In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, the musician and author Dr Jillian Graham chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting Inner Song. A Biography of Margaret Sutherland, the life story of the ‘Grand Old Lady of Classical Music.’

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

• Margeret Sutherland was a child prodigy, composer, pianist and teacher. She composed more than 200 works and was an influential champion of both contemporary and Australian music
• Margaret Sutherland’s role in Australia’s cultural history and why she still matters, 40 years after her death
• How Jillian Graham narrowed the biographical scope given the avalanche of evidence she sourced during her painstaking research
• How Margaret’s character drove the plot of Inner Song
• How Jillian balanced Margaret’s voice and perspective and her voice as the narrator
• How Jillian balanced Margaret’s public persona and professional accomplishments with her human story
• How Jillian reconciled conflicting opinions about Margaret Sutherland
• Why it was so vital to bring Margaret Sutherland’s story to a new generation of readers and music lovers.

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Dr David Veltman, Dr Daniel Meister and Professor Hans Renders chat with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about Biography Across the Digitized Globe: Essays in Honour of Hans Renders.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

• David and Daniel edited this collection of essays to honour Hans’s pioneering role in the field of biography.
• Diverse perspectives on how digital sources and global connections are reshaping how we share life stories.
• Why biography remains a vital, evolving genre despite deliberate disinformation and an Orwellian subversion of truthfulness in politics and public conversation.
• Why is it vital to consider biographical traditions from around the world.
• Diverse perspectives on how digital sources and global connections are reshaping how we share life stories.
• The value of a biography lies not in its adherence to a single, monolithic ‘truth’, but in its ability to offer an authentic, authoritative and empathetic exploration of a human life.
• Biography’s future given the emergence of AI.

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Shauna Bostock chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting Reaching Through Time: Finding My Family’s Stories.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

• The shocking late-night phone Shauna Bostock received that ignited her determination to unearth her family’s true history.
• How Shauna traced over 200 years of her Indigenous family history amid scant and fragmented records.
• Shauna’s unique approach to storytelling: blending biography, history, memoir and oral storytelling.
• How Shauna balanced being a rigorous historian and a loving descendant.
• How Shauna alternated between close-up personal scenes and wide-angle historical context.
• Why Shauna Bostock sees her book as part of Australia’s broader truth-telling movement, an effort to openly acknowledge Indigenous history and the injustices of the past.