"This book offers a superb wayfinder through the rich and strange forest of life writing and its many forms of art. Bringing decades of wisdom as leaders in this multidisciplinary field, Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson have wonderfully updated this latest edition, with attention to multimedia and digital life narrative, nobody memoir, autographics, ecocriticism, sex and gender narrative, dementia recordings, and much more. Those with time will enjoy theoretical debates on embodiment, epistemology, experience, and identity; seekers in a hurry have mini-essays for quick marveling at autobiography now." --Margaretta Jolly, director, Centre for Life History and Life Writing Research, University of Sussex "This third edition of the most comprehensive, provocative, and useful guide to life narratives updates its chapters on autobiography, extends its international reach, and expands its coverage of the stunning range of genres, media, and hybrid forms increasingly occupying the forefront of life-writing studies. This book is what theorists, critics, teachers, and students need now ." --Craig Howes, director, Center for Biographical Research, University of Hawaii at Manoa "This book is an essential tool for anyone seeking a firm grounding in this increasingly complex and expansive field, from its theoretical origins to key contemporary developments, as well as its future directions. While instructors will find this book an invaluable primer for both graduate and upper-level undergraduate students, it is also indispensable for scholars seeking a thorough yet succinct account of this unusually broad field."-- CHOICE "[ Reading Biography Now ] is a marvellous [ sic ] work of scholarship and a gift to the rest of us.

As thoughtful, opinionated, politically-engaged and ultimately compelling guides, Smith and Watson show us possibilities of life writing as an area of study and give us the means to start our own investigations. And for that, we in the field are in their debt."-- a/b: Auto/Biography Studies.