authorized biography
Sanctioned personal history
An authorized biography is a life account written with the subject's cooperation and approval.
The subject or their estate grants access to private documents, interviews, and personal contacts.
This access comes with implicit or explicit control over content—what gets included, what stays hidden.
Contrast with unauthorized biographies, which proceed without permission and often face legal challenges.
The authorized biography portrayed him favorably, glossing over the scandals.
- officialAuthority-sanctioned person or status
- memoirWritten personal recollection
- life storyAccount of someone's existence
- subjectMatter under discussion
- public figureProminent, widely recognized person
permission · life rights · sanctioned · intimate · behind the scenes · warts and all · letters · literary estate · interviews · archives · legacy · estate · collaboration · revelations · chapters · research · private · access
- biographiesmemoir, memoirs, life stories, life story, bio
- life storiesmemoir, memoirs, personal history, life story, personal stories
- life writingmemoir, memoirs, memoir writing, life history, diaries
- writer biographiesmemoir, letters, diaries, journals, correspondence
- world biographiesworld leaders, historical figures, cultural icons
authorized biographyunauthorized biography
Life account lacking subject's approval
authorized biographybiographical novel
Fictionalized account of someone's life
biographical fiction · docudrama · historical fiction · biopic · gossip
authorized biographyhatchet job
Deliberately damaging criticism
hit piece · takedown · character assassination · smear · hagiography
authorized, biography, authorize, author, authority, authoritative, authoritatively, authorization, unauthorised