In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, the historian Dr Pamela Toler chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting The Dragon from Chicago. The Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany, the biography of Sigrid Schultz, the Chicago Tribune’s bureau chief in Berlin during Hitler’s rise to power.

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

• Why Pamela Toler chose The Dragon from Chicago as the biography’s title
• Why Sigrid Schultz’s story is still so relevant today
• How Pamela responded to gaps and misinformation in the historical record
• How she reconstructed scenes from Sigrid’s life that reflected escalating intimidation and imminent danger in Nazi Germany
• How Pamela balanced her voice as the narrator with Sigrid’s voice and point of view
• How Pamela balanced Sigrid’s professional and public life with her human story
• How Pamela contextualised Sigrid’s life and choices within their broader historical, social and cultural landscape.

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Ashleigh Wilson chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies me about his choices while crafting Brett Whiteley: Art, Life and the Other Thing, his acclaimed biography of Brett Whiteley, one of Australia’s most iconic artists.

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

• The meaning of The Other Thing in the biography’s title
• Ashleigh’s surprise discoveries and how they shaped the narrative
• How Ashleigh verified the many colourful anecdotes about Brett Whiteley
• How he reconciled the layers of myth surrounding Whiteley’s art and life
• Why he structured Whiteley’s biography chronologically
• How Whiteley’s mercurial character drove the plot
• How Ashleigh portrayed Whiteley’s complex relationship with Australia and his desire to be recognised on the international stage
• How Ashleigh balanced Whiteley’s public persona and human story
• Ashleigh’s ethical decisions when revealing Whiteley’s mental health issues and addictions
• The literary devices Ashleigh employed to balance academic rigour with crafting a captivating and propulsive narrative
• The extent to which Ashleigh believes he got to the truth of his biographical subject.

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Dr Amy Reading chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker, the biography of Katharine Sergeant White, the first fiction editor of The New Yorker, an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry.

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

• Amy Reading’s inspiration for crafting The World She Edited
• How The World She Edited provides a long overdue corrective to the male-dominated lens through which America’s literary history during the 20th century and the rise of The New Yorker have been portrayed
• How Amy portrayed Katharine’s challenges, including sexism, misogyny, paternalism and backhanded insults
• The extent to which Amy interpreted Katharine’s correspondence with her authors
• How Amy narrowed the biographical scope given that the ‘finding aid’ to Katharine’s archival collection runs to 800 pages
• How Amy crafted lucid, elegant narrative, evoking the style Katharine infused throughout The New Yorker
• Why Amy argued for the importance of Katharine’s forgotten work and made a larger argument about female readers as the drivers of literary culture.

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Patchen Barss chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about his choices while crafting The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius, the biography of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Roger Penrose.

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

• Patchen Barss’s painstaking research strategy
• How Patchen grasped complicated information about quantum physics and mathematics
• How he crafted erudite, poetic and propulsive narrative from seemingly incomprehensible scientific information and mathematical equations
• How he balanced Roger Penrose’s scientific, public, personal and inner lives to craft a kaleidoscopic portrait of an extraordinary human being
• How he represented Roger’s relationship difficulties truthfully and with sensitivity and dignity
• How Patchen navigated the perils of writing about a 93-year-old living subject who has a strong autobiographical voice
• Patchen’s response to the question: ‘Who gets to be a genius, and who makes the sacrifices that allow an individual to be one?’

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Australia’s doyenne of biography, Brenda Niall, chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting: Joan Lindsay: The Hidden Life of the Woman Who Wrote Picnic at Hanging Rock.

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

• Brenda Niall’s inspiration for crafting Joan Lindsay: The Hidden Life of the Woman Who Wrote Picnic at Hanging Rock
• Brenda’s meticulous research strategy
• How Joan Lindsay’s character drove the plot
• How Brenda balanced Joan’s public persona with her human story
• Why Brenda asked penetrating questions throughout the narrative about Joan’s inconsistencies and contradictions and the role these questions played in the narrative
• Why Brenda left a trail of breadcrumbs and clues throughout the narrative
• How Brenda contextualised Joan’s life and her choices within their broader historical, social and cultural landscape
• How Brenda’s psychological acuity enabled her to illuminate the complexities of Joan’s character and personality

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, the multi-award-winning broadcaster, composer and author Andrew Ford chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about his choices while crafting, The Shortest History of Music. A lively, authoritative tour through 4,000 years of music, this book explores music’s role in human society.

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

• Andrew Ford explains how he balanced brevity and intellectual depth while crafting a 200-page book spanning 4,000 years of musical history
• How he synthesised a multiplicity of musical traditions and cultures into a seamless narrative
• How he balanced historical accuracy with masterful storytelling
• Why he examined music from multiple angles: Its fundamental impulses; the impact of notation; music as a profession and commodity; the concept of modernism and the revolutionary effects of recording technology
• How he skilfully weaved history, culture and personal insight into a tapestry that celebrates music in all its forms.

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Dr Kate Kennedy, a distinguished cellist, musicologist, and Director of Oxford University’s Centre for Life Writing chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound.

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

• Kate Kennedy’s inspiration for crafting Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound
• Why Kate chose Pál Hermann, Lise Cristiani, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch and Amedeo Baldovino as her biographical subjects
• Why Kate criss-crossed Europe by train with her cello strapped to her back to retrace the footsteps of the four extraordinary cellists
• Why Kate wrote Cello as an experimental mix of memoir and object, collective and quest biography
• Why Kate included fascinating interludes, sharing her personal experiences, musings, historical research and a cello’s physical and metaphysical characteristics
• Why Kate introduced various voices into the interludes, including cello makers and dealers, a physicist whose garden houses a cello-turned-bee hive, and cellists such as Steven Isserlis and Christian Poltera
• The literary devices Kate employed to craft poetic, evocative and at times, electrifying narrative
• How Kate rediscovered her voice and identity as a cellist by crafting Cello.

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, award-winning biographer Dr Bernadette Brennan chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting Leaping into Waterfalls: The Enigmatic Gillian Mears, a literary biography that explores the rich, tumultuous life of Gillian Mears, one of Australia’s most celebrated writers.

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

• Gillian Mears’s lived and imaginative lives were rich with adventure, risk and often transgressive passion. Her sensuality and sexuality were the driving forces of her life and writing, and her personal and fictional worlds coalesce
• Why Bernadette Brennan chose the title, Leaping into Waterfalls
• Why she explored the meaning of the metaphors in Gillian’s writing, suggesting what they reveal about Gillian’s character
• How Bernadette took control of the narrative despite Gillian’s valiant attempts to curate her image through her annotated archives of 123 boxes of letters, diaries’ manuscripts and other traces of her life
• How Bernadette retraced Gillian’s footsteps to create an authentic sense of place
• How Bernadette balanced Gillian’s life story with literary criticism of her oeuvre
• How Bernadette kept the focus on Gillian while also portraying the historical, social and cultural context of her times, which included prominent authors such as Helen Garner, Tim Winton and Kate Grenville
• Ethical decisions about what evidence to include, emphasise and suppress given that Gillian’s sensuality and sexuality were at the core of her identity and informed her writing.