Jerry Griswold is a
specialist in Children's Literature and in American Literature and
Culture. He is the author of seven books, including the prize-winning Audacious Kids (in paperback, The Classic American Children's Story),
The Meanings of "Beauty and the
Beast," and (recently) Feeling
Like a Kid. Griswold has also published more than 200 essays (in
Paris Review, The Nation, New Republic, New York Times Book Review, and
elsewhere); he is a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times and a columnist
for Parents' Choice. A
professor of literature at San Diego State University, Griswold has
also been a visiting professor at UCLA and UCSD (the University of
California, Los Angeles and San Diego) and (for one hilarious year) the
National University of Ireland in Galway. He has won a number of awards
(including research fellowships from the National Endowment for the
Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies) and lectured
all over the globe (from Seoul to Salamanca to São Paolo). Griswold is
currently Director of the National Center for the Study of Children's
Literature.