Contemporary Authors

Contemporary Authors is a reference work that has been published by Gale since 1962. The work provides short biographies and bibliographies of contemporary and near-contemporary writers and is a major source of information on over 116,000 living and deceased authors from around the world.^[1] The work is a standard in libraries and has been honored by the American Library Association as a distinguished reference title.^[2]

Contemporary Authors

Country	United States
Language	English
Discipline	Reference
Publisher	Gale
Published	1962 - present

Content

Entries in Contemporary Authors consist of a biography of the writer and bibliographies of their work and secondary sources covering it.^[3] Along with featuring biographies of fiction and nonfiction writers, Contemporary Authors also includes authors who write for newspapers, magazines, motion pictures, TV, and theater.^[4]

Writing need not be a person's primary occupation for them to be covered in Contemporary Authors; Martin Luther King Jr. and Bear Bryant have entries even though they are not mainly known as writers.^[5] The series focuses on people who have published in English, but sometimes includes writers in other languages whose works have been translated.^[6] Contemporary Authors is not selective about whom it includes.^[7] However, according to Gale, authors whose works have been published only by vanity presses are generally excluded.^[7]

Most biographical data published in Contemporary Authors comes from questionnaire responses.^[8] Its staff may also conduct independent research if an entry's subject does not respond to questions.^[9] Some entries contain a "Sidelights" section where writers can offer personal commentary on their life or work.^[10]

Publication

The first edition of Contemporary Authors was released in 1962^[11][12] and has since become a standard in libraries.^[2] As of 1990, it was published twice per year.^[3]

Contemporary Authors has been published in five different series, each assigned its own entry in the International Standard Serial Number database: the original series, not otherwise named; first revision; new revision; permanent; and autobiography series.^[8] Some of its iterations group multiple volumes into a single printed book.^[12] As of 2002, it was published both in print and on CD-ROM.^[6]

Gale also provides an online version of Contemporary Authors, which includes updates to previously published biographies, expanded entries, award listings, and other information.^[13] The online entries are also cross-referenced to other Gale online works, such as the Dictionary of Literary Biography.^[14]

Reception

In 1985, American Library Association named Contemporary Authors one of the "most distinguished reference titles" of the preceding 25 years.^[2]