"Unauthorized Biography" - an On The Media episode of WNYC Radio

In the hierarchy of journalistic respect, the "unauthorized biographer," we might agree, falls somewhere above the gossip columnist. How far above is a matter of debate. And author Kitty Kelley, who has sold millions such biographies, fired off an eloquent salvo in that debate recently in an essay she published in "The American Scholar." Kelley defends the unauthorized.

Download the podcast here. See the On The Media webpage for this episode, here. Kitty Kelly was also on NPR's All Things Considered recently:

Kitty Kelley chronicles the lives of public figures — politicians and celebrities alike. She does so without her subjects' permission and sometimes without their blessing. In fact, when news got out that Kelley was going to write Frank Sinatra's unauthorized biography, he sued her before she wrote the first word. "I've been doing these books for 30 years and I have never ever lost a lawsuit. I have never been successfully sued," Kelley tells NPR's Audie Cornish. "I want to tell you, though, that Frank Sinatra got my attention." Sinatra is on a long list of public figures who have not been pleased with Kelley's writing. While her books may spend weeks on the best-seller list, they are never without controversy. Kelley's been called a "poison pen" writer and her books dismissed as "Kitty litter." Kelley writes exclusively about living people. Her subjects include everyone from Jacki Kennedy Onassis to Nancy Reagan and the British royal family.

Download the All Things Considered podcast here. Read the full All Things Considered feature here. See these other unauthorized biographies by Kitty Kelley: The Royals, His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra, The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty, Jackie Oh!, Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography, Elizabeth Taylor: The Last Star. And a fit of irony, there's this unauthorized biography, on the Queen of Unauthorized Biographies: Poison Pen: The Unauthorized Biography of Kitty Kelley

And finally, Kitty Kelly recently published a piece in the well respected literary periodical, The American Scholar. In the piece, Kelly defends unauthorized biographies. Find "Unauthorized, But Not Untrue," here.