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What Is an Autobiography? Definition, Parts and Examples
By AuthorWings editorial team
8 min read
Short answer
An autobiography is the story of a person’s life written by that person. It’s usually told in the first person and in order, from the writer’s family and early years up to the time of writing. It’s nonfiction, and it aims to cover the whole life so far, unlike a memoir, which focuses on one part.
You might need a definition for class, or you might be wondering whether your own life story counts as one. This guide covers the meaning of the word, the features and usual parts of an autobiography, where the form comes from, and who actually writes one. To write your own, see how to write a book about your life. If you’d rather tell your story and have it written for you, an autobiography ghostwriter can write it in your voice.
Autobiography meaning, and where the word comes from
An autobiography is a life story written by the person who lived it. The word joins three Greek parts: autos (self), bios (life) and graphia (writing). So it means, quite literally, a self-written life.
The word is newer than the form. It was first recorded in English in 1797, while people had been writing their own life stories for well over a thousand years before that. A person who writes one is an autobiographer.
Six features of an autobiography
Six features usually mark an autobiography.
| Feature | What it means | Example line |
|---|---|---|
| The subject’s own account | Told by the person whose life it is, even when a writer helps. | Helen Keller writes about her own childhood. |
| First person | Told as “I,” “me” and “my.” | “I was born in Tuckahoe…” (Frederick Douglass) |
| Aims at the whole life so far | From family and early years toward the time of writing. | Franklin starts with his ancestors. |
| In time order | Events are usually told in the order they happened. | Childhood, school, work, later life |
| True | The events really happened, told as the writer remembers them. | Dates, places and real names |
| Looking back | The writer reflects on what events meant, not only what happened. | “The task of writing an autobiography is a difficult one.” (Keller) |
A diary isn’t an autobiography, because it’s written day by day rather than looking back. A novel based on the author’s life isn’t one either, because parts are invented. See how an autobiography compares with a memoir and a biography. Not sure what your own book is? Try our quick check: is your book a memoir?
The usual parts of an autobiography
Most autobiographies move through the same stages of a life. Frederick Douglass’s second autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), roughly follows these stages, as its chapter titles show.
The usual parts of an autobiography
With chapter titles from Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom (1855)
Origins and childhood
Family, birthplace, first memories
Douglass: “Childhood,” “Parentage”
Growing up and learning
School, reading, faith
Douglass: “Life in Baltimore,” “Religious Nature Awakened”
Turning points
Events that changed the life’s direction
Douglass: “The Last Flogging,” “My Escape from Slavery”
A new life
What came after
Douglass: “Liberty Attained”
Work and public life
Career and causes
Douglass: “Introduced to the Abolitionists,” “Twenty-One Months in Great Britain”
Looking back: the writer reflects on what it all meant, all the way through.
Not every autobiography follows this order, and some stop short. Franklin’s breaks off with events of 1757, more than 30 years before he died.
A short history of autobiography
People wrote about their own lives long before the word existed. A few landmarks:
- About 397 to 400: Augustine of Hippo writes the Confessions, often called the first autobiography in the Western tradition. It traces his life and his turn to faith.
- 1430s: The Book of Margery Kempe, dictated to scribes, is widely cited as the first autobiography in English, though scholars debate the label. The manuscript was lost for centuries and identified in 1934.
- 1771 to 1790: Benjamin Franklin begins his autobiography as a letter to his son. It was first published in French in 1791, and the first full English edition appeared in 1868.
- 1845, 1855 and 1881: Frederick Douglass publishes three autobiographies, each retelling and extending his life story. He expanded the last one in 1892.
- 1903: Helen Keller publishes The Story of My Life, written while she was a college student.
- 1965: The Autobiography of Malcolm X appears, written with Alex Haley.
Autobiographies are still written by public figures and private people, some only for their families.
Who writes an autobiography?
The person whose life it is, but not always alone. There are three common ways an autobiography gets written.
| How it’s written | How the author is credited | Example |
|---|---|---|
| By the subject alone | The subject’s name only | The Story of My Life, Helen Keller |
| With a collaborator | “with” or “as told to” a second name | The Autobiography of Malcolm X, “with the assistance of” Alex Haley |
| By a ghostwriter | Usually the subject’s name only | Many life stories by public and private figures |
A collaborator or ghostwriter interviews the subject and writes the book in the subject’s voice. Alex Haley held more than 50 interviews with Malcolm X between 1963 and 1965 to write his autobiography. Whether the writer’s name appears on the cover, and how, is agreed in advance.
One famous book breaks the rule on purpose. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933) was written by Gertrude Stein, in the voice of her partner Toklas. The title plays with the form: the “autobiography” was written by someone else.
How autobiographies begin: three openings
These three autobiographies are in the public domain, so you can read them free. Each opens in a different way.
Benjamin Franklin (written from 1771). Franklin opens with a letter to his son and his reason for writing: “Dear Son: I have ever had pleasure in obtaining any little anecdotes of my ancestors.” He begins with family history, addressed to one reader.
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845). Douglass opens with where he was born and what he couldn’t know: “I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot county, Maryland. I have no accurate knowledge of my age.” He begins with his birth, and with what was kept from him.
Helen Keller, The Story of My Life (1903). Keller opens with her hesitation about looking back: “It is with a kind of fear that I begin to write the history of my life.” She begins with the act of remembering itself.
When to get help
You can write your own autobiography with a timeline, your memories and the people who were there. Our guide on how to write an autobiography walks through the steps, with a sample outline. Our guide to writing a book about your life has a template you can fill in. Help makes sense at two points:
- You want to write it yourself, with feedback. A book coach reads your pages every two weeks and sets your next deadline. Memoir is one of the genres our coaches cover. Book coaching is from $849, or try one session for $399.
- You’d rather tell it than write it. A ghostwriter interviews you and writes your autobiography in your voice. Autobiography and memoir ghostwriting starts at $13,600, and every word is written by a human writer.
Autobiography ghostwriting
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- Every word written by a human writer
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Questions about autobiographies
Who wrote the first autobiography?
There’s no single answer, because people recorded their own lives in many cultures. In the Western tradition, Augustine’s Confessions, written around 397 to 400, is often called the first autobiography. In English, The Book of Margery Kempe, from the 1400s, is widely cited as the first, though scholars debate whether it fits the label.
Is an autobiography always written in first person?
Almost always. A few writers have used third person instead. Henry Adams wrote The Education of Henry Adams, printed privately in 1907, about himself as “he.” A different twist: The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is in first person, but Gertrude Stein wrote it in Toklas’s voice. For a school assignment, first person is the safe choice.
Can someone else write your autobiography?
Yes. Many autobiographies are written with a collaborator or a ghostwriter, and the book still counts as an autobiography because the life, the memories and the final say belong to the subject. The cover may show only the subject’s name, or add “with” or “as told to” and the writer’s name, as The Autobiography of Malcolm X does with Alex Haley.
Is an autobiography always true?
It’s meant to be. An autobiography is nonfiction, so the events should have happened. But it’s one person’s memory and point of view, so other people may remember things differently, and writers sometimes leave out what they’d rather not tell. Readers take it as the writer’s honest account, not a neutral record.
AuthorWings editorial team
The AuthorWings editorial team writes and updates our guides for first-time authors. Every post is read and edited by a person on our team before it is published.
