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Reference & User Services Quarterly, Fall 2004
Library Media Connection, August/September 2004
Reference Reviews (UK), Volume 18 (4), June 2004
Choice, June 2004
American Reference Books Annual 2004
Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin
Midwest Book Review, January 2004

Review from: Reference & User Services Quarterly, Fall 2004

This biographical dictionary is a critical resource for academic and public library reference collections that focus on literature or the humanities. It is continuation of the prominent and respected Wilson Authors Series, which provides biographical information about world authors since 1900 with the current volume under review bringing the series to one hundred years of world author coverage. This most recent volume includes entries for 326 poets, novelists, dramatists, essayists, journalists, social scientists, historians, and biographers. Authors have been included based on the significance of their work published from 1995 to 2000.

According to editor Mari Rich, each entry "provides a starting point for understanding the writer's unique contribution to the world of books, and taken together, they reveal the wide variety of experiences, influences, opinions, and approaches to the creative process that shape contemporary literature." What makes the author articles unique in this work are the personal autobiographical accounts included for many of the entries along with photographs of most of the authors. The personal accounts are original and not published elsewhere. They add a human element to this reference source and help the reader transform words from a page into the true essence of an author's passion for writing.

The articles are well-written and interesting to read. The reader can get a sense of the author's career, major influences, and overall philosophy and motivation to write. Also included are examinations of reviews and criticism, indicating how an author's work has been received in the literary world. A short list of "suggested reading" and "selected books" is provided for each entry.

In comparing the authors included in this volume with those included in previous volumes in the series, the reviewer could not identify any overlap. Now that the series includes world authors for a one-hundred-year period and in multiple volumes, a cumulative index would be an appreciated upgrade to future volumes.

Frank N. Magill and Tracy Irons-Georges's fourth revised edition of Cyclopedia of World Authors (Salem. 2003), another key reference source for world authors, differs from the current volume under review in that the articles are shorter and do not include the personal autobiographical portions as does the Wilson Author Series. It would be beneficial to library users to have both sets at hand because the entries provide different perspectives and information.

In comparison to Patrick M. O'Neill's recently published Great World Writers: Twentieth Century (Marshall Cavendish, 2004), the Wilson Authors Series is more suitable for academic and public libraries. O'Neill's thirteen-volume set contains articles about ninety-three commonly known world authors and is intended more for junior high and high school libraries

Reviewed by: Colleen Boff, Bowling Green State University, 0hio

Review from: Library Media Connection, August/September 2004

This one-volume biographical reference covers more than 300 writers from around the world—novelists, poets, essayists, biographers, historians, and playwrights who have contributed to contemporary literature. As the 15th installment of the Wilson Authors series, this volume provides a starting point for students to understand the writer's contribution to world literature. Many of the authors contributed autobiographical essays explaining their love of writing, and reasons for writing. The biographical sketches follow the table of contents, which is an alphabetical listing of the authors. Each sketch, which ranges anywhere from 2 to 5 pages in length, is accompanied by a photo of
the author, as well as a "suggested reading" section and a "selected books" section, which details the major works of the author. This work is a great resource for students who need to research contemporary world authors. Recommended.

Reviewed by: Sheila Acosta, Library J\1edia Specialist, Thomas Jefferson High School, San Antonio, Texas

Review from: Reference Reviews (UK), Volume 18 (4), June 2004

World Authors 1995-2000 is one of the many volumes in the Wilson Authors series begun in 1942. This volume follows the standard layout of substantial essays of between 1,000 and 3,000 words each, accompanied by a bibliography of further reading, a list of the author's principal works, and often, a good quality photograph. It features 326 novelists, playwrights, poets, essayists, historians, and others who have made notable contributions to contemporary literature….

The quality of the contributions is impressive and nearly a quarter of the authors featured have contributed autobiographical essays specifically for the book (or earlier editions). There are full accounts of the author's lives, the circumstances under which their works were produced, their literary significance and critical response. "I sat at the feet of Robert Graves when he delivered the Clarke Lectures. He told us that a poet should never, never, never take a job as a teacher. 'Sweep the roads first', he said" (Ted Walker).

This work presents reference library staff with something of a dilemma. On the one hand I must confess to recognizing only fourteen out of the 326 writers featured, and I do not think this is just the paucity of my reading! Thus of the authors still living who featured in the recent BBC television programmes The Big Read, only one, John Irving, is included. No Salman Rushdie, Jacqueline Wilson, Paulo Coelho, Arundhati Roy, Terry Pratchett, Vikram Seth, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Philip Pullman (who came third) or Sebastian Faulks. Thus our users are unlikely to find much that they seek. (Of course one could argue that the Rushdies and the Pratchetts are well-enough represented in other sources, but then ": so are Philip Roth, Jack Higgins, Kurt Vonnegut, Tom Wolfe, Tom Stoppard, Sue Townsend and Zadie Smith - all featured here). On the other hand, one could argue that it is precisely the lesser- known writers that need such detailed profiles. The book certainly succeeds on this score, with Tariq Ali, Jane Gardham, Ben Elton, Michael Ignatieff, Timothy Garton Ash, Ferdinand Mount and Will Self. I was fascinated to learn about Luljet Lleshanaku, an Albanian poet who survived one of the most hostile regimes of all times. The account of Gao Xingjian, China's first Nobel laureate, was fascinating also….

Another thing we are not told is how much this book supersedes the earlier volumes and how much overlap there is; a composite index to earlier volumes is needed. However, the writing is perceptive, informative and absorbing and any library with pretensions to a good literature section would be well advised to collect this series. A library with a set of the Wilson Author series on its shelves will be a library well worth knowing about.

Review from: Choice, June 2004

The 15th volume in this Wilson series is a substantial biographical dictionary. Scope ... encompasses those "who have published significant work within the period indicated." Editors chose authors, handily listed in front, based on literary merit, popularity, and English-language accessibility. Among those included are Rick Bragg, novelists and family members Ben Cheever and Susan Cheever, and Tracy Chevalier (Girl with a Pearl Earring).... Alice Walker, Nick Hornsby, and Jhumpa Lahiri appear along with other novelists, playwrights, poets, biographers, science writers, and journalists. A quarter of the 322 authors contributed autobiographical insights, giving a sense of personality and writing style. Entries range from a single page to four in the case of James M. McPherson. A black-and-white photograph of the author is often included. An overview of the writer's work, any media adaptations, critical reception, brief biographical details, suggested readings, and selected works are standard. Students and general readers seeking fundamental understanding of writers shaping the latter part of the decade will be well served. Summing Up: Recommended. Academic and large public libraries.

Review from: American Reference Books Annual 2004

This volume is the latest in a series of 15 volumes in the Wilson Authors series, which began in 1942. Some of the material in earlier volumes was reprinted in the 4-volume World Authors 1900-1950 (see ARBA 97, entry 887); for a review of World Authors 1990-1995 see ARBA 2001, entry 1064. This latest volume has essays on 326 writers, which includes novelists, playwrights, poets, essayists, and others who meet the editors' seemingly exacting criteria of literary merit as well as popularity. Not everyone will agree with the choices the editors made: yes, Philip Roth and Alice Walker are writers of considerable literary merit who are also popular, but Paul LaFarge and Kathryn Davis would provoke more argument. There is very little duplication in writers covered in previous volumes. Each 1,000- to 3,000-word essay combines biographical data with critical appreciation. Most include photographs, a bibliography of further reading, and a list of major works.

Almost one-fourth of the authors contributed autobiographical information. These often illuminating personal insights are combined with excerpts from a wide and sometimes uncritically eclectic variety of book reviews, which strike this reader, often, as having been culled, seemingly at random from popular magazines, newspapers, semi-popular magazines, and scholarly resources. The result is often a pastiche of ill-assorted commentary mixing in one essay the ephemeral and uninformed with the eloquent and subtle. What is lacking frequently in these essays is one consistent critical point of view. Many of the essays simply cover a writer's career chronologically, rather than taking on the more challenging and intellectually valuable thematic approach. If a library owns the electronic version of Wilson Biographies Plus Illustrated it does not need this print version.

Review from: Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin
Date reviewed: February 15, 2004

In library school, many of us learned to refer to Twentieth Century Authors as "Kunitz and Haycraft" after its editors, Stanley J. Kunitz and Howard Haycraft. The review of Twentieth Century Authors in the January 1943 issue of Subscription Books Bulletin (as RBB was then called) contains this biographical nugget: "Mr. Kunitz began writing for the Wilson Library Bulletin in 1928 under the pseudonym ‘Dilly Tante.’ He was editor of that publication until he recently went into the service." For years, Kunitz and Haycraft and its supplement, published in 1955, were library staples. World Authors, 1950–1970: A Companion to Twentieth Century Authors was published in 1975 and followed by regular updates, beginning with World Authors, 1970–1975 (1980). In 1996, Wilson produced a much needed revision to the foundation set, the four-volume World Authors, 1900–1950, which profiles just over 2,500 individuals.

The recently released World Authors, 1995–2000 treats 336 poets, dramatists, essayists, novelists, biographers, and other writers "who have published significant work within the time period." Articles, ranging in length from 1,000 to 3,000 words, contain a short overview of the author’s work, the biographical article, suggested reading, and selected works. Some also have rather grainy photographs. Many of the entrants supplied brief autobiographical pieces specifically for this book. There is diversity in both the ethnic and writing backgrounds of the authors represented. Among the writers who appear here are journalist Hilton Als, historian Michael Beschloss, historical novelists Bernard Cornwell and Dorothy Dunnett, children’s author Lemony Snicket, and Gao Xingjian, the first Chinese writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (2000). Some inclusions, such as Dave Eggers and Jhumpa Lahiri, are up-to-the-minute. Entries for fewer than 5 percent of the authors, among them Maya Angelou, John Irving, and Philip Roth, are revisions of material that appeared in previous volumes.

Work on World Authors is ongoing. Approximately 120 profiles are added to the database each year and appear in the online version (and also in the larger online Biography Reference Bank) before they appear in print. In electronic form, World Authors profiles are kept fresh by links to reviews, articles, obituaries, and other material that provides more current information.

Is World Authors still a necessary title? Kunitz and Haycraft was just about the only thing of its kind back when the first supplement appeared, but since then, and especially in the last few years, we have been swamped with reference sources that have a similar mission. These range from Gale’s behemoth Contemporary Authors to more thinly sliced works on poets, or women, or African Americans, or lesbians, or all of the above. Still, the World Authors profiles are unique to it, and it remains a good choice for larger collections that need to offer multiple resources on authors as well as for smaller libraries that want broad coverage without investing space and dollars in either larger series or numerous specialized volumes.

—Mary Ellen Quinn, Editor, Reference Books Bulletin

Review from: Midwest Book Review, January 2004

Expertly organized and edited by Clifford Thompson and Mari Rich, World Authors 1995-2000 offers accurate accounts of contemporary writers' lives and works, including critical responses and biographies. Covering 326 authors worldwide including novelists, playwrights, poets, essayists, historians, biographers, critics, and others, all arranged in alphabetical order, World Authors 1995-2000 is an excellent, broad-ranging resource. Each author was selected on the basis of literary merit, popularity, and (in the case of foreign writers) accessibility to English-language readers. A black-and-white photograph of each author precedes their biographical entry, which is also supplemented with a suggested reading list of works.