Life Writing

About

Life Writing is one of the leading journals in the field of biography and autobiography. It has the unique and unusual policy of carrying both scholarly articles and critically informed personal narrative. The journal has three sections: Academic Articles, Reflections and Reviews. Reflections essays differ from academic articles in that we do not expect a high level of analysis and referencing. We do, however, expect that the reflexive "I" will filter the subject matter, and that on the continuum from discursive/analytical to creative, these essays will fall somewhere in the middle. In other words, we do not publish purely creative essays, ficto-criticism, or memoirs; we include essays which fall into the genre of autoethnography.

Peer Review: This publication uses peer review for some or all submissions. Check for details.

Country of Publication & Year Established

International

Established in 2004

Publication Media & Frequency

Electronic Publication Electronic Publication: Published 4 x per year
Print Publication Print Publication: Published 4 x per year

AI Policy

AI use may be permitted in some circumstances (see their site for details)

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Nonfiction Open

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience, including: Scholars.

Lengths:

Article: 8,000 - 10,000 words.
Essay: 8,000 - 10,000 words.

Styles:

Academic, Personal.

Topics:

Anthropology: Ethnography and Ethnology, See guidelines.
History: Biographies.
Other: See guidelines.

Payment:

No monetary payment No monetary payment.

Submissions:

Method: Submission manager.
Reprints: Reprints are NOT allowed.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are NOT allowed.
Media: Text.

Always check guidelines for details and restrictions. If you aren't familiar with these terms, see our glossary.

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Life Writing Submission Statistics

The statistics in this section are compiled from submission reports sent to us through our submission tracker. They are not provided by the publication's editors/staff or by Duotrope's admins. Information in this section is updated a few times per day. Learn more about the statistics.

We have not received any submission reports for this listing in the past 12 months.

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Dates

Last Updated: 15 Sep 2026

For scholarly publications, we check their guidelines for changes twice a year, and we audit the listing once a year.