Editors' Note

In line with previous Fall issues of Biography, this issue contains the Annual Bibliography of Life Writing. The statistics point to some good upward trends. The number of edited issues, volumes, and annuals went from 32 to 45. With an accumulated 300 entries, this number represents an increase of more than 20 percent over last year. Articles and essays have increased from 242 to 307, and even more encouraging, the number of dissertations, which dropped to 59 in 2002, has shot up to 76. Although the number of books written by individual authors has gone from 91 to 80, the total still remains considerably higher than in 2001, when it was just 61. Since most of the categories show increasing numbers, it's not surprising that the total number of entries in the Bibliography has risen from 674 in 2002 to about 750. All signs from the vantage point of late 2003 indicate solid publication numbers and—with this year's dissertation totals—a likely increase in articles and books in forthcoming years.

You have probably noticed that illustrations and photographs have been displayed on Biography's front cover since the journal was redesigned five years ago. Now that almost twenty issues have used visual images in the essays as well as on the covers, we'll say a few words about the selection process. Most often the cover reproduces a picture that one of the authors in that issue has suggested or used in the essay. Other times, Biography's editorial staff makes its own decision. For example, the cover of the Winter 2003 issue "Online Lives" edited by John Zuern featured a portrait collage by the British photographer Liz Rideal. The current cover shows a photograph by the Irish photographer Bill Doyle, who is well known for working in both landscapes and portraiture. While the image for each issue is chosen for its relevance and suggestiveness, over time the front covers have represented numerous mediums and technologies, and we hope have reminded you that the journal is interested in submissions in all areas of life writing and life imaging.

We also wish to express our gratitude to Biography's contributing editors Nell Altizer, Patricia Angley, William Bruneau, Judith Coullie, Michael Fassiotto, Rebecca Friedman, Marie-Christine Garneau, Théo Garneau, Corey Hollis, Noel Kent, Gabriel Merle, Dawn Morais, Barbara Bennett Peterson, Forrest R. Pitts, George Simson, and Bron Solyom. These are the people who make Reviewed Elsewhere possible, and we thank them.