once they have completed this, it’s time to rewrite the paragraph, but they should include some opinion and personal commentary this time.

The student here aims to inject some color and personality into their writing, to transform a detached, factual account into a warm, engaging story.

A COMPLETE UNIT ON TEACHING BIOGRAPHIES

Teach your students to write AMAZING BIOGRAPHIES & AUTOBIOGRAPHIES using proven RESEARCH SKILLS and WRITING STRATEGIES .

• Understand the purpose of both forms of biography.
• Explore the language and perspective of both.
• Prompts and Challenges to engage students in writing a biography.
• Dedicated lessons for both forms of biography.
• Biographical Projects can expand students’ understanding of reading and writing a biography.
• A COMPLETE 82-PAGE UNIT – NO PREPARATION REQUIRED.

FREE Biography Writing Graphic Organizer

Use this valuable tool in the research and writing phases to keep your students on track and engaged.

WRITING CHECKLIST & RUBRIC BUNDLE

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (92 Reviews)

To Conclude

By this stage, your students should have an excellent technical overview of a biography’s essential elements.

They should be able to choose their subject in light of how interesting and worthy they are, as well as give consideration to the availability of information out there. They should be able to research effectively and identify emerging themes in their research notes. And finally, they should be able to bring some of their personality and uniqueness into their retelling of the life of another.

Remember that writing a biography is not only a great way to develop a student’s writing skills; it can be used in almost all curriculum areas. For example, to find out more about a historical figure in History, to investigate scientific contributions to Science, or to celebrate a hero from everyday life.

Biography is an excellent genre for students to develop their writing skills and to find inspiration in the lives of others in the world around them.

HOW TO WRITE A BIOGRAPHY TUTORIAL VIDEO

OTHER GREAT ARTICLES RELATED TO BIOGRAPHY WRITING

How to write an Autobiography

How to Write a Historical Recount Text

15 Awesome Recount & Personal Narrative Topics

Personal Narrative Writing Guide

How to Write a Biography

Learn how to write a biography with our comprehensive guide.

Last updated on Dec 8th, 2023

When you click on affiliate links on QuillMuse.com and make a purchase, you won’t pay a penny more, but we’ll get a small commission—this helps us keep up with publishing valuable content on QuillMuse.  Read More .

Table of Contents

How to write a biography can be a fun challenge as you share someone’s life story with readers. You may need to write a biography for a class or decide to write a biography as a personal project. Once you’ve identified the subject of your biography, do your research to learn as much as you can about them. Then, immerse yourself in writing the biography and revising it until it’s best. What I am going to share with you in today’s post is how to write a biography. If you want to know the rules of how to write a biography correctly then this post of ours is essential for you. 

Introduction

While it’s true that most biographies involve people in the public eye, sometimes the subject is less well-known. But most of the time, famous or not, the person we’re talking about has an incredible life. Although your students may have a basic understanding of How to write a biography, you should take some time before putting pen to paper to come up with a very clear definition of biography.

Before knowing how to write a biography, let’s first understand what a biography is. A biography is an account of a person’s life written by someone else. Although there is a genre called fictional biography, by definition biographies are mostly non-fiction. In general, biographies trace the subject’s life from early childhood to the present day or until death if the subject is deceased. 

Biography writing is not limited to describing the bare facts of a person’s life. Instead of just listing basic details about their upbringing, interests, education, work, relationships, and deaths, a well-written biography should also paint a picture of a person’s personality as well as that person’s life experiences.

Tips and Tricks For How To Write a Biography

1. ask the subject’s permission to write a biography.

Here are the first tips on how to write a biography. Before starting your research, make sure you get your subject’s consent to write their biography. Ask them if they’re ready to be the subject. Getting their permission will make writing a biography much easier and ensure that they are open to information about their lives.

If the theme does not allow you to write a bio, you can choose another theme. If you decide to publish a profile without the subject’s permission, you may be subject to legal action from the subject. 

If the topic no longer exists, you don’t need to ask permission to write about them. 

2. Research primary sources on the topic

Primary sources may include books, letters, photographs, diaries, newspaper clippings, magazines, Internet articles, magazines, videos, interviews, existing biographies, or autobiographies on the subject. Find these resources in your local library or online. Read as much as you can about the topic and highlight any important information you come across in your sources. 

You can create research questions to help you focus your research on this topic, such as: 

What do I find interesting about this topic? Why is this topic important to readers? 

3. Conduct interviews with subjects and their relatives

Interviewing people will turn your research into reality: the people you interview will be able to tell you stories you can’t find in history books. Interview the subject as well as people close to them, such as spouses, friends, business associates, family members, co-workers, and friends. Interview in person, over the phone, or via email.

For in-person interviews, record them with a voice recorder or voice recorder on your computer or phone. You may need to interview the subject and others multiple times to get the documents you need.

4. Visit places important to the topic

Whenever you want to know how to write a biography, to understand the history of the subject, spend time in places and areas that are significant to the subject. This may be the subject’s childhood home or neighborhood. You can also visit the subject’s workplace and regular meeting places. 

You may also want to visit areas where the subject made important decisions or breakthroughs in their life. Being physically present in the area can give you an idea of what your subjects may have felt and help you write about their experiences more effectively.

5. Research the time and place of the subject’s life

Contextualize your subject’s life by observing what’s going on around them. Consider the period in which they grew up as well as the history of the places they lived. Study the economics, politics, and culture of their time. See current events happening where they live or work.

When you studying how to write a biography, ask yourself about time and place: 

What were the social norms of this period? 

What happened economically and politically? 

How has the political and social environment influenced this topic?

6. Make a timeline of a person’s life

To help you organize your research, create a timeline of a person’s entire life, from birth. Draw a long line on a piece of paper and sketch out as many details about a person’s life as possible. Highlight important events or moments on the timeline. Include important dates, locations, and names. 

If you think about how to write a biography You can also include historical events or moments that affect the topic in the timeline. For example, a conflict or civil war may occur during a person’s lifetime and affect their life.

7. Focus on important events and milestones

Major events can include marriage, birth, or death during a person’s lifetime. They may also achieve milestones like their first successful business venture or their first civil rights march. Highlights key moments in a person’s life so readers clearly understand what’s important to that person and how they influence the world around them.

For example, you might focus on one person’s achievements in the civil rights movement. You could write an entire section about their contributions and participation in major civil rights marches in their hometowns.

8. Cite all sources used in  biography

Most biographies will include information from sources such as books, journal articles, magazines, and interviews. Remember to cite any sources that you directly quote or paraphrase. You can use citations, footnotes, or endnotes. If the biography is for a course, use MLA, APA, or Chicago Style citations according to your instructor’s preference.

9. Reread the biography

Check the biography for spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Circle all punctuation marks in the text to confirm they are correct. Read the text backward to check for spelling and grammar errors. 

Having a biography full of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors can frustrate readers and lead to poor grades if you submit your work to the class.

10. Show your biography to others to get their feedback

It is a momentous step of how to write a biography. Once you have completed your draft biography, show it to your colleagues, friends, teachers, and mentors to get their feedback. Ask them if they have a good understanding of someone’s life and if the biography is easy to read. Be open to feedback so you can improve the biography and make it error-free. Revise profile based on feedback from others. Don’t be afraid to trim or edit your biography to suit your readers’ needs.

11. Use flashbacks

Flashbacks happen when you move from the present to the past. You can start with the present moment, and then bring in a scene from the person’s past. Or you could have one chapter focusing on the present and one focusing on the past, alternating as you go.

The flashback scene must be as detailed and realistic as the present-day scene. Use your research notes and interviews with subjects to better understand their past to reminisce. 

For example, you can move from a person’s death in the present to reminiscing about their favorite childhood memory.

12. Outline Your Story Chronologically 

This is another important step in how to write a biography is to write an outline that describes your story in chronological order. An outline is a tool that helps you visualize the structure and key elements of your story. This can help you organize your story into chapters and sections. 

You can write your plan in a digital document or draw it with pen and paper. Remember to store your outline in an easily accessible place so you can refer to it throughout the writing process.

What citation style should I use for my biography?

Use MLA, APA, or Chicago Style citations based on your instructor’s preference when citing sources in your biography.

Should I include personal opinions in a biography?

No, a biography should be objective and based on facts. Avoid injecting personal opinions or bias into the narrative.

What’s the difference between a biography and an autobiography?

A biography is written by someone else about a person’s life, while an autobiography is written by the subject themselves about their own life.

Can I write a biography about a living person?

Yes, you can write a biography about a living person with their consent. Ensure you respect their privacy and follow ethical guidelines when writing about them.

Conclusion 

Other than creating a sense of closure, there are no set rules about how a biography ends. An author may want to summarize their main points about the subject of their biography. If the person is still alive, the author can inform the reader about their condition or circumstances. If the person has died, inheritance can be discussed. Authors can also remind readers how they can learn from the biographical subject. Sharing a closing quote or about a person can leave the audience with a point to consider or discuss in more detail.

For further insights into writing and to avoid common mistakes, check out our article on Most Common Mistakes in Writing . Additionally, explore the Best Writing Tools for Writers to enhance your writing skills and discover the tools that can assist you. If you’re looking to improve your typing speed and accuracy, our article on How to Type Faster with Accuracy offers valuable tips.

How we've reviewed this article

Our content is thoroughly researched and fact-checked using reputable sources. While we aim for precision, we encourage independent verification for complete confidence.

We keep our articles up-to-date regularly to ensure accuracy and relevance as new information becomes available.

• Current Version
• Dec 8th, 2023
• Oct 22nd, 2023

Share this article

Leave a Comment Login Please login to comment 0 Comments Inline Feedbacks View all comments

Prev Previous Next Next

How to Write a Poem: Poetry Writing Guide for Beginners

Do you think about how to write a poem Some writers think that it is possible to write a poem without literature students I think of course it is possible to write a poem without literature students You just need proper guidelines Some content writers asked me how to write

How to Write a Book About Your Life: 8 Powerful Tips with Examples

Everyone indeed has a unique story to tell and some people have a life story worth sharing with others But How to Write a Book About Your Life If you 8217 re one of those people who have considered writing an autobiography or memoir but are still trying to figure

How to Write an Abstract for a Research Paper | 4 Examples

Abstract writing is essential for researchers looking to communicate the substance of their work concisely In this comprehensive guide we 8217 ll systematically explore the process of writing a compelling abstract From defining its purpose to exploring formatting requirements understanding the key components and strategies ensures the effective communication of

Report this article

Let us know if you notice any incorrect information about this article or if it was copied from others. We will take action against this article ASAP.

• Profile Page
• Edit Profile
• Add New Post

Read our Content Writing Guide .

TRY OUR FREE APP

Write your book in Reedsy Studio. Try the beloved writing app for free today.

Craft your masterpiece in Reedsy Studio

Plan, write, edit, and format your book in our free app made for authors.

Blog • Perfecting your Craft

Posted on Jun 30, 2023

How to Write a Biography: A 7-Step Guide [+Template]

From time to time, nonfiction authors become so captivated by a particular figure from either the present or the past, that they feel compelled to write an entire book about their life. Whether casting them as heroes or villains, there is an interesting quality in their humanity that compels these authors to revisit their life paths and write their story.

However, portraying someone’s life on paper in a comprehensive and engaging way requires solid preparation. If you’re looking to write a biography yourself, in this post we’ll share a step-by-step blueprint that you can follow. 

How to write a biography: 

1. Seek permission when possible 

2. research your subject thoroughly, 3. do interviews and visit locations, 4. organize your findings, 5. identify a central thesis, 6. write it using narrative elements, 7. get feedback and polish the text.

FREE RESOURCE

Biography Outline Template

Craft a satisfying story arc for your biography with our free template.

While you technically don’t need permission to write about public figures (or deceased ones), that doesn't guarantee their legal team won't pursue legal action against you. Author Kitty Kelley was sued by Frank Sinatra before she even started to write His Way , a biography that paints Ol Blue Eyes in a controversial light. (Kelley ended up winning the lawsuit, however).  

Whenever feasible, advise the subject’s representatives of your intentions. If all goes according to plan, you’ll get a green light to proceed, or potentially an offer to collaborate. It's a matter of common sense; if someone were to write a book about you, you would likely want to know about it well prior to publication. So, make a sincere effort to reach out to their PR staff to negotiate an agreement or at least a mutual understanding of the scope of your project. 

At the same time, make sure that you still retain editorial control over the project, and not end up writing a puff piece that treats its protagonist like a saint or hero. No biography can ever be entirely objective, but you should always strive for a portrayal that closely aligns with facts and reality.

If you can’t get an answer from your subject, or you’re asked not to proceed forward, you can still accept the potential repercussions and write an unauthorized biography . The “rebellious act” of publishing without consent indeed makes for great marketing, though it’ll likely bring more headaches with it too. 

✋ Please note that, like other nonfiction books, if you intend to release your biography with a publishing house , you can put together a book proposal to send to them before you even write the book. If they like it enough, they might pay you an advance to write it.  

Book Proposal Template

Craft a professional pitch for your nonfiction book with our handy template.

Once you’ve settled (or not) the permission part, it’s time to dive deep into your character’s story.  

Deep and thorough research skills are the cornerstone of every biographer worth their salt. To paint a vivid and accurate portrait of someone's life, you’ll have to gather qualitative information from a wide range of reliable sources. 

Start with the information already available, from books on your subject to archival documents, then collect new ones firsthand by interviewing people or traveling to locations. 

Browse the web and library archives

Put your researcher hat on and start consuming any piece on your subject you can find, from their Wikipedia page to news articles, interviews, TV and radio appearances, YouTube videos, podcasts, books, magazines, and any other media outlets they may have been featured in. 

Establish a system to orderly collect the information you find 一 even seemingly insignificant details can prove valuable during the writing process, so be sure to save them. 

Depending on their era, you may find most of the information readily available online, or you may need to search through university libraries for older references. 

For his landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, Ron Chernow spent untold hours at Columbia University’s library , reading through the Hamilton family papers, visiting the New York Historical Society, as well as interviewing the archivist of the New York Stock Exchange, and so on. The research process took years, but it certainly paid off. Chernow discovered that Hamilton created the first five securities originally traded on Wall Street. This finding, among others, revealed his significant contributions to shaping the current American financial and political systems, a legacy previously often overshadowed by other founding fathers. Today Alexander Hamilton is one of the best-selling biographies of all time, and it has become a cultural phenomenon with its own dedicated musical. 

Besides reading documents about your subject, research can help you understand the world that your subject lived in. 

Try to understand their time and social environment

Many biographies show how their protagonists have had a profound impact on society through their philosophical, artistic, or scientific contributions. But at the same time, it’s worth it as a biographer to make an effort to understand how their societal and historical context influenced their life’s path and work.

An interesting example is Stephen Greenblatt’s Will in the World . Finding himself limited by a lack of verified detail surrounding William Shakespeare's personal life, Greenblatt, instead, employs literary interpretation and imaginative reenactments to transport readers back to the Elizabethan era. The result is a vivid (though speculative) depiction of the playwright's life, enriching our understanding of his world.

Many readers enjoy biographies that transport them to a time and place, so exploring a historical period through the lens of a character can be entertaining in its own right. The Diary of Samuel Pepys became a classic not because people were enthralled by his life as an administrator, but rather from his meticulous and vivid documentation of everyday existence during the Restoration period.

Once you’ve gotten your hands on as many secondary sources as you can find, you’ll want to go hunting for stories first-hand from people who are (or were) close to your subject.

With all the material you’ve been through, by now you should already have a pretty good picture of your protagonist. But you’ll surely have some curiosities and missing dots in their character arc to figure out, which you can only get by interviewing primary sources.

Interview friends and associates

This part is more relevant if your subject is contemporary, and you can actually meet up or call with relatives, friends, colleagues, business partners, neighbors, or any other person related to them. 

In writing the popular biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson interviewed more than one hundred people, including Jobs’s family, colleagues, former college mates, business rivals, and the man himself.

🔍 Read other biographies to get a sense of what makes a great one. Check out our list of the 30 best biographies of all time , or take our 30-second quiz below for tips on which one you should read next. 

Which biography should you read next?

Discover the perfect biography for you. Takes 30 seconds!

When you conduct your interviews, make sure to record them with high quality audio you can revisit later. Then use tools like Otter.ai or Descript to transcribe them 一 it’ll save you countless hours. 

You can approach the interview with a specific set of questions, or follow your curiosity blindly, trying to uncover revealing stories and anecdotes about your subject. Whatever your method, author and biography editor Tom Bromley suggests that every interviewer arrives prepared, "Show that you’ve done your work. This will help to put the interviewee at ease, and get their best answers.” 

Bromley also places emphasis on the order in which you conduct interviews. “You may want to interview different members of the family or friends first, to get their perspective on something, and then go directly to the main interviewee. You'll be able to use that knowledge to ask sharper, more specific questions.” 

Finally, consider how much time you have with each interviewee. If you only have a 30-minute phone call with an important person, make it count by asking directly the most pressing questions you have. And, if you find a reliable source who is also particularly willing to help, conduct several interviews and ask them, if appropriate, to write a foreword as part of the book’s front matter .

Sometimes an important part of the process is packing your bags, getting on a plane, and personally visiting significant places in your character’s journey.

Visit significant places in their life

A place, whether that’s a city, a rural house, or a bodhi tree, can carry a particular energy that you can only truly experience by being there. In putting the pieces together about someone’s life, it may be useful to go visit where they grew up, or where other significant events of their lives happened. It will be easier to imagine what they experienced, and better tell their story. 

In researching The Lost City of Z , author David Grann embarked on a trek through the Amazon, retracing the steps of British explorer Percy Fawcett. This led Grann to develop new theories about the circumstances surrounding the explorer's disappearance.

Hopefully, you won’t have to deal with jaguars and anacondas to better understand your subject’s environment, but try to walk into their shoes as much as possible. 

Once you’ve researched your character enough, it’s time to put together all the puzzle pieces you collected so far. 

Take the bulk of notes, media, and other documents you’ve collected, and start to give them some order and structure. A simple way to do this is by creating a timeline. 

Create a chronological timeline

It helps to organize your notes chronologically 一 from childhood to the senior years, line up the most significant events of your subject’s life, including dates, places, names and other relevant bits. 

You should be able to divide their life into distinct periods, each with their unique events and significance. Based on that, you can start drafting an outline of the narrative you want to create.  

Draft a story outline 

Since a biography entails writing about a person’s entire life, it will have a beginning, a middle, and an end. You can pick where you want to end the story, depending on how consequential the last years of your subject were. But the nature of the work will give you a starting character arc to work with. 

To outline the story then, you could turn to the popular Three-Act Structure , which divides the narrative in three main parts. In a nutshell, you’ll want to make sure to have the following:

• Act 1. Setup : Introduce the protagonist's background and the turning points that set them on a path to achieve a goal. 
• Act 2. Confrontation : Describe the challenges they encounter, both internal and external, and how they rise to them. Then..
• Act 3. Resolution : Reach a climactic point in their story in which they succeed (or fail), showing how they (and the world around them) have changed as a result. 

Only one question remains before you begin writing: what will be the main focus of your biography?

Think about why you’re so drawn to your subject to dedicate years of your life to recounting their own. What aspect of their life do you want to highlight? Is it their evil nature, artistic genius, or visionary mindset? And what evidence have you got to back that up? Find a central thesis or focus to weave as the main thread throughout your narrative. 

Or find a unique angle

If you don’t have a particular theme to explore, finding a distinct angle on your subject’s story can also help you distinguish your work from other biographies or existing works on the same subject.

Plenty of biographies have been published about The Beatles 一 many of which have different focuses and approaches: 

• Philip Norman's Shout is sometimes regarded as leaning more towards a pro-Lennon and anti-McCartney stance, offering insights into the band's inner dynamics. 
• Ian McDonald's Revolution in the Head closely examines their music track by track, shifting the focus back to McCartney as a primary creative force. 
• Craig Brown's One Two Three Four aims to capture their story through anecdotes, fan letters, diary entries, and interviews. 
• Mark Lewisohn's monumental three-volume biography, Tune In , stands as a testament to over a decade of meticulous research, chronicling every intricate detail of the Beatles' journey.

Finally, consider that biographies are often more than recounting the life of a person. Similar to how Dickens’ Great Expectations is not solely about a boy named Pip (but an examination and critique of Britain’s fickle, unforgiving class system), a biography should strive to illuminate a broader truth — be it social, political, or human — beyond the immediate subject of the book. 

Once you’ve identified your main focus or angle, it’s time to write a great story. 

While biographies are often highly informative, they do not have to be dry and purely expository in nature . You can play with storytelling elements to make it an engaging read. 

You could do that by thoroughly detailing the setting of the story , depicting the people involved in the story as fully-fledged characters , or using rising action and building to a climax when describing a particularly significant milestone of the subject’s life. 

One common way to make a biography interesting to read is starting on a strong foot…

Hook the reader from the start

Just because you're honoring your character's whole life doesn't mean you have to begin when they said their first word. Starting from the middle or end of their life can be more captivating as it introduces conflicts and stakes that shaped their journey.

When he wrote about Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild , author Jon Krakauer didn’t open his subject’s childhood and abusive family environment. Instead, the book begins with McCandless hitchhiking his way into the wilderness, and subsequently being discovered dead in an abandoned bus. By starting in medias res , Krakauer hooks the reader’s interest, before tracing back the causes and motivations that led McCandless to die alone in that bus in the first place.

You can bend the timeline to improve the reader’s reading experience throughout the rest of the story too…

Play with flashback 

While biographies tend to follow a chronological narrative, you can use flashbacks to tell brief stories or anecdotes when appropriate. For example, if you were telling the story of footballer Lionel Messi, before the climax of winning the World Cup with Argentina, you could recall when he was just 13 years old, giving an interview to a local newspaper, expressing his lifelong dream of playing for the national team. 

Used sparsely and intentionally, flashbacks can add more context to the story and keep the narrative interesting. Just like including dialogue does…

Reimagine conversations

Recreating conversations that your subject had with people around them is another effective way to color the story. Dialogue helps the reader imagine the story like a movie, providing a deeper sensory experience. 

One thing is trying to articulate the root of Steve Jobs’ obsession with product design, another would be to quote his father , teaching him how to build a fence when he was young: “You've got to make the back of the fence just as good looking as the front of the fence. Even though nobody will see it, you will know. And that will show that you're dedicated to making something perfect.”

Unlike memoirs and autobiographies, in which the author tells the story from their personal viewpoint and enjoys greater freedom to recall conversations, biographies require a commitment to facts. So, when recreating dialogue, try to quote directly from reliable sources like personal diaries, emails, and text messages. You could also use your interview scripts as an alternative to dialogue. As Tom Bromley suggests, “If you talk with a good amount of people, you can try to tell the story from their perspective, interweaving different segments and quoting the interviewees directly.”

FREE COURSE

How to Write Believable Dialogue

Master the art of dialogue in 10 five-minute lessons.

These are just some of the story elements you can use to make your biography more compelling. Once you’ve finished your manuscript, it’s a good idea to ask for feedback. 

If you’re going to self-publish your biography, you’ll have to polish it to professional standards. After leaving your work to rest for a while, look at it with fresh eyes and self-edit your manuscript eliminating passive voice, filler words, and redundant adverbs. 

Then, have a professional editor give you a general assessment. They’ll look at the structure and shape of your manuscript and tell you which parts need to be expanded on or cut. As someone who edited and commissioned several biographies, Tom Bromley points out that a professional “will look at the sources used and assess whether they back up the points made, or if more are needed. They would also look for context, and whether or not more background information is needed for the reader to understand the story fully. And they might check your facts, too.”  

In addition to structural editing, you may want to have someone copy-edit and proofread your work.

MEET EDITORS

Polish your book with expert help

Sign up, meet 1500+ experienced editors, and find your perfect match.

Importantly, make sure to include a bibliography with a list of all the interviews, documents, and sources used in the writing process. You’ll have to compile it according to a manual of style, but you can easily create one by using tools like EasyBib . Once the text is nicely polished and typeset in your writing software , you can prepare for the publication process.  

In conclusion, by mixing storytelling elements with diligent research, you’ll be able to breathe life into a powerful biography that immerses readers in another individual’s life experience. Whether that’ll spark inspiration or controversy, remember you could have an important role in shaping their legacy 一 and that’s something not to take lightly. 

Continue reading

Recommended posts from the Reedsy Blog

Man vs Nature: The Most Compelling Conflict in Writing

What is man vs nature? Learn all about this timeless conflict with examples of man vs nature in books, television, and film.

The Redemption Arc: Definition, Examples, and Writing Tips

Learn what it takes to redeem a character with these examples and writing tips.

How Many Sentences Are in a Paragraph?

From fiction to nonfiction works, the length of a paragraph varies depending on its purpose. Here's everything you need to know.

Narrative Structure: Definition, Examples, and Writing Tips

What's the difference between story structure and narrative structure? And how do you choose the right narrative structure for you novel?

What is the Proust Questionnaire? 22 Questions to Write Better Characters

Inspired by Marcel Proust, check out the questionnaire that will help your characters remember things past.

What is Pathos? Definition and Examples in Literature

Pathos is a literary device that uses language to evoke an emotional response, typically to connect readers with the characters in a story.

Join a community of over 1 million authors

Reedsy is more than just a blog. Become a member today to discover how we can help you publish a beautiful book.

We made a writing app for you

Yes, you! Write. Format. Export for ebook and print. 100% free, always.

1 million authors trust the professionals on Reedsy. Come meet them.

Enter your email or get started with a social account:

• How it works
• Browse Our Writers
• Write For Us
• Testimonials
• Free Consultation

[PDF Download] 65 Memory Prompts: How to Write Your Biography, Life Story or Memoir

Capture memories you didn't know you had .

Wondering how to write your biography? Whether you are writing yourself, or working with a ghostwriter , it can be hard to know where to start and what to include. At Story Terrace, we often use memory prompts to kick-start the process - easy and fun questions designed to jog your memory and bring back moments you haven't thought about for years.

It's the perfect first step, and something you can later assemble into a timeline or structure for your story. We’ve hand-picked 65 of our favourite memory prompts to share with you. You can check out 9 example prompts right here on the blog - but make sure to download the full list of 65, which we've assembled into a print-ready PDF for you.

Remember - the idea is not to answer every question. Just scan through the list, and think about which of these prompts speak to you the most. You’ll soon find you have more than enough to talk about.

How to Write Your Biography: Childhood

1. What is your earliest memory?

2. Talk about your family’s heritage and history.

3. What did your childhood home look like?

How to Write Your Biography: Adolescence

4. How did your physical appearance change in your teenage years? What was that change like for you?

5. How was your relationship with your parents?

6. Who was your first crush?

How to Write Your Biography: Adulthood

7. What did an ordinary day in your life look like?

8. Name a big success story for you during this time

9. Did you travel? What was your most memorable vacation?

Hopefully writing your biography just got a little easier and these prompts have got your brains in gear, recalling all sorts of different memories from your childhood all the way through to just yesterday!

Remember to download the full list for all 65 questions to jog your memory.

Download the full list of 65 Memory Prompts!

Download Now (Click Here)  

More stories in this category

Love and Dating Across the Centuries

Have you ever wondered how dating began?

Lessons From 100 Years of Life

We all know the saying: With age comes wisdom.

Meet Desiree Home: And Then, Positivity

Desiree Home has two simple yet powerful words for her catch...

Create a book with Story Terrace

Submit your details to learn more about our writers, how it works, and our pricing & packages

Free Timeline Template

Submit your details to receive our timeline template. Plus we'll send you more guides, templates and resources in the coming weeks!

Free Guide: 65 Memory Prompts

Submit your details to receive the 65 Memory prompts we use to start writing a life story. Plus we'll send you more guides, templates and resources in the coming weeks!

Writer Match

Check for a writer near you.

Enter a zip code to look for writers near you. We can arrange your interviews by phone, video call or in person.

Capturing Your Parents' Story with Story Terrace

• Terms & Conditions
• How it Works

+1 (323) 446-2870 [email protected] 113 N. San Vicente Blvd, Suite 200 Beverly Hills, CA 90211

© 2022 by StoryTerrace.

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive regular updates. You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our privacy policy .

Follow us on social media.

Writer | Biography | Creative Nonfiction

How to ask questions in a biographical interview

When it comes to questions, there’s a lot to cover. first, let’s look at how to ask questions, then in the next article, we’ll look at what types of questions you can ask..

Make it like conversation

In the spirit of keeping everyone comfortable, historian Studs Terkel said a successful interview should be like “engaging in conversation, having a cup of coffee” (cited by Ritchie). Terry, an interviewee of Terkel said that Terkel “doesn’t ask particularly probing questions, and yet he’s able to get people to open up and tell these marvellous little stories about themselves. He’s a good listener” (cited by Ritchie). 

In an interview with Literary Hub, Nobel Laureate and oral historian Svetlana Alexievich said, “I never call what I do ‘interviews’. We speak to each other as neighbours, in a new genre that is required by our time. It is a history of human feelings”.

As you would in a regular conversation, keep tabs on your interviewee’s interest and their comfort. Ascough, Curthoys and McGarth say to note their energy levels and to watch if fatigue is starting to set in, however, as discussed in “Before the interview” the length of the interview should ideally be defined before it even begins.

Start with enjoyable topics

Talmage reminds us to remember that what you say first will affect the rest of the interview. Ritchie suggests starting with easy questions that are not “too abrupt and confrontational; instead, build up to the climactic questions by establishing the historical setting and making the interviewee more comfortable with the process”. 

One way of doing this is starting with a discussion of topics the interviewee enjoys talking about before moving onto harder questions. Donald Ritchie shared an example of when this wasn’t possible: one interviewer was going to interview Edward Teller, a nuclear physicist – Teller arrived late and they had limited time – the interviewer skipped the easier, non confrontational questions and asked about the most controversial part. Teller responded by saying, “This interview is over” and left. 

Consider leaving the difficult or critical questions until the middle or end of the interview, as they may need a break after these questions, or, Miller notes that they might choose to end the interview at or after this point. DeLouise & Harrington suggest that if you are interviewing someone who is sick or elderly, consider asking the critical questions first.  

Handling short answers and sensitive topics

If you find that your interviewee is providing short answers, not answering in enough detail or being deliberately evasive, Ritchie suggests that this could be happening because the interviewer “is asking too many specific questions and not enough open-ended ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions” and also sometimes “interviewees are not always sure of how much detail interviewers want” or perhaps the interviewer has moved on to the next questions too quickly. 

It could also be because the person is not particularly interested in the questions being asked, in which case it may be best to move onto another topic, or even consider ending the interview. If responses are short or evasive, Rollyson suggests the interviewee might perceive the topic to be controversial. People don’t always want to talk about difficult things, Ritchie notes that “interviewers must be prepared to ask questions about painful and embarrassing subjects – although they must also respect people’s right not to answer such questions, if they so choose”. 

A trick Ritchie uses to ask difficult questions is to “quote someone else”, for example, “The Washington Post reported that you left office because of such and such. Was this a fair assessment?”. If the interviewee is defensive, come back to the topic later, even at a different interview session. In Doing Oral History, Adams is cited “When bringing up sensitive subjects, however, be careful not to appear embarrassed yourself. Interviewees will sense this, and it will make them uncomfortable, affecting their responses”.

Keep it simple

As well as starting with easier questions, keep the conversation simple by asking only one question at a time: avoid double-barrelled questions. Asking more than one question at a time may result in the interviewee choosing to only answer one part, either intentionally or simply because they forgot and if they forget, it means you’ll need to ask the question again anyway. Hamilton notes that asking many questions at once can result in the interviewee feeling overwhelmed, they may take offence or feel manipulated. 

Next, let’s look at types of questions to ask in a biographical interview. 

Written by Melody Dexter

Further reading >

• Biography Guest Post
• Privacy Policy

• Home Improvement
• Entertainment

Questions To Ask Someone For A Biography

Biographies are a great way to learn more about someone and their life. Asking the right questions can help to draw out important details and anecdotes that can make an interesting story. When interviewing someone for a biography, it is important to ask open-ended questions that allow the person to give more detailed answers. It is also important to ask follow-up questions so as to get a better understanding of the person’s life and experiences. Examples of questions to ask someone for a biography include: What are some of the most memorable or meaningful experiences in your life?; What motivated you to pursue a certain career or path in life?; What are some of the biggest life lessons you have learned?; What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out in life?; What do you wish you had done differently in life?; What do you feel are the most important values you strive to live by?; What are some of the biggest successes you have achieved in life?; What do you consider to be your biggest accomplishment?

Background Questions

When writing a biography, it is important to ask the subject questions that will provide insight into their background, life experiences, and personality. Background questions can reveal the subject’s family structure, educational background, work history, and other important details. Knowing these details can provide a full picture of the subject and can determine the direction of the biography. Here are some questions to consider asking the subject when researching their background:

• What was your family like growing up?

• What did you enjoy most about school?

• What was your first job?

• How did you get into your current profession?

• What challenges have you faced in your life?

• Where have you lived?

• What is your favorite childhood memory?

• What hobbies or activities do you enjoy?

• What did you learn from your past relationships?

Asking these background questions can help you to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the subject and their life story. The answers to these questions can provide the context needed to create an engaging and accurate biography.

Family and Education Questions

When you are interviewing someone for a biography, it is important to ask questions that will provide insight into their family, education, and other personal aspects of their life. By asking the right questions, you can get a better understanding of the person you are writing about and craft a more accurate and informative biography.

When it comes to family questions, you can ask about the person’s parents, siblings, and other relatives. What are their names? What did their parents do for a living? Did they have a close relationship with their family? Who was their closest relative?

Questions about education are also important for biographies. What school did they attend? Did they go to college or university? What did they study? What were their grades like? Did they participate in any extracurricular activities?

These are just a few of the questions you can ask when interviewing someone for a biography. Asking the right questions will help you get the information you need to create a compelling and accurate biography. By doing your research and asking the right questions, you can craft a biography that will help readers better understand the person you are writing about.

Career History Questions

When it comes to writing a biography, it is important to ask questions that will give you a comprehensive picture of someone’s life, career, and accomplishments. A great way to get to the heart of someone’s story is to ask them about their career history. Here are a few questions to consider when asking someone about their career history.

What was your first job? What inspired you to pursue that job? What have been some of your favorite accomplishments in your career? What have been some of the biggest challenges you have faced? What did you learn from your career experiences? What have been some of the most rewarding aspects of your career? How has your career evolved over the years? What advice would you give to people considering a similar career path?

Interests and Hobbies Questions

Whether it’s a memoir of a family member, a celebrity, or even yourself, writing a biography can be immensely rewarding. To ensure you capture the true essence of their life story, it’s important to ask the right questions. When it comes to interests and hobbies, this can be particularly tricky. To ensure you get the answers you need, consider asking the following:

• What hobbies and activities do they enjoy?

• What is the story behind their favourite hobby?

• What did they enjoy doing as a child?

• What hobbies and activities do they find therapeutic?

• What new hobbies or activities have they recently tried out?

• What hobbies or activities do they feel passionate about?

• What is their favourite holiday destination?

• What do they like to do in their free time?

• What challenges have they faced in pursuing their hobbies and activities?

• What hobbies and activities do they find the most fulfilling?

By asking the right questions, you can get a comprehensive understanding of someone’s interests and hobbies. This will help you paint a clear picture of their character and provide valuable insights into their life and experiences. Taking the time to ask the right questions can make a huge difference when it comes to writing a captivating biography.

Life Experiences Questions

When writing a biography, it’s important to get to know the subject’s life experiences. To do this, you will need to ask questions about their past and present. Life experience questions can help you get a better insight into the subject’s memories, emotions, and relationships.

Some of the questions you could ask to get a better understanding of the person’s life experiences include: What was your family like growing up? What was your most meaningful experience in school? What is something you regret doing or not doing? What is the most difficult thing you have ever done? What has been the best moment in your life? What have been some of the most important lessons you have learned in life? What has been your greatest success? What has been your biggest challenge?

These questions can help you gain a deeper understanding of the person and their life experiences. Asking the right questions can help you to create an intriguing and comprehensive biography that captures the essence of the person’s life.

Reflection and Legacy Questions

Writing a biography is an important task that requires digging deep into a person’s life and emotions. To get a full sense of the individual, it’s essential to ask the right questions that will uncover meaningful insights and experiences. For this, reflection and legacy questions play a crucial role. These questions are designed to help us explore how a person thinks about their life, the impact they’ve made, and how they want to be remembered. Reflection and legacy questions can include: “What would you say are your most important accomplishments?”, “What do you think are the most meaningful lessons you’ve learned?”, “What has been the most difficult experience of your life?”, “How have you seen the world change during your lifetime?”, “What do you want to be remembered for?” Reflection and legacy questions are not only insightful for the biography, but they can also be a powerful way to spark meaningful conversations and help others gain a better understanding of who the person is and what their story is.

FAQs About the Questions To Ask Someone For A Biography

Q1. What events or experiences have had the most significant impact on your life?

Q2. What have been some of your biggest achievements?

Q3. What are your long-term goals and ambitions?

Asking questions to someone for a biography is an important step in understanding their life story. By asking questions that take into account both their past and present experiences, you can gain insight into their personality, values, and life goals. Questions can also cover topics such as their childhood, education, work, and hobbies. Taking the time to ask questions and get to know someone will provide you with a well-rounded story that you can use to write an engaging biography.

Related Posts

Joseph m sanzari biography, josie harrison biography, jorhomy rovero biography, leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Writing a Bio: My 20 Favorite Questions to Ask

Writing a concise bio for a business website may seem like a no brainer. A few paragraphs, hit all the usual points like schools, charity work, career highlights and then, BAM! Bio, check.

The problem with that approach? There’s a high likelihood you’ll churn out super boring bios, fast. When I think of old school bios, I think of a stuffy headshot accompanied by a few paragraphs of text that no one wants to read. But the days of stale bios are over. Believe it or not, people actually want to learn about you and your company, and they’d rather not fall asleep while doing it.

A well-written bio will combine the overall company culture and voice with that of the profiled team member. While website bios are generally concise—anywhere from Twitter-short to a few paragraphs—choosing the particulars to highlight can be tricky. Gathering the right information up front, in a 15-20 minute interview, is key.

Here are my favorite questions to ask when writing a bio. Note: these don’t include the usual slew, like general career experience and education.

1.      Who is someone you admire, and why?

2.      Tell me three pet peeves.

3.      What’s a typical day like for you?

4.      Do you have any skills or talents that most people don’t know about?

5.      If you could be anywhere other than here, right this minute, where would you be? (Don’t overthink it!)

6.      Flashback to when you were 10 years old. What do you want to be when you grow up?

7.      If we went to happy hour, what would you order?

8.      Finish this sentence. On Sunday mornings, you can usually find me...

9.      How do you want people to remember you?

10.  What do you think are the best skills that you bring to your job?

11.  Name three words that you describe you.

12.  How do you think your colleagues would describe you?

13.  What do you want to make sure you do before you die?

14.  What’s a goal you have for yourself that you want to accomplish in the next year?

15.  Name a few of your daily habits (other than a shower and brushing your teeth).

16.  What publications do you regularly read?

17.  What are you happiest doing, when you’re not working?

18.  What are some causes you care about?

19.  What do you do with friends in your spare time?

20.  What would be your personal motto

Joanna Furlong

Copyright 2018 Joanna Furlong, Freelance Writer. All rights reserved. 

Tell Your Story with Evalogue.Life

Everyone has an important story. Tell yours now, and it will be enough.

Great Interview Questions

Great interviews start with great questions. We do professional oral history interviewing for families, as part of bigger history projects, and books and have done thousands, so we have learned a thing or two. Here are some question lists and other resources to get you started.

Related: Why oral history is important

It’s a good idea to go into an interview with a few questions prepared , and especially highlight any that you want to  make sure you ask. However, often an ice breaker and a well-chosen question here and there will keep the conversation going. It’s a positive sign when not all your questions are used in an interview (they rarely are).

Also, most interviewees appreciate receiving a few questions in advance. When sending, indicate that they are simply food for thought and the interview will not follow a rigid format. If only one interview is done with a subject, ask a variety of questions on different topics. You might check out our top 10 list as a handy reference, listed below. If a series of interviews is envisioned, it’s helpful to focus on themes in each interview.

If you are interested in preserving life stories , our online course contains an excellent segment on oral history. You can complete this fun and engaging self-paced course over a weekend, or spread it out through a month. (Course access remains open for a year). Click here to preview.

Categories of Questions  

• 10 Universal questions for anyone
• Childhood, school and hometown
• Relationship questions
• Family life as an adult
• Work and profession
• Spirituality, religion and values

Questions for Veterans

10 universal interview questions.

This is a great list for a stand-alone interview and is a handy grab-and-go cheat sheet. Some of the questions are repeated in other categories.

• Where were you born?
• Tell me about your childhood, what was the best part? Worst?
• Who was the most influential person in your life?
• What is your profession and why?
• What was the happiest time of your life?
• Tell about a time when you didn’t know if you would make it.
• Who is the love of your life and how did you meet?
• What is your passion (or a favorite hobby?)
• What is your favorite memory of me?
• What do you value most and why?

Get our free printable:

Quick interviewing resources

Before we continue with more questions, we want to make you aware of other resources we have compiled to help you.

• Oral history mini course online : video tutorials and checklists will help you feel confident with audio, transcribing and especially listening. It takes less than 2 hours to complete but will save you so much time! 
• If you would like help getting started with interviewing, sign up to receive our free 7-day interviewing mini tutorial
• You can click here to get a free printable of our favorite questions
• Here is a landing page of our many interviewing resources
• In our professional work, we give a pretty booklet of questions to people in advance. Click here to get the booklet on Amazon .
• If you are writing a memoir or family history, hre is a landing page of writing tools
• Finally, we do this work professionally and offer gift certificates to interview you or a loved one. Click here to see our oral history services .

Childhood, School and Hometown

• What is your earliest memory?
• Who are your parents? Where did they grow up?
• How many siblings do you have and where do you fall in your family?
• What were your chores?
• What is your hometown, and what was it like when you were young?
• Did you like school?
• What did you do for fun?
• How did you celebrate holidays?
• How did you celebrate holidays? Did your family have some special holiday traditions?
• What were your favorite meals?
• What were some memorable trips or outings?
• Can you think of any funny stories from your youth?
• What is an object you still have from your childhood and what is the story behind it? 
• What is a moment from your life that you wish you had a photograph? 

Related: The best affordable microphones we have tried

Family Life as an Adult

• Are you or have you ever been married?
• Do you have children?
• What are traditions you established in your family?
• What were your favorite trips or outings?
• Where do you live now and why?
• Who is your best friend?
• What was the happiest time in your adult life so far? Why?
• What was the hardest time? How did you get through it?
• What were the most important values you wanted to teach your family?
• How would you want your loved ones to remember you?

Related: Our favorite digital recorder – a review

Relationship Questions

Editor’s note: This category is not limited to marriage or intimate partner. These questions can also apply to a great friend or business partner.

• How did you meet? (Note: This is such a simple question yet it is an effective ice breaker)
• What are some of your early and best memories together?
• Do you have a song, “our song?”
• Did you ever break up?
• Was there ever a time or times when you didn’t know if your relationship would make it?
• When and how did you know it was meant to be?
• What are the challenges in your relationship?
• How do you work through disagreements or differences?
• What are some of your best fun memories together?
• Do any trips or vacations together especially stand out?
• Can you think of a low point in your life when the other person was there for you?
• How do you keep your relationship strong?
• How are you alike, and how are you different?
• What do you admire most about the other person?
• What are the other person’s quirks or personality traits that you love?
• How are you better together than without the other person?
• Thinking of your relationship, what advice would you give a young person, such as your children?
• Can you think of long-standing inside jokes, or phrases you tell each other?
• What are some of the activities that you share, that maybe other people wouldn’t understand or that are unique to your relationship?
• What are your dreams for the future together?
• Would you say that this person is the love of your life?

Professional interviewer’s note: starting any interview by asking how two people met is a great way to break the ice!

Related: Become a master business storyteller with these 5 questions

Work and Profession

• What was your first job?
• What is your profession or job?
• Do you like your job?
• What did you want to be when you grew up?
• How did you get into this line of work?
• Have you belonged to any civic or professional organizations?
• Have you ever been involved in politics or a political cause?
• What are you proudest of in your career?
• Who was your greatest mentor?
• What is your passion and how did you get started with it?

Related article: How to inspire others with your canon of business stories

Spirituality, Religion and Values

• Have you ever experienced a miracle or an answer to a prayer?
• Do you believe in God?
• Do you associate with a religion or spiritual practice?
• If you attend religious services, where do you attend? Why do you choose worship with that particular congregation or community?
• What was the most powerful spiritual experience of your life?
• What are you proudest of in your life?
• What do you regret?
• If you could share with your family your most important values, what would you say?
• What experiences in your life that taught you these values?

Related: Is yours a redemption story?

• Did you enlist or were you drafted?
• Why did you choose that branch of the service?
• When and where did you serve?
• What were your job duties?
• If you saw combat, how did you feel when witnessing casualties and destruction? ( For help with sensitive subjects, click here. )
• What kinds of friendships and camaraderie did you form while serving, and with whom?
• How did you stay in touch with family and friends back home?
• What did you do for recreation?
• What did you learn from your time in the military?
• What would you want to share with future generations your service , and your feelings about our country?

Related: Here is a comprehensive list of  Questions for Veterans  (published by the  Library of Congress Veteran History Project)

Other resources for you

We do this work for a living and can use our experience to help you get it done! We conduct oral history interviews in person, which can make a great gift . We regularly teach classes in person and online for the DIY personalities and natural writers. We also write life stories and help others write theirs through our writing groups and educational emails. Do you have a question? Let us know! Click here to reach out.

Index of interviewing resources

• You might want to check out our index page of interviewing resources .
• Want great audio? Read our article with 12 steps for the best audio and how to save it.
• Need to transcribe your interview? Click here for a detailed article on how to efficiently transcribe audio .

Free Interviewing Mini tutorial PDF  

To motivate and help you do great interviews, we created a  free 7-day interviewing mini course that’s printable and self-paced. Click on the link for a free download. We hope you find it helpful!

How to do oral history interviews course  

By completing this short course, you will feel confident and prepared to conduct life story interviews. Receive thorough, yet easy-to-understand answers to questions such as: What is the power of voice to evoke memories and inspire others? Should you use a digital recorder, or app on your phone, or both? What are best practices for doing interviews by Zoom/Teams/Google Meet? Which microphones are worth the money? What are the most efficient methods for transcribing audio? Why is oral history the easiest, and most powerful way to capture a life story?

Click here to preview or enroll. I’m so happy to say our students have loved it! You can see their thoughts on our courses, printables, and services here .

We hope that these resources help you do engaging and meaningful interviews. We know this work is worth it, and you can do it. Do it now and it will be enough.

120 Questions to Ask When Interviewing Someone About Their Life

When embarking on the journey of interviewing someone about their life, we delve into the rich tapestry of their experiences, beliefs, and lessons learned. This collection of questions serves as a key to unlocking the treasure trove of stories that every individual carries.

These queries are designed to navigate through the chapters of one’s existence, from the innocence of early childhood to the wisdom that comes with reflecting on the future. Engage with these prompts to discover the essence of a person’s life story and craft a narrative that is both profound and enlightening.

Table of Contents

Early Life and Family Background

• Can you share where and when you were born?
• What memories do you have of your childhood home?
• How would you describe your family dynamic as a child?
• Do you have any siblings, and what were your relationships like with them?
• What were your parents’ professions, and how did they influence you?
• Are there any particular family traditions that influenced your upbringing?
• What is your earliest memory?
• Did you have any pets growing up?
• What activities or hobbies did you enjoy as a child?
• How did your family celebrate holidays or special occasions?
• Who were your role models within your family, and why?
• Was there something unique about your family’s cultural background?
• What was your favorite thing to do with your family?
• Did you face any hardships during your early years?
• How do you think your upbringing has shaped the person you are today?

Education and Career Development

• What was your favorite subject in school and why?
• Did you participate in any extracurricular activities or sports?
• Who was your favorite teacher, and what impact did they have on your life?
• What level of education have you achieved, and how did you decide on that path?
• How did you get into your current profession or line of work?
• What jobs have you held, and what lessons did you learn from them?
• Have you had any mentors in your professional life?
• What are you most proud of accomplishing in your career?
• Did you have a career plan, and how did you follow or deviate from it?
• How do you balance your work life with your personal life?
• What’s the most challenging aspect of your career?
• Have you worked abroad, and if so, what was that experience like?
• In your view, what constitutes success in a career?
• Have you ever had to make a significant career change?
• What advice would you give to someone starting in your field?

Personal Philosophies and Values

• What personal values are most important to you?
• Have your values changed over the years, and why?
• What life philosophy do you live by?
• How do you define happiness?
• What do you believe is the purpose of life?
• How important is spirituality or religion in your life?
• How do you approach making difficult decisions?
• What have you learned about yourself through your relationships with others?
• In terms of legacy, what do you want to be remembered for?
• How do you deal with regret or mistakes?
• What does success mean to you outside of your career?
• How do you handle stress or anxiety?
• What practices do you follow to maintain mental and emotional well-being?
• What role do politics or social issues play in your life?
• What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Major Life Events and Turning Points

• Can you describe a pivotal moment in your life?
• How did a significant loss affect your life perspective?
• What life event has brought you the most joy?
• Has there been an unexpected turn in your life that you now see as a blessing?
• Were there any historical events that significantly impacted your life?
• Can you talk about a major accomplishment and how you achieved it?
• How did becoming a parent (if applicable) change your life?
• Was there a point when you had to make a tough choice that altered your life’s direction?
• How has your life been different from what you imagined as a young person?
• Can you share a time when you took a big risk?
• What has been your most significant career milestone?
• Have you ever moved to a new place and started over? What was that like?
• Can you tell me about a time when you overcame a major obstacle?
• Have you ever pursued a dream or goal against all odds?
• What is one event you wish you could relive, and why?

Relationships and Community Connections

• Who has been the most influential person in your life outside of your family?
• Can you describe a friendship that has greatly impacted you?
• How do you contribute to or participate in your community?
• What role have your friends played throughout your life?
• Have you been involved in volunteer work or activism?
• How has your perspective on relationships changed over time?
• What is the key to maintaining long-lasting relationships, in your opinion?
• Can you talk about a time when a community came together to support you or others?
• Have you ever felt isolated or disconnected? How did you overcome that?
• How do you nurture new relationships?
• What do you treasure most about your community?
• How do you resolve conflicts within your personal relationships?
• Is there someone you’ve lost contact with whom you’d like to reconnect?
• How do you decide who to trust?
• Can you share a story about a personal connection that taught you a valuable lesson?

Challenges and Overcoming Adversities

• What was the most challenging period in your life?
• How have difficult times shaped who you are today?
• Can you tell me about a time when you failed at something important to you?
• What was the biggest risk you’ve taken that didn’t pay off?
• How do you cope with setbacks or disappointments?
• Can you share a personal challenge that you’re proud to have overcome?
• Who or what gave you strength during tough times?
• Has there been a challenge that you’ve faced repeatedly, and how have you approached it?
• How do you manage to keep a positive outlook during times of crisis?
• What strategies do you use to regain motivation after a setback?
• Have health issues ever been a major challenge for you?
• What was a crucial turning point in overcoming a particular adversity?
• What is the hardest lesson you’ve had to learn in life?
• How have difficult experiences contributed to your growth?
• In what ways have your struggles brought about positive changes in your life?

Creativity and Passions

• What hobbies or activities do you feel most passionate about?
• How do you cultivate your creative side?
• Can you share an example of a project you worked on that was driven by passion?
• Was there ever a time when you had to fight for your creative ideas?
• How do you find inspiration for your creative endeavors?
• What does creativity mean to you, and why is it important in your life?
• Are there any creative pursuits you wish you had the time or resources to explore?
• How do you overcome creative blocks?
• What’s a passion project you’ve always wanted to start?
• How do you integrate your passions into your daily life?
• Can you describe a time when you shared your passion with others?
• What creative achievement are you most proud of?
• Has your creativity ever been misunderstood or undervalued?
• How have your passions changed or evolved over the years?
• What advice would you give to someone trying to pursue their creative interests?

Reflections and Look to the Future

• Looking back, what piece of advice would you give to your younger self?
• What are you most looking forward to in the future?
• Are there any dreams or goals you still wish to accomplish?
• What are your hopes for your family and loved ones?
• How do you want the next generations to remember this time period?
• What changes do you hope to see in the world within your lifetime?
• How do you plan to spend your retirement or later years?
• Is there anything you want to change about your current lifestyle?
• What legacy do you hope to leave behind?
• How do you stay informed and plan for the future in a rapidly changing world?
• Do you have a bucket list, and if so, what’s on it?
• What role do you think technology will play in shaping the future?
• How do you keep a forward-thinking mindset?
• What innovation or advancement are you most excited to see develop?
• How do you envision your community or society evolving?

Frequently Asked Questions

How can i make the interviewee feel comfortable when discussing their life.

• Establish a rapport with the interviewee before diving into deeper questions.
• Be empathetic and respectful, giving them control over how much they wish to share.
• Ensure a private and quiet setting for the conversation where the interviewee feels at ease.

What should I avoid when asking questions about someone’s life?

• Steer clear of intrusive or sensitive topics  unless the interviewee has expressed a willingness to address them.
• Avoid yes or no questions that might limit the depth of the conversation.
• Do not push for details if the interviewee is reluctant to share certain aspects of their life.

How do I know if a question is appropriate or not?

• Consider the comfort and cultural background of the individual.
• If in doubt, ask the interviewee if they are comfortable answering a particular type of question.
• Observe body language and cues to gauge if the interviewee might feel uneasy.

Final Thoughts

Interviewing someone about their life is akin to painting a portrait with words. The questions I have curated for you will help to reveal the subject’s deeper layers, highlight pivotal moments, and honor the unique journey of the individual.

Through this discerning exploration, you’ll not only have a series of responses but a narrative that resonates with the authentic human experience. The stories uncovered may surprise, inspire, or even challenge us, but they will certainly enrich our understanding of the diverse tapestry of human life.

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

As you found this post useful...

Share it on social media!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

Bea Mariel Saulo

• How to Cite
• Language & Lit
• Rhyme & Rhythm
• The Rewrite
• Search Glass

Questions to Ask When Writing an Autobiography

Writing your autobiography can seem like an overwhelming task. To break it into manageable pieces, ask yourself questions that will separate your life into ages, experiences and important events. Interview yourself just as you would another person if you were writing their life story.

Why Are You Writing?

Autobiographies can be written many different ways. Asking yourself about your motivations for chronicling your life will help you decide the best way to approach your project. If you want future generations to know all the names of their ancestors and how they were connected to one another, a people-based autobiography may work best. If you want your grandchildren to learn from your experiences, an experience-based life story may be the way to go.

Where Have You Lived?

Listing the places you have lived is a natural way of separating your story into chapters. Under the name of each place you lived, note your age when you lived there and any important events that occurred while you were there. If you lived in many cities or several different countries, it will be important for your descendants to know not only the facts but also how these moves affected you and shaped your life. If you lived in the same town all your life, people will be curious to know what was special that made you stay there, but the focus of your story will be more about people and events than the place.

Who Are the Important People in Your Life?

Draw yourself a family tree that shows where you fit in the family. Include siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Highlight those who were especially important in your life; people will want to know why. Were you close in age? Did you share common interests? If you lived down the street from one cousin and across the country from another, that would explain why you share so many more experiences with the nearby cousin.

What Were Your Most Memorable Experiences?

Some events and experiences are so life-changing that they stand out right away. Jog your memory for others by thinking year by year. What are your earliest memories? What was memorable when you were 8, 10 and 12? When did you leave home for the first time, and why? Whether it was for military service, college or a job change, leaving affected your life. What were the circumstances surrounding your marriages and the births of your children? Tragedies shape one's life, too, so think about deaths, job losses, wars and natural disasters and the effect they had on your life.

What Was the Best Day of Your Life?

Bertram Ellis, a writer who has held workshops on memoir writing for over 20 years in Canada and Florida, often gets people started by asking them to write about the best day of their life. From there, he helps them go backward to write what happened leading up to that day, and to go forward to tell what came later. This is a good way to begin what can seem like a daunting task.

• Family Search Blog: 52 Questions in 52 Weeks

Barbara Bean-Mellinger is an award-winning writer in the Washington, DC area. She writes nationally for newspapers, magazines and websites on topics including careers, education, women, marketing, advertising and more. She holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Pittsburgh.

Published In: Brief

How to Write a Biography (Examples & Templates)

A biography is a written account of a person’s life that details their life in chronological order. Another person usually writes this detailed account, and it contains reports of their childhood, career, major life events, relationships, and social impact. It also details their relationships with their family, children, and life accomplishments.

The best way to find out more about a popular figure is through reading their biographies, so you need to make sure you get the correct information. Before writing a biography, you need to do a lot of research and interviews to represent a person’s life accurately.

Types of Biography

A biography is the story of someone’s life as written by another writer. Most biographies of popular figures are written years, or even decades, after their deaths. Authors write biographies of popular figures due to either a lack of information on the subject or personal interest.

A biography aims to share a person’s story or highlight a part of their life.

There are different types of biographies, depending on the story. Some biographies are written true to the story, while some are written as fictional works. Biographies can give you true understanding of a person on an internal as well as external level along with a lot of life lessons.

Autobiography

An autobiography is different from a biography because it is written by the subject of the story, themselves. The author writes in the first-person narrative, and it flows step-by-step like a story of their life. Autobiographies contain personal accounts of the subject’s life, along with their perspectives and opinions on events in their life.

How To Write a Biography

Pick a subject.

Picking a subject is the first step in writing a biography. You can pick an already famous person or a relatively unknown person with a great life story. If you already have a few in mind, you can start by asking yourself some questions such as;

• What has the subject accomplished that makes them a good subject?
• Have they had an impact on society?
• Is the subject a celebrity or a well-known personality?
• Will the biography appeal to a wide audience?

Get Permission

When you pick a subject, the next thing to do is to get permission from them or their family or rights owners. Although, with some historical figures, there may not be any need for permission. Getting permission from your subject makes it easier for you to get stories to put into your book. You can get the chance to obtain additional personal stories and anecdotes that will make your book more interesting by doing so as well.

Do The Research

Research is the most important part of a biography’s process as the entire content of the book is dependent on it. Irrespective of what you know about the subject, you need to carry out as much research as possible to get the story’s facts precisely.

Biography research comes from various sources, depending on the book’s subject. Firsthand reports from family, friends, or personal accounts from the subjects are primary sources. They are usually the most accurate and reliable, and they are crucial for a biography. Secondary sources come from other sources like magazines or documentaries.

Pick a Format

Biographies come in various formats, with each of them having their pros and cons. A typical biography will start at the beginning, usually with the birth and childhood of the subject. Yet, if the biography’s theme involves a different event in their life, the author may want to explore the flashback option or one with concurrent events from different times.

Usually, biographies have a theme or a general life lesson at the center. The author’s role is to tell the subject’s story leading up to the major event.

Which-ever format you choose should place the theme at the center, with the other events detailing the journey.

Create a Timeline Of The Story

Since a biography takes place in chronological order, there needs to be a timeline of the events in the right order. The timeline should contain the key events in the subject’s life, in the order the author plans on revealing them. A great way to declutter the story and keep it interesting is to use flashbacks . This way, the author can introduce past events and explain later events excluding the element of monotony.

Add In Your Thoughts

The good thing about biographies is that you don’t have to stick to the hard facts only. As the author, you can share your opinions and emotions in writing. The author has the freedom to do this by commenting on a significant action by the subject in a manner that describes why they feel the subject may have done what they did.

The author can also include commentary on events depicted in the biography – how it was influenced society or its impact on the lives around them. Recounting these events through a different perspective can make the biography more relatable and interesting to read.

FAQ’s

Why is a biography template important.

A biography template has an outline that makes the writing easier for the author. Biography templates usually contain a sample timeline, format, and questions that provide more information about the subject. With a great biography template, you can cut your writing time in half and spend less time coming up with an outline.

How are biographies better in comparison to autobiographies

Since a different person writes biographies, they tend to be more objective and somewhat accurate than autobiographies. An autobiography tells things from the author’s perspective, so their views and perspective cloud it. Thus, a biography will likely tell a more factual story.

These are the important steps you need to take to help you write a great biography. Now, to make things easier for you, we have a free customizable autobiography and biography template that you can use to start your first book. Get the template and start writing today

What are some of the most important elements to keep in consideration while writing a biography?

Any author looking to write a biography must consider the factors below. They aren’t the only important factors, but a biography isn’t complete without them. • Date and place of their birth • Academic background • Professional expertise • Death, if deceased • Facts and anecdotes about the person • Main accomplishments • Detailed accounts of their child and adult life

Biographies tell the untold stories of some incredibly relevant people in the world. But biographies are not always strictly accurate. So, every biographer needs to follow the necessary steps to provide a biography with all the requirements.

Related Documents

Assignment Biography: Student Criteria and Rubric for Writing

Researching an Individual Aligned to Common Core Writing Standards

• Tips & Strategies
• An Introduction to Teaching
• Policies & Discipline
• Community Involvement
• School Administration
• Technology in the Classroom
• Teaching Adult Learners
• Issues In Education
• Teaching Resources
• Becoming A Teacher
• Assessments & Tests
• Elementary Education
• Secondary Education
• Special Education
• Homeschooling
• M.A., English, Western Connecticut State University
• B.S., Education, Southern Connecticut State University

The genre of  biography can also be categorized in the sub-genre of  narrative nonfiction/historical nonfiction. When a teacher assigns a biography as a writing assignment, the purpose is to have a student utilize multiple research tools to gather and to synthesize information that may be used as evidence in a written report about an individual. The evidence gained from research can include a person’s words, actions, journals, reactions, related books, interviews with friends, relatives, associates, and enemies. The historical context is equally important. Since there are people who have influenced every academic discipline, assigning a biography can be a cross-disciplinary or inter-disciplinary writing assignment. 

Middle and high school teachers should allow students to have a choice in selecting the subject for a biography. Providing student choice, particularly for students in grades 7-12, increases their engagement and their motivation especially if students select individuals they care about. Students would find it difficult to write about a person they do not like. Such an attitude compromises the process of researching and writing the biography.

According to by Judith L. Irvin, Julie Meltzer and Melinda S. Dukes in their book  Taking Action on Adolescent Literacy:

"As humans, we are motivated to engage when we are interested or have real purpose for doing so. So motivation to engage [students] is the first step on the road to improving literacy habits and skills" (Chapter 1).

Students should find at least three different sources (if possible) to make sure the biography is accurate. A good biography is well-balanced and objective. That means if there is disagreement between sources, the student can use the evidence to state that there is a conflict.  Students should know that a good biography is more than a timeline of events in a person's life.

The context of a person's life is important. Students should include information about the historical time period in which a subject lived and did her/his work. 

In addition, the student should have a purpose for researching another person's life. For example, the purpose for a student to research and write a biography can be in a response to the prompt:

"How does this writing this biography help me to understand the influence of this person on history, and quite possibly, this person's impact on me?"

The following standards-based criteria and scoring rubrics can be used to grade a student-selected biography. Both criteria and rubrics should be given to students before they begin their work. 

Criteria for a Student Biography aligned to Common Core State Standards

A General Outline for Biography Details

• Birthdate /Birthplace
• Death (if applicable).
• Family Members.
• Miscellaneous (religion, titles, etc).

Education/Influences

• Schooling.Training.
• Work Experiences.
• Contemporaries/Relationships.

Accomplishments/  Significance

• Evidence of major accomplishments.
• Evidence of minor accomplishments (if relevant).
• The analysis that supports why the individual was worthy of note in their field of expertise during his or her life.
• Analysis why this individual is worthy of note in their field of expertise today.

Quotes/Publications

• Statements made.
• Works published.

Biography Organization using the CCSS Anchor Writing Standards 

• Transitions are effective in assisting the reader to understand shifts.
• Ideas within each paragraph are fully developed.
• Each point is supported by evidence.
• All evidence is relevant.  
• Important terms are explained to the reader.
• Purpose of each paragraph (introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion) is clear.  
• Clear relationship between topic sentence(s) and paragraph(s) that came before is evident.

Grading Rubric: Holistic Standards with Letter Grade Conversions

(based on extended response Smarter Balanced Assessment writing rubric)

Score: 4 or Letter Grade: A

Student response is a thorough elaboration of the support/evidence on the topic (individual) including the effective use of source material. The response clearly and effectively develops ideas, using precise language:

• Comprehensive evidence (facts and details) from source materials are integrated.
• Relevant, and specific clear citations or attribution to source materials.
• Effective use of a variety of elaborative techniques.
• Vocabulary is clearly appropriate for the audience and purpose. 
• Effective, appropriate style enhances content.

Score: 3  Letter Grade: B

Student response is an adequate elaboration of the support/evidence in the biography that includes the use of source materials. The student response adequately develops ideas, employing a mix of precise and more general language:  

• Adequate evidence (facts and details) from the source materials is integrated and relevant, yet the evidence and explanation may be general.
• Adequate use of citations or attribution to the source material.  
• Adequate use of some elaborative techniques.
• Vocabulary is generally appropriate for the audience and purpose.
• The style is generally appropriate for the audience and purpose.

Score: 2 Letter Grade: C

Student response is uneven with a cursory elaboration of the support/evidence in the biography that includes the uneven or limited use of source material. The student response develops ideas unevenly, using simplistic language:

• Some evidence (facts and details) from the source materials may be weakly integrated, imprecise, repetitive, vague, and/or copied.
• Weak use of citations or attribution to source materials.
• Weak or uneven use of elaborative techniques.
• Development may consist primarily of source summaries.
• Vocabulary use is uneven or somewhat ineffective for the audience and purpose.
• Inconsistent or weak attempt to create the appropriate style.

Score: 1 Letter Grade: D

Student response provides a minimal elaboration of the support/evidence in the biography that includes little or no use of source material. The student response is vague, lacks clarity, or is confusing:

• Evidence (facts and details) from the source material is minimal, irrelevant, absent, incorrectly used. 
• Insufficient use of citations or attribution to the source material.
• Minimal, if any, use of elaborative techniques.
• Vocabulary is limited or ineffective for the audience and purpose.
• Little or no evidence of appropriate style.
• Insufficient or plagiarized (copied without credit) text.
• Off-topic. 
• Off-purpose.
• Pros and Cons to Flexible Grouping in Middle and High School
• Grading for Proficiency in the World of 4.0 GPAs
• What Is an Annotated Bibliography?
• How to Write an Interesting Biography
• T.E.S.T. Season for Grades 7-12
• Topics for a Lesson Plan Template
• The Whys and How-tos for Group Writing in All Content Areas
• How to Create a Rubric in 6 Steps
• Definition and Examples of Analysis in Composition
• Beef Up Critical Thinking and Writing Skills: Comparison Essays
• What Is Plagiarism?
• 10 Test Question Terms and What They Ask Students to Do
• Higher Level Thinking: Synthesis in Bloom's Taxonomy
• What Is a Rubric?
• Writing Prompt (Composition)
• Rubrics - Quick Guide for all Content Areas

More From Forbes

30 great biographies to bury yourself in.

• Share to Facebook
• Share to Twitter
• Share to Linkedin

Jonathan Eig's "King: A Life," a biography of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., was ... [+] recognized as one of the best books of 2023.

Biographies offer a chance to explore the decision-making and circumstances around some of history’s most fascinating events. The best biography books offer fresh insights into familiar situations that you may have learned about in history class but never explored in-depth. You can learn the unexpected reasoning behind why a president went with option A instead of option B, or how a scientist’s early failures led to a groundbreaking discovery. Biographies often chronicle the lives of famous people, but sometimes they focus on people who never attained celebrity status despite doing extraordinary things. This list of the top biographies includes people of all backgrounds who can teach us things about life, passion, perseverance and more.

Top Biography Books

Biographies are different from autobiographies. A biography is an account of someone’s life written by someone else. An autobiography is an account of someone’s life that they write themselves. For instance, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was written by the Founding Father. But more than two centuries later, Walter Isaacson wrote a biography of Benjamin Franklin.

Some of the most popular and well-known biographies include Isaacson’s recent book about Elon Musk, Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton , which inspired the musical about the former Secretary of the Treasury, and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, about a woman who changed the course of modern medicine. The biographies on this list were selected based on critical acclaim, sales and impact on popular culture.

Cincinnati Reds great Pete Rose is the subject of one of the best biographies, a new one called ... [+] "Charlie Hustle."

30. Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball by Keith O'Brien (2024)

Whatsapp brand new iphone feature just launched that’s much easier to use, apple s iphone ai plans confirmed with new software upgrade, packers complete safety overhaul with georgia s javon bullard.

The newest book on the list, this New York Times bestseller chronicles the highs and lows of baseball’s all-time hits leader, who was banned from the Hall of Fame for betting on baseball. Keith O’Brien looks at FBI records and press coverage to build a comprehensive portrait of the former Cincinnati Reds star.

This book is best for sports fans who want to go beyond Xs and Os. Keith O’Brien’s Charlie Hustle is available from Penguin Random House .

29. The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore (2021)

Kate Moore ( Radium Girls ) uncovers the story of Elizabeth Packard, a woman confined to a mental asylum in the 19 th century for daring to have opinions and push back against social norms by giving a voice to other women like herself. It earned a GoodReads Choice nomination for Best History & Biography.

This book is best for history buffs looking for lesser-known stories. Kate Moore’s The Woman They Could Not Silence is available from Sourcebooks .

28. The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine by Janice P. Nimura (2021)

Elizabeth Blackwell became the first female physician in the United States in 1849—and perhaps more remarkably, her sister, Emily, soon became the second. This New York Times bestseller traces their journeys and the founding of the famed New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children, the first U.S. hospital run by women.

This book is best for anyone interested in medical history, science pioneers or sibling rivarly. Janice P. Nimura ’s The Doctors Blackwell is available from W.W. Norton .

27. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin (2005)

There have been many biographies of the 16 th president, but this stands out for presenting his story based around his cabinet, which (as the title suggests) he stacked with his political enemies. Pulitzer Prize winner Doris Kearns Goodwin presents the story, which inspired Steven Spielberg ’s Oscar-winning movie Lincoln , like a fast-paced novel.

This book is best for those who enjoy the psychology of rivalries. Doris Kearns Goodwin ’s Team of Rivals is available from Simon & Schuster .

Author Doris Kearns Goodwin's Abraham Lincoln biography is one of the best reads about the 16th ... [+] president.

26. Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera (2002)

Arguably the most famous Mexican woman of her (or any) generation, Frida Kahlo has inspired many with her art. This biography in turn explores her own inspirations and influences, adding greater depth to her well-known romance with Diego Rivera and other stories. The San Francisco Chronicle said the book made Kahlo “fully human.”

This book is best for those who appreciate art or want to learn more about Mexican history. Hayden Herrera ’s Frida is available from HarperCollins .

25. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (2001)

Young mother Henrietta Lacks died of cancer in 1951, but her “immortal cells” live on today, fueling countless medical advances. Yet her family didn’t learn of her contributions until two decades later and didn’t profit from them. Journalist Rebecca Skloot uncovers the racism and disturbing history of discrimination within medicine while telling a human story.

This book is best for anyone who watched the Oprah Winfrey film about Lacks on HBO and wants to learn more. Rebecca Skloot ’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is available from Penguin Random House .

A painting of Henrietta Lacks hangs in the entryway of the Henrietta Lacks Community Center at Lyon ... [+] Homes in the Turner Station neighborhood of Baltimore. She is the subject of "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," one of the best biographies.

24. Becoming Dr. Seuss by Brian Jay Jones (2019)

Rhyming isn’t easy, but Dr. Seuss made it look breezy. In this comprehensive look at the former advertising man’s life, Brian Jay Jones traces Theodor Geisel’s career trajectory to political cartoonist and author, as well as discussing some of the views that have received criticism in recent years.

This book is best for anyone who ever read a Dr. Seuss book, which is everyone. Brian Jay Jones ’ Becoming Dr. Seuss is available from Penguin Random House .

23. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson (2011)

From his extreme diets to his trademark black turtlenecks, Steve Jobs was a man like none other, for better or worse. Esteemed biographer Walter Isaacson captures the nuance of his personality and the genius that drove him to create companies that made things people feel passionately about. The bestselling book became a 2015 movie.

This book is best for anyone who loves or hates Apple products. Walter Isaacson ’s Steve Jobs is available from Simon & Schuster .

Late Apple CEO Steve Jobs is the subject of an acclaimed biography by Walter Isaacson.

22. All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days by Rebecca Donner (2021)

This National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography made the best books of the year list for Time , The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times . It pulls back the curtain on the women who led the largest resistance groups against the Nazis in Germany, including the author’s great-great aunt.

This book is best for those looking for a new perspective on World War II. Rebecca Donner ’s All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days is available from Little, Brown & Co .

21. Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band by Christian Staebler and Sonia Paoloni, illustrated by Thibault Balahy (2020)

At what price does commercial success come? That question haunted musicians Pat and Lolly Vegas, Native American brothers who influenced stars like Jimi Hendrix and the Doors, as they rose to fame with the Redbone hit “Come and Get Your Love.” But they later shifted their focus to the American Indian Movement.

This book is best for fans of the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack and those looking for a different take on Native American history. Christian Staebler and Sonia Paoloni ’s Redbone is available from Penguin Random House .

20. The Vice President's Black Wife: The Untold Life of Julia Chinn by Amrita Chakrabarti Myers (2023)

Richard Mentor Johnson, vice president under Martin Van Buren, married enslaved Black woman Julia Ann Chinn. Though he refused to give her freedom, he did give her power on his estate. The relationship, which was likely not consensual, ultimately cost him his political career, and this book details how.

This book is best for fans of presidential history looking for untold stories. Amrita Chakrabarti Myers ’ The Vice President’s Black Wife is available from University of North Carolina Press .

19. Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff (2011)

Cleopatra may be the most famous woman in history, but her notoriety has overshadowed her incredible life and accomplishments. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stacy Schiff adds depth to her story through a thoroughly researched history that also dispels misogynistic myths about the queen of Egypt.

This book is best for anyone curious about Egyptian history or who loves the classics . Stacy Schiff’s Cleopatra is available from Little, Brown & Co .

Stacy Schiff wrote an outstanding biography of Egyptian queen Cleopatra.

18. All That She Carried by Tiya Miles (2021)

This National Book Award winner and New York Times bestseller chronicles a bag passed down from an enslaved woman to future generations, which becomes the starting point for this poignant and well-researched book about the generational impact of slavery.

This book is best for everyone and should be required reading to humanize topics too often glossed over in political debates. Tiya Miles ’ All That She Carried is available from Simon & Schuster .

17. Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S. C. Gwynne (2011)

Quanah Parker, the biracial son of a pioneer woman who became the last Comanche chief, battled white settlers over land in the American West for decades. The book traces both his personal story (he was undefeated in battle) and the greater implications of the stealing of tribal lands.

This book is best for those looking for new stories about the Old West. S.C. Gwynne ’s Empire of the Summer Moon is available from Simon & Schuster .

16. Becoming Nicole: The inspiring story of transgender actor-activist Nicole Maines and her extraordinary family by Amy Ellis Nutt (2016)

Nicole Maines rose to fame when she became the first transgender woman to play a superhero on TV. Chronicling her journey from adoption to getting the job on Supergirl , this Amazon Editors Pick and New York Times bestseller also shows how her family changed their views on gender identity and the impact on their community.

This book is best for fans of comic books. Amy Ellis Nutt ’s Becoming Nicole is available from Penguin Random House .

Actress Nicole Maines speaks at a "Supergirl" presentation at Comic-Con International. She's the ... [+] subject of a heralded biography.

15. Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire by Julia Baird (2016)

The Victoria depicted in history books is way too dry. An Esquire and New York Times pick for best book of 2016, Victoria illuminates how the future monarch went from fifth in line for the crown to a teenage queen to a mother of nine who somehow survived eight attempts on her life.

This book is best for anyone who’s ever struggled with work-life balance. Julia Baird’s Victoria is available from Penguin Random House .

14. The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs (2021)

This remarkable book draws a line between the mothers of three of the most important Black men in American history, celebrating Black motherhood and shining a light on how they resisted Jim Crow while bringing up their sons. It was named one of Amazon's Best Biographies and Memoirs of 2021.

This book is best for parents and anyone interested in civil rights. Anna Malaika Tubbs ’ The Three Mothers is available from Macmillan .

13. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (2004)

Lin-Manuel Miranda was so inspired by this Founding Father biography that he famously wrote some of the music for Hamilton on his honeymoon. Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Chernow follows Alexandar Hamilton from immigration to member of George Washington’s cabinet to death in a duel with his nemesis, Aaron Burr.

This book is best for fans of the Broadway show and presidential history. Ron Chernow ’s Alexander Hamilton is available from Penguin Random House .

"Hamilton" author Ron Chernow and the cast appear onstage at the opening night curtain call for ... [+] "Hamilton" at the Pantages Theatre on August 16, 2017 in Los Angeles.

12. The Crusades of Cesar Chavez: A Biography by Miriam Pawel (2014)

Pulitzer Prize winner Miriam Pawel tells the story of one of the most influential and revered U.S. labor leaders in this National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. She doesn't cover up his flaws, but she does illustrate why he was so successful while saluting his enduring humanity.

This book is best for those looking for deep dives on labor or Latine history. Miriam Pawel ’s The Crusades of Cesar Chavez is available from Macmillan .

11. Warhol by Blake Gopnik (2020)

Andy Warhol is so famous, you only need to mention his last name for instant recognition. Art critic Blake Gopnik blends understanding of Warhol’s medium with excellent research and conclusions to paint the most complete picture yet of one of the defining artists of the 20 th century.

This book is best for pop culture devotees and fans of art history. Blake Gopnik ’s Warhol is available from HarperCollins .

10. Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World by Bradley Hope and Tom Wright (2018)

The Financial Times and Fortune tabbed this one of the best books of 2018 for telling the unlikeliest of stories: How a Malaysian MBA used Goldman Sachs and other financial institutions to steal billions of dollars he used to pay for real estate, parties—and even the making of The Wolf of Wall Street .

This book is best for Hollywood and movie lovers. Bradley Hope and Tom Wright’s Billion Dollar Whale is available from Hachette Books .

9. The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis (2013)

There’s so much more to Rosa Parks’ story than one day on a bus in Montgomery. Jeanne Theoharis takes a comprehensive look at her six decades of activism and why she wasn’t the “accidental catalyst” the history books have made her sound like, regaining Parks her agency.

This book is best for those who know how the Montgomery Bus Boycott began but don’t know about Parks’ earlier involvement in organizing. Jeanne Theoharis’ The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks is available from Penguin Random House .

8. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin (2005)

The inspiration behind Christopher Nolan ’s summer’s blockbuster film Oppenheimer won the Pulitzer Prize and hit No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. It tells J. Robert Oppenheimer’s life story, with a particular focus on the bomb and how it played into the Cold War.

This book is best for anyone who saw the movie and wants to know more. Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s American Prometheus is available from Penguin Random House .

"Oppenheimer" cast members Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh. The movie is ... [+] based on the prize-winning biography.

7. Self Made: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker by A'Lelia Bundles (2002)

Madam C.J. Walker, her enslaved parents’ first freeborn child, became one of the wealthiest women of her time. Entirely self-made, she used wealth gained from her cosmetics empire caring for Black hair to help uplift other women and connect with civil rights leaders. The author is Walker’s great-great granddaughter.

This book is best for people obsessed with the Forbes billionaire lists. A’Lelia Bundles ’ Self Made (originally titled On Her Own Ground) is available from Simon & Schuster .

6. Three Ordinary Girls: The Remarkable Story of Three Dutch Teenagers Who Became Spies, Saboteurs, Nazi Assassins—and WWII Heroes by Tim Brady (2021)

World War II is a hugely popular literary period, and here’s another worthy biography from that era, following the Nazi resistance efforts of Dutch teens Hannie Schaft and sisters Truus and Freddie Oversteegen. They saved countless children and Jews from concentration camps and even assassinated German soldiers.

This book is best for World War II aficionados and fans of hidden history. Tim Brady’s Three Ordinary Girls is available from Kensington Books .

5. Bruce Lee: A Life by Matthew Polly (2018)

This highly rated (4.8/5 stars on Amazon) book incorporates information gleaned from more than 100 interviews, which helped Polly piece together scenes from Lee’s childhood in Hong Kong and the challenges he faced from racism in Hollywood. It also investigates his shocking and still mysterious death.

This book is best for fans of martial arts or who want to know what it was like to be Asian in Hollywood decades ago. Matthew Polly ’s Bruce Lee is available from Simon & Schuster .

Bruce Lee from the 1972 film "The Way of the Dragon." He is the subject of Matthew Polly's ... [+] biography.

4. Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit (2021)

This finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award explores author George Orwell’s career from a unique angle: looking at his passion for gardening. Rebecca Solnit ties his devotion to his plants to his work as a writer and an antifascist. It presents him in a different light than past biographies.

This book is best for gardeners and those who’ve read 1984 . Rebecca Solnit ’s Orwell’s Roses is available from Penguin Random House .

3. Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth by John Szwed (2015)

Billie Holiday’s story is too often simplified to a rags-to-riches tale focusing on her struggles pre- and post-fame. But her influence, accomplishments and enduring power are far too grand to tokenize. This biography focuses on her music, allowing jazz scholar John Szwed to illustrate what made her so spectacular.

This book is best for jazz and music fans. John Szwed ’s Billie Holiday is available from Penguin Random House .

2. Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe (2023)

The Sacklers were once revered for their philanthropy, but the opioid epidemic unmasked how they sold and marketed a painkiller that catalyzed the crisis. This New York Times bestseller traces three generations of the family and their insistence on downplaying the addictiveness of opioids. It asks and answers how they avoided accountability.

This book is best for fans of Hulu’s Dopesick and anyone looking for more information about the opioid crisis. Patrick Radden Keefe ’s Empire of Pain is available from Penguin Random House .

Tufts employee Gabe Ryan removes letters from signage featuring the Sackler family name at the Tufts ... [+] building. The biography "Empire of Pain" details what led to the Sacklers' fall from grace.

1. King: A Life by Jonathan Eig (2023)

Hailed by the New Yorker , Washington Post , Time and Chicago Tribune as one of the best books of 2023, King is a definitive biography of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. It’s also the first to rely on recently declassified FBI files, giving greater depth to the narrative and this unique American story.

This book is best for those who want to go beyond the “I Have a Dream” speech. Jonathan Eig ’s King is available from Macmillan .

What Are The Most Entertaining Biographies?

The most entertaining biographies will teach lessons and impart wisdom while also keeping you on the edge of your seat, anticipating the next development in a storied life. Famed pop culture figures and entertainers make great subjects. 

For an in-depth and fast-paced look at one of our most celebrated jurists, check out 2018’s  Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life by Jane Sherron de Hart. If you want laughs and a behind-the-scenes peek at a seminal variety show, try David Bianculli’s 2010 book The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour . And to lose yourself in a dishy, reads-like-a-novel bio of the ultimate girlboss, try Marisa Meltzer’s 2023 Glossy: Ambition, Beauty, and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss's Glossier .

What Are The Best Professional Biographies?

The best professional biographies make connections between the habits and hopes of dreamers and their eventual success. They often provide a blueprint for success that readers can adopt for their own lives. 

To learn how to build a truly impressive empire, read Neal Gabler’s 2006  Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination . Another American legend is the subject of T.J. Stiles’ 2010 National Book Award winner The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt , which is as much about capitalism as Vanderbilt. And in 2016’s Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race , Margot Lee Shetterly shows how Black women professionals were discriminated against at NASA—but still helped land a man on the moon. 

What Are The Best Presidential Biographies?

The best presidential biographies reveal never-before-known details about famous leaders’ lives. It can be challenging to dig up something new but so rewarding because it helps our understanding of how these men governed and led. 

Arguably the best presidential biography is Robert Caro’s portrait of Lyndon B. Johnson, starting with 1990’s  The Path to Power , which traces LBJ’s journey from early childhood to the start of his political career. An enduring book is Edmund Morris’ acclaimed 1979 The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt , which paints a full picture of a complicated man. And 2017’s  The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur by Scott S. Greenberger shows that even a long-forgotten president still has influence and value. 

Bottom Line

Biographies offer an escape into someone else’s story, giving you the chance to see why they made their decisions and second-guess them if you like. Whether you prefer biographies focused on history, pop culture or science, you can find a book you’ll love on this list.

• Editorial Standards
• Reprints & Permissions

Advertisement

Do You Know These Films Based on Great Biographies?

By J. D. Biersdorfer April 22, 2024

• Share full article

Welcome to Great Adaptations, the Book Review’s regular multiple-choice quiz about literature that has gone on to find new life in the form of movies, television shows, theatrical productions and other formats. This week’s quiz highlights films that were adapted from the biographies or autobiographies of their notable subjects.

Just tap or click your answers to the five questions below. And scroll down after you finish the last question for links to the books and their screen adaptations.

“Oppenheimer,” a film about the man who was instrumental in developing the first nuclear weapons for the United States, won seven Academy Awards earlier this year. The film’s screenplay was adapted from a 2005 biography by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. What was the main title of the book?

“American Prometheus”

“Burning the Sky”

“A Wing and a Prayer”

The 1972 film “Lady Sings the Blues” was loosely based on which singer’s 1956 autobiography?

Ella Fitzgerald

Bessie Smith

Billie Holiday

Mildred Bailey

“Alan Turing: The Enigma” is Andrew Hodges’ 1983 biography of the gay British mathematician who helped the Allies decipher encrypted Nazi messages during World War II, but was later punished for his sexuality. What was the name of the 2014 film based on the book?

“The Turing Test”

“The Code Breaker”

“The Imitation Game”

“Julie & Julia” is a 2009 film about the chef Julia Child and the blogger Julie Powell, who tried to make all the recipes from one of Child’s cookbooks years later. The screenplay was based on two different books, Powell’s 2005 memoir about the project (and source of the movie’s name) and Julia Child’s posthumously published 2006 autobiography. What was that book’s title?

“Blood, Bones and Butter”

“My Life in France”

“Kitchen Confidential”

“A Year in Provence”

After reading Louis Fischer’s 1950 biography of this global figure, the film director Richard Attenborough spent years trying to make a film about that person’s life. The picture was finally released in 1982 and won eight Academy Awards. Who was the subject of the movie?

Harriet Tubman

J. Edgar Hoover

Mahatma Gandhi

Frida Kahlo

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

How did fan culture take over? And why is it so scary? Justin Taylor’s novel “Reboot” examines the convergence of entertainment , online arcana and conspiracy theory.

Jamaica Kincaid and Kara Walker unearth botany’s buried history  to figure out how our gardens grow.

A new photo book reorients dusty notions of a classic American pastime with  a stunning visual celebration of black rodeo.

Two hundred years after his death, this Romantic poet is still worth reading . Here’s what made Lord Byron so great.

Harvard’s recent decision to remove the binding of a notorious volume  in its library has thrown fresh light on a shadowy corner of the rare book world.

Bus stations. Traffic stops. Beaches. There’s no telling where you’ll find the next story based in Accra, Ghana’s capital . Peace Adzo Medie shares some of her favorites.

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .