Gale Literary Database

Gale’s Contemporary Authors database provides rich biographical details on over 116,000 modern novelists, poets, playwrights, nonfiction writers, journalists and scriptwriters. Current writers, as well as the most-studied literary figures of the early 20th century, and authors from around the world are featured in this award-winning reference resource.

Though the exact content varies with each author, records in CA can include: Author biographies and bibliographies of their work Autobiographical essays or other personal statements from the authors (interviews, etc.) Career summary Awards and honors Links to recent news about the author Lists of resources for further research

If you are looking for information about a particular author, you can simply enter their name into the top search box. If the author has a common name that turns up irrelevant results, try entering more specific information in one of the other fields (e.g. title of a work, year or place of birth or death, genre, nationality, etc.).

Contemporary Authors is for much more than providing information about authors you already know. It’s an ideal resource for uncovering authors that you have not yet heard of. Consider the possibilities:  Who (and what book) received the Man Booker Prize in 2008?  What authors published science fiction in the 1950s?  How many contemporary poets were born in Peoria, IL?  How many contemporary authors attended Bradley University?

The best way to understand the possible search combinations in CA is to read about all of the different searchable fields in the Help Guide.Help Guide After browsing the Help page, take a look at the Search Tips to learn about the different search functions, like proximity and truncation options.Search Tips