Leon Levy Center for Biography (logo)Established with a generous gift from the Leon Levy Foundation in 2007 as a hub for writers, scholars, students, teachers, and readers of biography, the Leon Levy Center for Biography at The Graduate Center, CUNY builds connections between independent and university-affiliated biographers across disciplines and cultivates important discussions about the art and craft of biography historically and in our time.
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Published Biographies by Fellows

“The Leon Levy Fellowship changed my life entirely… The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begins Her Life’s Work at 72 was the illustrated biography I wrote because the fellowship gave me the confidence to risk writing a ‘collage biography’ of an 18th-century collage artist.”

—Molly Peacock, 2008–2009 fellow, author of The Paper Garden (McClelland & Stewart, 2010).

The 5 biography fellows for 2024 – 2025

Kai Bird, the Executive Director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography, announced today the award of five resident fellowships at the Graduate Center, including the sixth Leon Levy/Alfred P. Sloan fellow for a biography [...]

Kai Bird Wins Prestigious BIO Award

Executive Director Kai Bird has won the BIO Award, an honor bestowed annually by the Biographers International Organization, to "a distinguished colleague who has made significant contributions to the art and craft of biography." Director [...]