The Biographers International Organization revealed the finalists for the 2025 Plutarch Award, given annually to the best biography of the year.
Cynthia Carr made the shortlist for Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar, her biography of the transgender actor known for her work with Andy Warhol. The book was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for biography.
Adam Shatz was named a finalist for The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon, about the Marxist psychiatrist and philosopher. Shatz’ biography was previously longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction.
David Greenberg was shortlisted for John Lewis: A Life, his biography of the civil rights legend, alongside Lucy Hughes-Hallett for The Scapegoat: The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham and Stephanie Gorton for The Icon and the Idealist: Margaret Sanger, Mary Ware Dennett, and the Rivalry That Brought Birth Control to America.
Ruth Franklin (The Many Lives of Anne Frank), chair of BIO’s Plutarch Award committee, said in a statement, “In selecting these finalists, we looked for a balance of rigorous research, irresistible writing, and original ideas, pulled together into a compelling narrative. In its own way, each of these five books makes a new and worthy contribution to the biographer’s craft.”
The Plutarch Award was established in 2013. Past winners include Hermione Lee for Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life; Caroline Fraser for Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder; and Yepoka Yeebo for Anansi’s Gold: The Man Who Looted the West, Outfoxed Washington, and Swindled the World.
The winner of this year’s prize will be announced at the BIO Conference in Washington, D.C., on June 6.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
