Stacy Schiff

Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Stacy Schiff discussed her 2010 biography, Cleopatra: A Life. Ms. Schiff talked about growing up in western Massachusetts and her early days as an editor with publishers Viking Press and Simon and Schuster. She told the story of her 2006 article in The New Yorker magazine which led to the discovery that a Wikipedia administrator had falsified his school and job experiences and cautioned against relying on Wikipedia’s accuracy. Ms. Schiff talked about her research and writing methods, and her reliance upon archival research and original documentation as her most effective tools. She cited her favorite biographers and spoke about her own style of writing out all her texts in longhand, using a mechanical pencil. In addition, she talked about her 2010 article in The New York Times titled, “Cleopatra’s Guide to Good Governance,” which she described as a primer for modern-day Washington. close