Founded in 1997 by literary agent and biographer Andrew Lownie, the Biographers' Club is an umbrella organisation which seeks to educate, inspire, promote and foster a better understanding of the art of biography and its relevance across the broad spectrum of human endeavour. Through our events, we create a forum for this understanding, a public benefit for all in the art of biography across all media and disciplines, and a professional and social interaction among its membership.

For membership enquiries contact Philippa Bernard: membership at biographersclub dot co dot uk

For events enquiries contact: secretary at biographersclub dot co dot uk Please email this address to book your place at our events

For prize enquiries contact Ariane Bankes, ariane dot bankes at googlemail dot com or call 020 7359 7769

Request to potential new Members

We would like to invite the regular (currently non-member) guests who attend our events to apply for membership of the Biographers' Club. Annual fee is £30. Please contact Philippa Bernard (email: membership at biographersclub dot co dot uk) to check if you are eligible to join (also, please read the criteria contained in the Membership Application form, available on the Home and Members pages, right-hand green button).

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Call for entries

The HW Fisher Biography Prize 2013

Deadline for entries: 1st July

The Biographers’ Club is now calling in entries for this year’s HW Fisher Best First Biography Prize, worth £5,000, thanks to the generous sponsorship of HW Fisher & Company, a leading firm of chartered accountants who specialise in consulting services to authors. This is the third year of their sponsorship.

The Prize will be awarded to the best book by a first-time biographer, as chosen by our panel of judges: D.J.Taylor, whose subjects include George Orwell and W.M.Thackeray; Robert Collins, deputy literary editor of The Sunday Times; and Sally Cline, author of Radclyffe Hall: A Woman Called John and Zelda Fitzgerald: Her Voice in Paradise.

Only entries submitted by publishers will be accepted for consideration. Literary memoirs are also eligible, but the following genres are NOT eligible: celebrity autobiographies and ghostwritten books. 

To qualify, the books must have a publication date between 1st September 2012 and 1st August 2013 (proofs are acceptable). Four copies of each book should be submitted no later than 1st July (please enclose press release to confirm publication date), along with an entry fee of £20 for each title. Delivery address: The HW Fisher Best First Biography Prize, c/o David Roberts, 133 Albert Street, London NW1 7NB.

Please print out and complete the entry form below, and enclose it with the four copies. Payment of the £20 entry fee accepted by cheque in £ sterling (made out to The Biographers’ Club), or by bank transfer "contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for bank details).

HW Fisher Prize entry form

The Biographers’ Club prize dinner will take place in November. Details to follow.

Previous winners: 2009 – Roland Chambers for The Last Englishman: The Double Life of Arthur Ransome (Faber); 2010 – Wendy Moffat for E.M. Forster: A New Life (Bloomsbury); 2011 – Matthew Hollis for Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas (Faber); 2012 – Thomas Penn for Winter King (Penguin).

If you have any inquiries please contact Ariane Bankes, 020 7359 7769, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Sponsored by HW Fisher & Company
Authors and Journalists Team
020 7388 7000, www.hwfisher.co.uk

Forthcoming Events