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A Literature Research Guide: An Author's Life

Find Biographies or Autobiographies

To search the library collection for books about an author's life, do a keyword search on the author's name and the word biography. The subject headings homes and haunts or childhood and youth can also be effective for finding information about an author's past. For example:

  • Herman Melville biography
  • Flannery O'Connor homes and haunts
  • Mark Twain childhood and youth

 

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Films on Demand Streaming Video Collection

Films on Demand Digital Educational Video

From Films for the Humanities and Sciences, the Films on Demand streaming video collection includes titles concerning individual authors and literary history.  

Biographies of Poets

Poetry Foundation

Provides thoughtful overviews of a poet's work and life.

Dictionary of Literary Biography

Dictionary of Literary Biography database

In-depth biographical profiles of world authors with images and some primary sources.

Other Online Biographical Sources

The Paris Review Interviews

The Paris Review

Interviews with important modern and contemporary authors

Jack Kerouac photoRalph Ellison photoElizabeth Bishop photo

Writers on Writing