Emeritus Professor John Stephens is a profilic children's literature scholar, previously based in the Department of English, Macquarie University. He is also an honorary professor at Beijing Normal University, and was awarded a Doctor of Letters by Macquarie University in recognition of his scholarly work in children's literature.
He has contributed to various societies for research, and worked on a both national and international level for the field of children's literature, including IRSCL as president from 1997 to 1999; as President of the Australasian Children’s Literature Association for Research in 2006; and Founding Editor of the esteemed journal International Research in Children's Literature from 2008-2016.
His most influential works include: New World Order in Contemporary Children's Literature: Utopian Transformations (2008); Ways of Being Male: Representing Masculinities in Children’s Literature and Film (2002); Retelling Stories, Framing Culture: Traditional Story and Meta-narratives in Children's Literature (1998); From Picture Book to Literary Theory (1994); Language and Ideology in Children’s Fiction(1992); Reading the Signs: Sense and Significance in Written Texts (1992). He also edited The Routledge Companion to International Children's Literature (2017).
In 2007, John won the International Brothers Grimm Award for his service to the progression of international research into children's literature. He was the first Australian to win this award. In 2014, he won the Anne Devereaux Jordan Award, and was elected Life Fellow of IRSCL in 2015.
