Research Guides: English and American Literature: Biographies

Using Library of Congress Subject Headings to Find Biographies in the Catalog

Biographies are classified and sorted by author's name, dates of birth and death, and the term Biography. Here are some examples:

Baldwin, James, 1924-1987 -- Biography
Behn, Aphra, 1640-1689 -- Biography
Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892 -- Biography

Library Databases with Biographies of Writers

American National Biography (ANB)
American National Biography (ANB) contains biographical essays and topical articles on the lives of noteworthy deceased Americans to the present.
There are specially selected collections covering American Indian Heritage, Asian Pacific American Heritage, Black History, Hispanic Heritage, Women's History.
Gale in Context: Biography
Online biographical reference database in the fields of literature, science, business, entertainment, politics, sports, history, current events and the arts.Biographical information on over one million people throughout history, around the world.
Biography Reference Bank
Current Biography contains biographical information on approximately half a million people, from antiquity to the present. Dates of coverage: Ancient Times to present.
Dictionary of Irish Biography
The Dictionary of Irish Biography, a collaborative project between Cambridge University Press and the Royal Irish Academy, contains over 9,000 signed biographical articles which describe and assess the careers of subjects in all fields of endeavor, including politics, law, religion, literature, journalism, architecture, painting, music, the stage, science, medicine, engineering, entertainment and sport.
Literature Online (LION)
Literature Online includes full text of literary works in English from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. It also includes the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature, together with biographic and bibliographic reference materials for each author.
A fully searchable library of more than 350,000 works of English and American poetry, drama and prose. LION is the single most extensive and wide-ranging online collection of English and American literature.Resources included in this resource are: Bibliographies Biographies Columbia Companion to the 20th Century American Short Story Columbia Dictionary of Modern European Literature Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literary and Cultural Criticism Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms Encyclopedia of African Literature Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century Encyclopedia of Latin American and Caribbean Literature, 1900-2003 Encyclopedia of Linguistics (2 vols.) Encyclopedia of the Novel Handbook of African American Literature New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics Oxford Companion to Irish Literature Penguin Classics Introductions Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory Routledge Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English (2nd Edition)
Literature Resource Center
Literature Resource Center offers biographical and other background information for research on literary topics, authors, and their works. Its coverage includes all genres and disciplines, all time periods, and all regions of the world. Literature Resource Center's content comes from the Dictionary of Literary Biography, Contemporary Authors, Contemporary Literary Criticism, and more, including full text of selected poems, plays, and short stories.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
It is a collection of more than 56,600 specially written biographies, which describe the lives of people who shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond.
Twayne's Author Series
Twayne’s Authors Series offers in-depth introductions to the lives and works of writers, the history and influence of literary movements, and the development of literary genres. The online version of Twayne's Authors Series includes content from six print series, including U.S. Authors, English Writers, and World Authors.

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