Welcome!

For more than 10 years, the Forum of Life Writing Research was a scientific research institution at the University of Münster, with the overall research goal to investigate autobiographical and autofictional writing with an interdisciplinary approach. With the (upcoming) retirement of the founding members Prof. Lut Missine, Dutch Studies and Prof. Martina Wagner-Egelhaaf, Germanic Studies, the active work on this homepage will be discontinued. The information obtainable via this side will be available for a waiting period.

"Die meisten Menschen sind im Grundverhältnis zu sich selbst Erzähler."

The Forum

Autobiographical narratives embody central questions of literature and literary studies as well as fundamental issues of human self-relations. As a distinct and differentiated literary genre, life writing encompasses not only autobiography and biography, but also autofiction, letters, journals, illness-narratives, testimonials, memoirs, travel narratives essays, interviews, autographics and various other kinds of text. Film, art and photography, and social networks are prominent autobiographical media as well.

The forum creates a space for intensive investigations and explorations of concrete texts and materials, as well as for systematic theoretical reflections on the genre itself. It engages in current academic discussions, takes up impulses from other disciplines, and participates actively in the development of new directions of (interdisciplinary) inquiry. The activities of the forum include lectures, workshops, and conferences, as well as co-taught seminars and cross-disciplinary publications.

News and Events

In the following you will find information on selected topical events, which focus on autobiography and might be of interest to members and friends of the forum alike. Mainly external events are announced here; the upcoming activities of the forum are announced and listed under "activities".

Annual Meeting American Comparative Literature Association, June 15-18, 2022, Taipeh, Taiwan (or online or hybrid)
Seminar: "Je est un author: (Re-)Appearances of the Authorial Subject in Literature and Theory"

From Wed, June 15, until Sat, June 18, 2022 the annual ACLA-Meeting takes place in Taipeh, Taiwan, at the National Taiwan Normal University or as a digital or hyrid event. You are invited to submit proposals especially for the seminar "Je est un author: (Re-)Appearances of the Authorial Subject in Literature and Theory", which is organized by Sebastian Brass, Harvard University. This is the link to the cfp. Paper proposols should be submitted through the ACLA website via the following form. Deadline for abstracts is Ocotber 31, 2022. Don't hesitate to contact Sebastian Brass with any questions you might have under sbrass@g.harvard.edu.

CfP International and Interdisciplinary Conference: "Life Storying in the 21st Century: Interdisciplinary Approaches", Masaryk University, Brno, 7-9 September, 2022

From September 7-9, 2022, the international and interdisciplinary conference "Life Storying in the 21 st Century: Interdisciplinary Approaches" takes place at Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic and is co-organized with the University of Paderborn. Until August, 31st, 2021 you are invited to submit proposals for the programme; a book-publication of the contributions is planned. Please read the Call for Papers here to obtain more information.

CfP International Workshop: "Narrated Lives, Remembered Selves - Emerging Research in Life Writing Studies", University of Regensburg, May 13-14, 2021

We would like to draw your attention to the cfp for the workshop "Narrated Lives, Remembered Selves" which takes place from May 13 - 14, 2021 via zoom and is organized by the University of Regensburg. In order to take the complexity of the research area into account, and thus be able to invite researchers form all over the field, the thematic focus is kept intentionally open. The workshop would like to adress Phd-students and Postdocs in particular. Abstract can be handed in until April 16, 2021 (cf. cfp). Confirmed keynotes are Prof. Banerjee (Mainz), Prof. Smith (Michigan) and Prof. Watson (Ohio).

Dr. Anna Poletti (Utrecht): "The Role of Media in Making Lives Matter", Public Lecture, February 8, 2021, 8pm

We would like to draw your attention to the public lecture by Dr. Anna Poletti on February 8th, 2021 at 8 o'clock sharp, which she gives on invitation by the Graduate School Practice of Literatur, GSPoL. The focus of the lecture will be Dr. Polettis latest book, Stories of the Self: Life Writing After the Book, in which she suggests to think the theory of (the) autobiography further and somewhat different by taking into account the role and materiality of (digital) media in the process and act of Life Writings.

If you are interested, please register for this lecture. Subsequently, you will receive the zoom-link.

Please find the full announcement on the homepage of the GSPoL.

Please register via this link for receiving your zoom-link.