LibGuides: Engl 190 Young Adult Literature: Find Author Biographies & Author Interviews

Find Background Info on Authors

Find Biographical & Background Info

Linked below are library databases that are useful for finding biographical information on authors.

Type in an author's name. If appropriate, then limit to biography.

Biography in Context (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Full-text reference entries, magazine and journal articles, primary sources, videos, podcasts, and images covering a vast array of people from historically significant figures to present-day news makers.
Gale Literature This link opens in a new window
Search for literary work overviews and author biographies plus scholarly literary criticism and analysis of authors and their works - novels, short stories, poetry, and drama including Shakespeare plays.
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Search for authoritative information in subject encyclopedias selected for courses and programs at Green River College

Database Features & Tips

The images below illustrate searches for information on the author John Green in the databases Biography in Context and

Biography in Context

Here are the search results in the database Biography in Context, showing the search results for YA author, John Green.

Note there is an overview article with basic background info about him and his works, as well as linked articles by source type below
- Magazines, shown in the search results, can be a great place to find interviews and reviews.

(click on image to enlarge)

Gale Literature

This database can be great to find biographical info, as well as interviews, topic overviews, reviews, and criticism. As shown below, the search for author John Green.

Note the different ways you can revise your search - narrowing or broadening, using the built in tools to the left and at the top menu.

(click on image to enlarge)

Find Author Interviews

Read authors' ideas in their own words.

Use the Library databases ProQuest, Academic Search Complete, or Gale Literature, linked below, to find author interviews.
Search online for author websites and literature hubs with interviews (and more).

Search Library Databases for Interviews:

Be sure to limit by document type, such as Interviews, or try adding Interview as a search term along with the author's name.

Note, if you're not finding the author, try wrapping his or her name in quotation marks, as in "Laurie Halse Anderson." This keeps the two words together as a single concept, rather than two separate keywords.
If you need to access articles immediately, be sure to limit to "Full-Text."

The image below shows a search for an interview with author Malinda Lo in ProQuest.

ProQuest Combined Databases This link opens in a new window Search millions of articles from ProQuest's electronic collections, including a digital newspaper archive, thousands of academic journals, and popular magazines like Newsweek and Rolling Stone.
Database Tutorial: ProQuest Advanced Search
Database Tutorial: How to Select & Cite Sources in ProQuest (and more)
Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window Search more than 18,000 academic journals and magazines from a wide variety of disciplines including more than 7500 full text peer-reviewed journals.
Gale Literature This link opens in a new window Search for literary work overviews and author biographies plus scholarly literary criticism and analysis of authors and their works - novels, short stories, poetry, and drama including Shakespeare plays.

searching for an author interview

Search for Interviews Online

The links below are just a few well-known websites for finding reviews and interviews.

Additional Strategies:

Find an author's website. Authors often include links to their key print and video interviews.
Try You Tube for YA author interviews.

Featured Interviews

In their own words...

Use the links below to access some select author interviews in online articles or and videos.

(click on image to enlarge)

One Thing Leads to Another: An Interview with Gene Luen Yang
YALSA Interview with Gene Luen Yang
Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell on Creating March, Book 1

Database Features & Tips

The databases linked in the next tab are great sources to find background info. As highlighted in the images below, you can see the different option in the results each database yields.

Biography in Context

Here are the search results in the database Biography in Context, showing the search results for YA author, John Green.

Note there is an overview article with basic background info about him and his works, as well as linked articles by source type below
- Magazines, shown in the search results, can be a great place to find interviews and reviews.

(click on image to enlarge)

Gale Literature

This database can be great to find biographical info, as well as interviews, topic overviews, reviews, and criticism. As shown below, the search for author John Green.

Note the different ways you can revise your search - narrowing or broadening, using the built in tools to the left and at the top menu.

(click on image to enlarge)