Portal:Biography
The Biography Portal
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curriculum vitae (résumé), a biography presents a subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of their life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality.
Biographical works are usually non-fiction, but fiction can also be used to portray a person's life. One in-depth form of biographical coverage is called legacy writing. Works in diverse media, from literature to film, form the genre known as biography.
An authorized biography is written with the permission, cooperation, and at times, participation of a subject or a subject's heirs. An unauthorized biography is one written without such permission or participation. An autobiography is written by the person themselves, sometimes with the assistance of a collaborator or ghostwriter. (Full article...)
Featured biographies –
Did you know... -
- ... that writer Fănuș Neagu claimed to have spent the Romanian floods of May 1970 stranded with a feral wolf on the roof of a cannery?
- ... that 19th-century construction of the bathing ghat at Bulandshahr was delayed because an executive engineer deemed it an "eye-sore"?
- ... that after becoming a religious leader of the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, Slaybebtikud united the tribes and established himself as their sole leader?
- ... that a Florida TV station was late to its first broadcast because an engineer overslept?
- ... that Panamanian earth scientist Erika Podest uses remote sensing to see how climate change has affected global soil moisture?
- ... that Montserratian playwright Edgar Nkosi White only wrote his first play after he was dared by actor Martin Sheen?
- ... that Bruce Conner conceived of his short film Cosmic Ray as "presenting the eyes" for blind musician Ray Charles?
- ... that the Kölner Domchor from Cologne Cathedral sang Palmeri's Misa a Buenos Aires at a 2013 festival in Rome dedicated to Pope Francis, with the composer at the piano?
- ... that artist Tove Jansson based the children's book character Snufkin on a political philosopher whom she had dated?
- ... that American Colossus is a biography of a man who was "the most famous sportsman in the world" and "the most forgotten great athlete in American history"?
- ... that the author of the comic book Timeless Voyage was the leader of a UFO religion?
- ... that actor George Kunkel portrayed in blackface the character of Uncle Tom, using it at first to promote slavery during the American Civil War but later to attack it, after his views had changed?
Get involved
For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Biography-related articles, see WikiProject Biography.
On this day – December 6
Births
- 1421 – Henry VI of England, last King of England from the House of Lancaster (d. 1471)
- 1898 – Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish economist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
- 1916 – Kristján Eldjárn, 3rd President of Iceland (d. 1982)
- 1917 – Irv Robbins, co-founder of Baskin-Robbins (d. 2008)
- 1920 – George Porter, English chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
- 1930 – Daniel Lisulo, 3rd Prime Minister of Zambia (d. 2000)
Deaths
- 1352 – Pope Clement VI, 4th Avignon Pope (b. 1291)
- 1892 – Werner von Siemens, German businessman and founder of Siemens (b. 1816)
- 1889 – Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America (b. 1808)
- 1951 – Harold Ross, American journalist and founder of The New Yorker (b. 1892)
- 1976 – João Goulart, 24th President of Brazil (b. 1918)
- 1990 – Tunku Abdul Rahman, 1st Prime Minister of Malaysia (b. 1903)
In the news
- 13 February 2024 – Estonia–Russia relations
- Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas is reportedly placed on the Russian Interior Ministry's register of wanted people due to the country's removal of Soviet War Memorials, making Kallas the first known government leader to be added to a wanted list by Russian authorities. (The Guardian)
- 4 February 2024 – 66th Annual Grammy Awards
- Taylor Swift wins Album of the Year for Midnights, becoming the first artist to win the award four times. She also announces the release of a new album, The Tortured Poets Department, on April 19. (Variety)
- 27 January 2024 –
- Venezuela's Supreme Court ratifies a ban from seeking any political office for 15 years on María Corina Machado, opposition leader backed by the United States. (Le Monde) (The Economist)
- 24 January 2024 –
- The Constitutional Court of Thailand acquits former Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat for owning shares in the defunct media company iTV, thereby allowing Limjaroenrat to resume serving as a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives. (AP)
- 23 January 2024 –
- North Korea demolishes the Arch of Reunification in Pyongyang after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ruled out peaceful reunification with South Korea. (NDTV)
- The Senate of the Philippines' committee on women conducts a public hearing regarding the alleged abuses within the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Three women, two Ukrainian nationals and one Filipino, accuse church leader Apollo Quiboloy of sexually abusing them. (CNN Philippines)