Richard Holmes, University of East Anglia, writes:

1. Establish a USC Biography Center internet site that will be picked up by anyone Googling "biography" or "life writing."

2. Use the site to list and classify all university courses on life writing -- in USA, UK, Australia, and in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, etc.

3. Compile an academic reference bibliography of all critical studies of biography as a genre, histories of biography, collections of essays, etc.

4. Long term, to compile either a total ;list of published biographies, or else a more selective and popular "Good Biography Guide."

5. Sponsor an annual biography prize (all works in the English language including translations).

6. Compile or publish a recommended selection of good teaching texts, readily available in softcover, for biography courses.