 | |
| Discipline | biographical scholarship, narrative analysis |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Edited by | Lisa Ortiz-Vilarelle |
| Publication details | |
| History | 1985–present |
| Publisher | |
| Frequency | Triannual |
| Hybrid | |
| Standard abbreviations | |
| ISO 4 | a/b: Auto/Biogr. Stud. |
| NLM | Autobiogr Stud |
| Indexing | |
| ISSN | 0898-9575 (print) 2151-7290 (web) |
| LCCN | 91658655 |
| OCLC no. | 719444996 |
| Links | |
a/b: Auto/Biography Studies is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal on biographical scholarship and narrative analysis, and is the official journal of The Autobiography Society. It is published on its behalf by Routledge. [1] journal of The Autobiography Society. It publishes scholarly essays, reviews of academic books, essay clusters, and scholarly work on topics in life writing studies. The journal covers a range of life narrative practices, including autobiography, biography, biofiction, and autofiction. [2] It does not publish personal essays, memoirs, or quantitative/empirical research. [3]
Contents
The journal was established in 1985, following a conference on auto/biography studies hosted by James Olney. [4] Its founding editors were Timothy Dow Adams, William L. Andrews, Joseph Hogan, Rebecca Hogan, and Barbara Sher. [5] As of October 2025 [update] the editor-in-chief is Lisa Ortiz-Vilarelle (The College of New Jersey). [6]
Ruth Scurr, writing about autobiography studies in The Times Literary Supplement , described three journals in the field: a/b, Life Writing and Biography . Scurr characterizes a/b's spectrum of life writing studies as extending "beyond traditional conceptions of autobiography and biography to consider letters, diaries, scrapbooks, food memoirs and illness narratives, among other forms of testimony." [2]
In June 2025 the journal published a special issue to celebrate its 40th anniversary, with articles reflecting on its origins and development. [7] Volumes 24 (2009) through Vol. 28 (2013) are available on Project MUSE. [8]