Announcements

Three new publications online

2024-09-13

We are pleased to announce that the third batch of the current volume (13) of the European Journal of Life Writing is now online.

Added to the 2024 edition of our journal is "Manifestations of Phototext as Hybrid Narratives in Biographies of Ingeborg Bachmann and Sylvia Plath" by Sophie Mayr and "The Physiognomy of an Impossible Return: Relational Geometries Between Autobiography, Narration and Image in Every Day Is for the Thief by Teju Cole" by Niccolò Amelii.

Also available now is a review of Lily Robert-Foley's The Duty to Presence by Helena Wahlström Henriksson.

Please also be informed that the European Journal of Life Writing can now be followed LinkedIn!

There is also an upcoming cluster on medical humanities, so stay tuned!

On behalf of the editorial team,

Sjoerd-Jeroen Moenandar
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Two new articles now online at the European Journal of Life Writing

2024-06-24

We are pleased to announce that the second batch of articles for the current volume (13) of the European Journal of Life Writing is now online. Added to the 2024 edition of our journal are the papers "'I shudder that I exist’. Hadewijch’s Mystical Writings as a Wayward Precursor of Autotheoretical Life-Writing" by Kris Pint, and "The Visual Life Story of a Self-made Economic Man: The Painting Series of Willem Albert Scholten (1819-1892) as an Autobiographical Practice" by Marieke Dwarswaard.

Please also be informed that the European Journal of Life Writing can now be followed LinkedIn!
Read more about Two new articles now online at the European Journal of Life Writing
We are now on LinkedIn!

2024-05-03

Follow the European Journal of Life Writing on LinkedIn.
Read more about We are now on LinkedIn!
Volume 13 (2024) out now!

2024-03-26

We are pleased to announce that the first articles of volume 13 of the European Journal of Life Writing are now online.
Read more about Volume 13 (2024) out now!
Call for papers: IABA 2024

2023-09-14

Fragmented Lives
IABA (International Auto/Biography Association) World Conference 2024 Reykjavik, 12-15 June 2024
Read more about Call for papers: IABA 2024
New article and cluster 'Refugee Tales'

2023-09-12

Dear readers of the European Journal of Life Writing,

On behalf of the editorial board, I am very happy to announce that the EJLW has published a new article and the cluster ‘Refugee Tales’.

I would like to take the opportunity of this announcement to say goodbye and to thank you all for your interest in the journal, the articles you have read, submitted or reviewed and for your contribution to the success of the EJLW. After six years it is time for me to concentrate on my own research and therefore, at the IABA-conference in Warsaw last July, I stepped down as journal manager. I’ve been succeeded by Sjoerd-Jeroen Moenandar.

Best wishes,

Petra van Langen
Read more about New article and cluster 'Refugee Tales'
New article, creative pieces and book reviews

2023-06-05

On behalf of the editorial board of the European Journal of Life Writing, I am very happy to announce that the EJLW has published a new article, three new creative pieces and two book reviews.

Best wishes, Petra van Langen, Journal Manager
Read more about New article, creative pieces and book reviews
Vacancy: Journal Manager

2023-03-29

Dear Reader,

Due to the imminent departure of our longstanding Journal Manager, the Board of Trustees of the European Journal of Life Writing (EJLW) is inviting applications for this position. Together with the assistant journal manager and the manager of the book reviews, the new journal manager will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the journal.
Read more about Vacancy: Journal Manager
CfP 'Urban Lives: Amsterdam Diaries and Other Stories of the Self Conference', University of Amsterdam, 26 – 28 October 2023

2023-01-26

Call for Papers

Urban Lives: Amsterdam Diaries and Other Stories of the Self

Conference held at the University of Amsterdam, 26 – 28 October 2023

In October 2025, Amsterdam will celebrate its 750th anniversary. In light of this upcoming celebration, two of the city’s institutes of higher education, the University of Amsterdam and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, are inviting academics, artists, and others to share their research and knowledge on one particular topic: Amsterdam diaries and other stories of the self.
Read more about CfP 'Urban Lives: Amsterdam Diaries and Other Stories of the Self Conference', University of Amsterdam, 26 – 28 October 2023
Reminder: CfP IABA Europe 2023, 5-8 July, Warsaw, Poland: Life-Writing in Times of Crisis

2022-12-18

We would like to remind you that the next IABA Europe Conference will be held in Warsaw, Poland, from July 5th to July 8th 2023. The conference will be held on-site only. The theme of the conference, Life-Writing in Times of Crisis, relates to the challenges we have had to face in Europe and all around the world in recent years. Deadline for proposals: December 31, 2022.

On behalf of IABA Warsaw 2023 Organising Committee,

Petra van Langen

Journal Manager EJLW
Read more about Reminder: CfP IABA Europe 2023, 5-8 July, Warsaw, Poland: Life-Writing in Times of Crisis
New book review and creative pieces

2022-10-11

On behalf of the editorial board of the European Journal of Life Writing, I am very happy to announce that the EJLW has published a new book review and two new creative pieces.

Best wishes, Petra van Langen, Journal Manager
Read more about New book review and creative pieces
IABA Europe 2023, 5-8 July, Warsaw, Poland: Life-Writing in Times of Crisis

2022-09-12

We are pleased to announce that the next IABA Europe Conference will be held in
Warsaw, Poland, from July 5th to July 8th 2023. The conference will be held on-site
only. The theme of the conference, Life-Writing in Times of Crisis, relates to the
challenges we have had to face in Europe and all around the world in recent years.
Read more about IABA Europe 2023, 5-8 July, Warsaw, Poland: Life-Writing in Times of Crisis
New article, cluster and book reviews

2022-06-07

On behalf of the editorial board of the European Journal of Life Writing, I am very happy to announce that the EJLW has published a new article, a new cluster and two new book reviews.

Best wishes, Petra van Langen, Journal Manager
Read more about New article, cluster and book reviews
Symposium: What’s New? Topical Work in Transnational Life Writing.

2022-04-25

What’s New? Topical Work in Transnational Life Writing

Sixth Annual Symposium organized by Unhinging the National Framework: Platform for the Study of Transnational Life Writing

Friday, 20 May 2022, 9.30 – 17.00

Campus Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Free of charge, but please register before 15 May 2022: b.boter[at]vu.nl
Read more about Symposium: What’s New? Topical Work in Transnational Life Writing.
New articles, cluster and book review

2022-04-21

On behalf of the editorial board of the European Journal of Life Writing, I am very happy to announce that the EJLW has published 4 new articles, the cluster 'Autobiography and Narrative Resilience' and a new book review.

Best wishes,

Petra van Langen

Journal Manager
Read more about New articles, cluster and book review
Volume XI, first creative article and book reviews

2022-03-11

On behalf of the editorial board of the European Journal of Life Writing, I am very happy to announce that the EJLW has published the first creative article and book reviews of its eleventh volume.
Read more about Volume XI, first creative article and book reviews
New cluster and book review

2021-12-07

We are very happy to announce that the EJLW has published the new cluster ‘Beyond Boundaries' edited by Helma van Lierop-Debrauwer, Jane McVeigh and Monica Soeting, and a book review.
Read more about New cluster and book review
New deadline CfP: Taking Control: critical and creative uses of digital tools in screen, literature, graphic texts, and visual culture narratives

2021-12-03

This is a slightly revised call for abstract submissions for an international edited collection entitled Taking Control: critical and creative uses of digital tools in screen, literature, graphic texts, and visual culture narratives.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we have extended the deadline date for abstracts to 30 April 2022.
Read more about New deadline CfP: Taking Control: critical and creative uses of digital tools in screen, literature, graphic texts, and visual culture narratives
What’s New? Topical Work in Transnational Life Writing

2021-11-13

What’s New? Topical Work in Transnational Life Writing

Sixth Annual Symposium organized by Unhinging the National Framework: Platform for the Study of Transnational Life Writing

Friday, 3 December 2021, 9.30 – 17.00

Campus Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Atrium, Medical Faculty

Van der Boechorststraat 7 (first floor)

Free of charge, but please register before Tuesday, 30 November 2021: b.boter@vu.nl
Read more about What’s New? Topical Work in Transnational Life Writing
Call for Papers: Hybridity in Life Writing: How Text and Images Work Together to Tell a Life

2021-09-13

This is a call for papers for the international and interdisciplinary conference Hybridity in Life Writing: How Text and Images Work Together to Tell a Life. Organizers: Clare Brant (King’s College London) and Arnaud Schmitt (Bordeaux University & LARCA Université de Paris). Venue: Université de Paris, Paris, 7–8 July, 2022. Keynote Speaker: Pr. Teresa Bruś (Wrocław University). Deadline: 30 November, 2021
Read more about Call for Papers: Hybridity in Life Writing: How Text and Images Work Together to Tell a Life
New cluster and book review

2021-09-08

We are very happy to announce that the European Journal of Life Writing has published the new cluster 'Women's Lives on Screen' edited by Eugenie Theuer and Julia Novak, and a new book review.
Read more about New cluster and book review
New articles, clusters and book review

2021-07-09

On behalf of the editorial board of the European Journal of Life Writing, we are very happy to announce that the EJLW has published 2 new articles, 2 new clusters and a new book review.
Read more about New articles, clusters and book review
Please consider donating to the European Journal of Life Writing

2021-05-28

This year we are celebrating the tenth birthday of the European Journal of Life Writing. The EJLW has developed into a flourishing open access, peer reviewed journal, that is indexed in most of the important bibliographies and directories.

However, as the number of publications continues to grow, the work of the journal manager and of the review editors is increasing as well. This makes it impossible for them to maintain their work on a solely unpaid, voluntary basis. Apart from this, money is required for yearly editors’ meetings, and for expenses like obtaining copy rights of illustrations. We therefore urgently need financial help to continue!

Please consider donating to support our work. Your donation – any amount helps, but may we suggest a minimum of € 50 – can be transferred to: Stichting European Journal of Life Writing, Rooseveltlaan 207 III, 1079 AS Amsterdam, the Netherlands. IBAN: NL61 RABO 0328 1078 59; BIC: RABONL2U.

Thank you very much for your great help and support!
Read more about Please consider donating to the European Journal of Life Writing
New Deadline CfP: 'Taking Control: the Use of Critical and Creative Digital Tools in the Now and Beyond, in Screen, Literature, Graphic Texts, and Visual Culture Narratives.

2021-05-25

This call is for abstract submissions for an international edited collection now entitled Taking Control: the Use of Critical and Creative Digital Tools in the Now and Beyond, in Screen, Literature, Graphic Texts, and Visual Culture Narratives.

Currently I am seeking a number of academics and professionals in the field who might like to send me an abstract for consideration for inclusion in the book.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the deadline date for abstracts has been extended:

Abstracts now due: 19 October 2021.
Read more about New Deadline CfP: 'Taking Control: the Use of Critical and Creative Digital Tools in the Now and Beyond, in Screen, Literature, Graphic Texts, and Visual Culture Narratives.
New Deadline CfP: Cultural Representations of the Second Wife: Literature, Stage, and Screen.

2021-05-25

This slightly revised call is for abstracts for a scholarly, international edited collection entitled, Cultural Representations of the Second Wife: Literature, Stage, and Screen.

Currently I am seeking a number of academics and professionals in the field who might like to send me an abstract for consideration for inclusion in the book.

Due to effects of the covid-19 pandemic 2020-21, and the strain this has placed on people and businesses (including academics and universities world-wide), the deadline for abstracts for this project has been extended.

New deadline for abstract submissions: 15 September 2021
Read more about New Deadline CfP: Cultural Representations of the Second Wife: Literature, Stage, and Screen.
Volume X, first cluster and articles

2021-04-22

On behalf of the editorial board of the European Journal of Life Writing, we are very happy to announce that the EJLW has published the first cluster and articles of its tenth volume.
Read more about Volume X, first cluster and articles
CALL FOR PAPERS: The Multiple Lives of Memories: Materializing Experiences of Soviet Terror

2021-03-16

Edited by Samira Saramo (Migration Institute of Finland) & Ulla Savolainen (University of Helsinki)
Keywords: memory; life stories; experiences; materiality; emotion; mobility; violence; repression;
Soviet Union.

This peer-reviewed international collection of articles focuses on the expansive reach of Soviet Terror
through an analysis of the materialization of memories from multi-sited perspectives. The book
examines the concrete mobility of life stories, letters, memoirs, objects, and bodies reflecting Soviet
repression and violence across borders of geographical locations, historical periods, political regimes,
and generations, while simultaneously paying attention to more abstract processes of textual
circulation and (re)mediation. The collection asks: what happens to life stories, testimonies, and
experiences when they travel in time and space and are (re)interpreted and (re)formulated through
these transfers? What types of spaces for remembering, telling, and feeling are created, negotiated,
and contested in these contexts? What are the boundaries and intersections of intimate, familial, and
community memories?
Read more about CALL FOR PAPERS: The Multiple Lives of Memories: Materializing Experiences of Soviet Terror
New deadline for submissions for a scholarly, international edited collection entitled 'Writing Australian History on Screen: cultural, sociological, and historical depths in television and film period dramas “down under”.'

2021-03-08

Due to effects of the covid-19 pandemic 2020-21, and the strain this has placed on people and businesses (including academics and universities world-wide), the deadline for abstracts for this project has been extended.

Read more about New deadline for submissions for a scholarly, international edited collection entitled 'Writing Australian History on Screen: cultural, sociological, and historical depths in television and film period dramas “down under”.'
Book: Unhinging the National Framework. Perspectives on Transnational Life Writing

2020-12-01

The international and interdisciplinary research group “Unhinging the National Framework: Platform for Life Writing and Transnationalism” has published its first volume of essays (Sidestone Press December 2020). It is Volume 5 in the CLUES series, an international series of academic texts in the fields of culture, history and heritage that are either written by, or performed under the supervision of, CLUE+ members.

Editors Babs Boter (VU, CLUE+), Marleen Rensen (UvA) and Giles Scott-Smith (Leiden University) have brought together twelve essays on topics that deal with life writing and transnationalism, such as the way in which translations from the Dutch has helped broaden the horizons of American poet Adrienne Rich (by Diederik Oostdijk, member of CLUE+); the Amsterdam networks of Civil Rights activist W.E.B. DuBois (by Lonneke Geerlings, former PhD-candidate of the VU); and transnationality as part of the self-presentation of Dutch writer Cissy van Marxveldt (by Monica Soeting, former guest researcher at the VU and co-editor of The European Journal of Life Writing). Boter and Rensen wrote an Introduction that theorizes and contextualizes the notions of life writing and transnationalism.
Read more about Book: Unhinging the National Framework. Perspectives on Transnational Life Writing
Diary as Literature Through the Lens of Multiculturalism in America

2020-01-27

This collection of diary voices, side by side, document and demonstrate how social pressures and literary practices affect people despite race, culture, creed, or pedigree.

Based on the diary, the contributors of Diary as Literature write about multiculturalism and intercultural relations during the Civil War experienced by African-Americans and Irish-Americans soldiers, through the lives of Afro-Cuban diaspora, within a New Englander’s cultural clash in the Appalachia, the hardships of a Bengali immigrant in New York City, and the “racial barriers as a false social construct to create multicultural identities.”
Read more about Diary as Literature Through the Lens of Multiculturalism in America
Call for Papers Life Writing in Translation (Conference) King's College London / Centre for Life-Writing Research / 27 May 2020

2019-10-23

The Centre for Life-Writing Research is a pioneering group producing some of the most innovative work in the field. Established in 2007, and now part of the Arts & Humanities Research Institute, it enables experts and students to share, research and exchange ideas with a wider audience. We work on all sorts of topics and periods covering a wide range of genres – biography, autobiography, autofiction, diaries and letters, memoirs, digital life writing including social media, blogs, audio and video, the visual arts (especially portraiture), poetry, and medical narratives. What connects us is an interest in the theory, history and practice of life writing.

It's more that when it comes to writing and reading translations the question of what is wholly normal or truly plausible, of what was really said or written, gets suspended, slightly. The translator asks me to agree to its suspension. To suspend, or to suspend even further, my disbelief. /.../ Which is to say: before we're even in the position to critique or worry over the decisions made by the translator, some provisional agreement has already been made. We have accepted the book in English. We have accepted that the book is now written in what appears to be English. (Kate Briggs, This Little Art)
Read more about Call for Papers Life Writing in Translation (Conference) King's College London / Centre for Life-Writing Research / 27 May 2020
Announcement: Life Writing and Social Inclusion: or, Three Pots, a Lid and a Wedding

2019-10-04

Life Writing and Social Inclusion. Or, Three Pots, a Lid and a Wedding

Life Writing from Below in Europe (EJLW 7, 2018) explored ways in which, historically, social groups previously excluded from full participation in their societies narrated their lives as a way of asserting dignity and the right to be included. Such struggles continue today. One such effort, Healthnic, a collaborative European project funded within the EU's Erasmus framework, embeds life narration as part of workshops involving the exchange of culinary, dietary, and IT skills.

Read more about Announcement: Life Writing and Social Inclusion: or, Three Pots, a Lid and a Wedding
Notice to the Readers

2019-07-20

Dear Reader,

On behalf of the editorial board of the European Journal of Life Writing, we are very happy to announce that the EJLW has published the first 28 articles of its eighth volume. Since the end of 2018, the European Journal of Life Writing is no longer published by the University Library of the VU Free University in Amsterdam, but by the University of Groningen Press. We are very grateful to the people of the Library of the VU Free University, who have very skilfully and kindly helped and guided us when we first started our Journal. At the same time we are very happy to have joined the collection of interesting scholarly journals published by the no less skilful, helpful and kind staff of the University of Groningen Press at Groningen University, who have expertly remodelled the lay-out of the EJLW and introduced a new version of OJS (Open Journal System). Please note that the European Journal of Life Writing is an open-access, scholarly e-journal, which is not funded by any governmental or other organisations. To support the ongoing work of the Journal, please visit https://ejlw.eu/donations. We are most grateful for any kind of financial support.Another possibility to support the Journal is by purchasing a hard copy of the Festschrift we made for Philip Lejeune on the occasion of his 80^th birthday. A copy can be bought for € 30 (Libraries: € 50).If you have any questions about submitting an article or about donating money to the Journal, or if you would like buy a copy of the Festschrift, please contact the journal managers Monica Soeting (m.soeting@xs4all.nl) or Petra van Langen (ptvanlangen@gmail.com).Thank you very much for your support!

On behalf of all the editors of the European Journal of Life Writing,

Petra van Langen and Monica Soeting
Read more about Notice to the Readers
Beyond Boundaries: Authorship and Readership in Life Writing. A two-day conference held at Tilburg University, the Netherlands, 24 and 25 October 2019

2019-07-02

A two-day conference held at Tilburg University, the Netherlands, 24 and 25 October 2019

Keynote speakers: Julia Lajta-Novak, Anna Poletti, Bart Moeyaert and Edward van de Vendel

Conference organizers: Helma van Lierop (Tilburg University), Jane McVeigh (University of Roehampton), Monica Soeting (European Journal of Life Writing)

For more information see: beyond-boundaries.
Read more about Beyond Boundaries: Authorship and Readership in Life Writing. A two-day conference held at Tilburg University, the Netherlands, 24 and 25 October 2019
IABA EUROPE CONFERENCE 2019 KNOWING THE SELF: AUTO/BIOGRAPHICAL NARRATIVES AND THE HISTORY OF KNOWLEDGE

2018-11-23

June 19–21, 2019 UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID (SPAIN)

Conference Fees:

PARTICIPANTS AND ATTENDEES: EARLY BIRD 200€; AFTER MAY, 15TH: 250€

STUDENTS: EARLY BIRD 120€; AFTER MAY, 15TH: 150€

Deadline for Late Bird registration is June 10th. Conference website:

https://eventos.ucm.es/26045/detail/iaba-conference-2019.-knowing-the-self_-autobiographical-narratives-and-the-history-of-knwoledge.html

(Be sure to check ‘English’ in the ‘IDIOMA’ tab on the upper-right corner of the site)

The sixth IABA Europe conference proposes to examine the interrelation between life writing and the history of knowledge. Insofar as all life writing is concerned with human self-understanding, it is necessarily entangled with diverse fields that produce knowledge about humans, whether the narration aims at rendering a seemingly given knowledge of the self or at acquiring it, at questioning it or at staging it. Any “knowledge of the self” is inscribed in a broader history—or histories—of knowledge. Yet, to which bodies of knowledge and which theoretical languages do auto/biographical narratives refer in order to gain or communicate a specific “knowledge” of the self? Which historically and culturally diverse fields of knowledge have contributed or are contributing to shaping ideas of “the self,” and how do these fields affect the modes of production, the forms and the rhetoric of life narratives? And vice versa: Which role do auto/biographical narratives play for knowledge production and the evolution of disciplines?
While certain fields of the humanities have been widely recognized for their importance for auto/biographical self-fashioning and self-exploration, such as historical and psychoanalytic hermeneutics, the conference encourages an interdisciplinary exploration of the relationship between auto/biographical writing and a wide range of fields of knowledge and of disciplines. At the same time, not least in view of the rapidly growing number of “expert autobiographies,” it aims at stimulating research on the role of life writing in the development and shaping of disciplines. On a further level, the conference aims at sparking methodological reflections on how to go about examining interrelations between life writing and the sciences or the humanities. Are connections to be described as a matter of influence, or can we identify epistemic currents that equally encompass autobiographical writing and the generation of knowledge, scientific, theoretical, or other? With which notion of knowledge do we and with which notion do the works studied operate? Especially with regard to autobiographies, this involves also the question: to what extent we are to distinguish between “subjective” autobiographical and “objective” theoretical writing—if at all. And how is the relation between autobiographical and theoretical writing negotiated by the narratives themselves? Do they confirm, subvert, blur or contest established distinctions between scientific facts, evidence-based knowledge and theoretical writing on the one hand, and individual self-observation and personal writing on the other? What is their “poetics of knowledge”?
Read more about IABA EUROPE CONFERENCE 2019 KNOWING THE SELF: AUTO/BIOGRAPHICAL NARRATIVES AND THE HISTORY OF KNOWLEDGE
Puls – journal for ethnomusicology and ethnochoreology. Invitation for contributions to PULS 5

2018-10-25

We invite authors to submit contributions for review to Puls 5 – the deadline is April 1, 2019. The journal’s fifth issue aims at opening up for general discussion and welcomes articles in ethnomusicology, ethnochoreology and adjacent disciplines. Read more about Puls – journal for ethnomusicology and ethnochoreology. Invitation for contributions to PULS 5
Portrayals of the Bride in Screen, Stage and Literary Productions, and Pop Culture Narratives.

2018-09-08

This is a call for abstracts for an international edited collection entitled Portrayals of the Bride in Screen, Stage and Literary Productions, and Pop Culture Narratives.
To whatever degree, every culture in the world is different to all others. Yet one figure that consistently features in almost every culture is the bride. The bride is a central figure in the wedding ceremony, a ritual that symbolizes the psychological and real foundation of marriage or committed union and expresses both the promise of happiness, security, safety, protection, and peace and unity in the home and the most exalted aspects of frith—the sanctity of the unionized state and human life. From antiquity to the present, brides feature in stories, witticisms, anecdotes, jokes and in both high and low culture. The concept of the bride symbolizes the promise of renewal and growth of the family and is an important part of social and cultural history and ritual in all societies, world-wide, yet it would seem that there are no published academic books on portrayals of the bride from the angle suggested in this cfp.
Read more about Portrayals of the Bride in Screen, Stage and Literary Productions, and Pop Culture Narratives.
Beyond Endings. Past Tenses and Future Imaginaries

2018-07-19

This international conference, organised by the Forum for Life Writing Research at the University of Münster, Germany, will take place from September 26th - September 28th, 2018. Read more about Beyond Endings. Past Tenses and Future Imaginaries

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