The Biographers International Organization has named Kai Bird winner of the 2024 BIO Award, an honor bestowed annually by the organization "to a distinguished colleague who has made significant contributions to the art and craft of biography."
Bird is the award-winning author of seven books, five of which have been biographies, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, written with co-author Martin J. Sherwin. The book was the basis for Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer, which won seven Academy Awards last night, including best picture. Bird is currently at work on a book about McCarthy-era lawyer Roy Cohn.
Since 2017, as executive director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York, where he is also a Distinguished Lecturer. He also serves on the board of the Biographers International Organization.
"Kai has not only scaled the heights of biography—winning a Pulitzer Prize for American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer—he has been an inspiring and approachable mentor to many first-time biographers as the Director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography," said Heather Clark, chair of the BIO Awards Committee, in a statement, adding that under Bird's stewardship the Levy Center has become "the most important institute for biography in America."
Bird will deliver the keynote address at the 2024 BIO Conference on Friday, May 17.
