Lifewriting Annual: Biographical and Autobiographical Studies publishes scholarship in biography and source studies, examining works that deal with the lifespan or periods in the life of a person, institution, object, or other entity. Associated with The International Auto/Biography Association, Lifewriting Annual is recognised for its inventive mix of styles and genres in each volume, providing rigorous scholarship in a rapidly growing academic field.

Lifewriting. We alone among publications use the spelling “lifewriting” — one word — to denote works that deal with the lifespan or periods in the life of a person, institution, object, or other entity. This slippery term is spelled as “life writing” or “life-writing” elsewhere, but we anticipate the way the English language morphs things together and prefer this composite term.

We stand out among the five publications sanctioned by The International Auto/Biography Association (IABA) for our inventive mix of styles and genres in each volume. We avoid articles devoted solely to theory, preferring to publish exemplars of the genre, along with reviews and articles about those exemplars. Theory, of course, is in everything, but in general we eschew articles solely dedicated to theoretical debates.

Cover photo credit: Adapted from an excerpt from "The Book of Margery Kempe" c. 1440, courtesy of the British Library.