2. A biography is simply the story of a real person’s life.
It could be about a person who is still alive, someone
who lived centuries ago, someone who is globally
famous, an unsung hero forgotten by history, or even
a unique group of people. The facts of their life, from
birth to death (or the present day of the author), are
included with life-changing moments often taking
center stage. The author usually points to the
subject’s childhood, coming-of-age events,
relationships, failures, and successes in order to
create a well-rounded description of her subject.
4. Contemporary Biography:
Authorized or Unauthorized
The typical modern biography tells the life of someone still
alive, or who has recently passed. Sometimes these are
authorized — written with permission or input from the subject
or their family — like Dave Itzkoff’s intimate look at the life and
career of Robin Williams, Robin. Unauthorized biographies of
living people run the risk of being controversial. Kitty Kelley’s
infamous His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank
Sinatra so angered Sinatra, he tried to prevent its publication
5. Biography of a Group
When a group of people share unique
characteristics, they can be the topic of a
collective biography.Collective biography is the
term for works that present multiple short prose
narratives about different individuals in the same
publication. Group biographies are a subset of
collective biography in which the people
interacted in their lifetimes, for instance in a
family or a social organization
6. Biography - Characteristics or Elements
•Describe and discuss the life of a real person
•Information is based on fact
•Incidents, dialogue, and people are accurate and from a reliable source
using first person accounts when available
•The person's life story is told with respect to other people and events of
the time in which they lived
•Develops an understanding of the places, times, events, and other
people when the person lived
•Tells the story in a style and tone that the reader/listener can relate to the
person and believe in their humanness
•Develops a person as a real and interesting person not a persona or
stereotypical member of a particular group.
8. Elements of Biography
•date and place of birth (and death, if
applicable)
•current location of residence
•educational background
•professional experience
•area of expertise
•major achievements