Staff Profile

Kimberley Reynolds specialises in Children's Literature Studies. She was President of the International Research Society for Children's Literature 2003-7 and in 2013 received the International Brothers Grimm Award for contributions to the subject. She two of her books have received the prestigious Children's Literature Association Book Award, and she was the first Honorary Senior Fellow of the Australian Research Council Centre for Excellence in the History of Emotions. Kim sits on a number of influential boards and committees in the UK and internationally. She was been a Trustee of Seven Stories, the National Centre for Research in Children's Literature from 2004 to 2016 and served on both the V&A Trustees' committee with responsibility for the Museum of Childhood the board of the charity Booktrust (Chair 2004-8) for 10 years. She was a founder-member of the UK's Children's Laureate on whose steering committee she continues to sit, and has advised and contributed to many children's literature broadcasts, programmes, films, blogs and other projects, including for the British Library and the British Council.

Background

After completing her doctoral research in nineteenth-century juvenile fiction at the University of Sussex, Kim took up a post at what is now the Roehampton University where she and a colleague developed the successful MA in Children's Literature. In 1991 she conceived and established the National Centre for Research in Children's Literature (then called the Children's Literature Research Centre) which, under her direction, was awarded a Queen's Prize for Further and Higher Education 2000-2004. She led 4 national studies of young people's reading habits; the Children's Literature International Summer School, and conceived and obtained funding for the Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation. She has organised a number of national and international conferences. In 2000 she was made the UK's second Professor of Children's Literature.

Roles and Responsibilities

Kim is now part-time and no longer delivers taught courses. She is currently seeing her final doctoral students through to completion.  Kim has seen 24 doctoral students through to successful completion and has a further 4 students at various stages in their research. She has supervised on a wide range of topics, from historic children’s literature through comparative studies (Greece, Cyprus, Taiwan, India and Korea), genre-based research, creative writing and digital children’s literature.

Area of expertise

Children's literature, especially late-nineteenth to mid twentieth centuries

Qualifications

BA (C.W. Post College, Long Island University); BA, MA, PhD, all from Sussex, all in English Literature/nineteenth-century

Previous Positions

Lecturer, Ealing College of Higher Education, Department of English
Lecturer/Reader/Professor, University of Roehampton, School of English and Modern Literature

Memberships

International Research Society for Children's Literature (Past President)

Children's Literature Association

Children's Books History Society

British IBBY

Honours and Awards

Senior Honorary Fellow, Australian Research Council Centre for Excellence in the History of Emotions
International Brothers Grimm Award (2013) from the International Institute for Children's Literature, Osaka (1 million yen)
Major Leverhulme Research Fellowship, ‘Modernism, the Left, and progressive writing for children, 1900 – 1945’ (2011 – 2013)
Children's Literature Association Book Award 2009 for 'Radical Children's Literature: Future Visions and Aesthetic Transformations' (Palgrave, 2007) and 2018 for 'Left out: the forgotten tradition of radical publishing for children in Britain, 1910-1949'
Queen's Prize for Further and Higher Education awarded to National Centre for Research in Children's Literature (2000-2004)

Languages

English

Informal Interests

Swimming, walking

Research Interests

Children's Literature Studies.

Other Expertise

Childhood Studies; Modernism

Current Work

Radical and avant-garde children's literature; circuses in children's literature

Postgraduate Supervision

Successfully sypervised 24 students; currently working with 2 doctoral students. These have spanned a range of projects including  a study of self-harm in YA fiction; trauma writing in Greek-Cypriot children's literature; the relationship between PC games and juvenile narrative; the environment in children's fiction;  twentieth-century developments in historical fiction for children; a comparison of British and Greek periodicals for girls in the C19th and their construction of adolescence;  the politics of clothing in Golden Age children's fiction; an evaluation of convergence culture in relation to turn of the millennium fantasy fiction; a reappraisal of working-class writers of the 1960s and 1970s; the fiction of Margaret Mahy and Diana Wynne Jones; the juvenilia of Judith Kerr and Tomi Ungerer; early children's popular print culture, and two creative writing theses focusing.

Esteem Indicators

Received the International Brothers Grimm Award for contributions to Children's Literature 2013 (1 million yen)

Awarded the 2009 Children's Literature Association Book Award for 'Radical Children's Literature: Future Visions and Aesthetic Transformations' and 2018 for Left Out: The Forgotten Tradition of Radical Publishing for Children 1910-1949
Elected President of the International Research Society for Children's Literature (2003-7); on the board for 10 years
Elected to the International Committee of the Children's Literature Association 2008-1010

Selected to serve on the Book Award judging panel of the Children's Literature Association 20010-2012; chaired the board 2012-2013
On the boards of several key journals
Regular keynote speaker at international conferences
Invited to participate in major publishing projects

Invited to contribute to/advise on new academic programmes, media broadcasts and programmes, films and theatre productions 

Funding

Awards from the Arts and Humanities Research Council; Arts Council of England; Leverhulme; British Academy, Daiwa Foundation; British National Bibliographical R&D Foundation

I am no longer teaching

• Reynolds K. 'No pasaran! The Battle of Cable Street as a Political Context for Youth Activism in Fiction for Children and Young People'. Children's Literature 2021, 49, 8-22.
• Reynolds K, Schofield T, Trujillo-Pisanty D. Children’s Magical Realism for New Spatial Interactions: Augmented Reality and the David Almond Archives. Children's Literature in Education 2020, 51(4), 502-518.
• Reynolds K. "I write to frighten myself": Catherine Storr and the development of children's literature in Britain. Children's Literature in Education 2019, 50(4), 449-463.
• Schofield T, Trujillo Pisanty D, Arrigoni G, Reynolds K, Pattinson R. Magical Realism and Augmented Reality: Designing Apps with Children in a Cultural Institution. In: Proceedings of the 2019 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS '19). 2019, San Diego, CA, USA: ACM.
• Reynolds K, Rosen J, Rosen M, ed. Reading and rebellion: an anthology of radical writing for children 1900-1960. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
• Reynolds K. The unexpected world of Olive Dehn. tbc 2017. In Preparation.
• Barclay K, Rawnsley C, Reynolds K, ed. Death, Emotion and Childhood in Premodern Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
• Reynolds K. Firing the Canon! Geoffrey Trease’s Campaign for an Alternative Children’s Canon in 1930’s Britain. In: Kummerling-Meibauer, B; Muller, A, ed. Canon Constitution and Canon Change in Children's Literature. New York and London: Routledge, 2016.
• Reynolds K. Left Out: The Forgotten Tradition of Radical Publishing for Children in Britain 1910-1949. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
• Reynolds K. Mending a Hole in the Cultural Memory: Forgotten Radical Children’s Books Published in Britain between 1920 and 1950. Breac: A Digital Journal of Irish Studies 2016.
• Reynolds K. All for Love: the relationship between love-stories and reading as a cultural activity. In: Arizpe E; Smith V, ed. Children as Readers in Children's Literature : The power of texts and the importance of reading. New York and London: Routledge, 2015.
• Reynolds K. 'The Forgotten History of Avant-Garde Publishing for Children in Early Twentieth-Century Britain'. In: Druker, E; Kummerling-Meibauer, B, ed. Children's Literature and European Avant-Garde. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins, 2015, pp.89-109.
• Reynolds K. Understanding Alice. London: British Library, 2015.
• Reynolds K. What Use Are Stories?. Oxford: Oxford University Press (Education), 2015. In Press.
• Reynolds K. Arabic language edition of Children's Literature: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press with Hindawi Foundation for Education and Culture, 2014.
• Reynolds K. From muggles to whizzpopper: invented words in children's literature. Oxford: Oxford Univiersity Press, 2014. In Preparation.
• Butler C, Reynolds K, ed. Modern Children's Literature: An Introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
• Reynolds K. Perceptions of Childhood. London: British Library, 2014.
• Reynolds K. Understanding Alice. London: British Library, 2014.
• Reynolds K. "Books We Forgot to Remember: Left-wing Publishing for Children in Interwar Britain". In: Mikota, J, Muller, A and S Planka, ed. European Literature for Children and Young Adults: Trends and Developments. Germany: SEKL, 2013, pp.17.
• Reynolds K. “A Prostitution Alike of Matter and Spirit”: Anti-War Discourses in Children’s Literature and Childhood Culture Before and During World War I. Children's Literature in Education 2013, 44(2), 120-139.
• Reynolds K. Puffin and the legacy of progressive publishing for children in Britain. In: Lyon, J.M., Wooten, W, ed. 70 Years of Penguin. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2013. In Press.
• Reynolds K. Recoupling Text and Image: Graham Greene's The Little Train. The Lion and the Unicorn 2013, 37(1), 1-19.
• Reynolds K. Children's Literature: from the fin de siecle to the new millennium. Tavistock, Devon: Northcote House Publishers Ltd, 2012.
• Reynolds K. Children's Literature: From the fin de siècle to the new millennium. Tavistock, Devon: Northcote House and the British Council, 2012. In Preparation.
• Reynolds K. Words, wounds and Chinese whispers: the complex hearing-telling dynamic of writing for and by young adults. In: Kennon, P., Ni Bhroin, C, ed. What Do We Tell the Children? Critical Essays on Children’s Literature. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2012, pp.196-206.
• Grenby M, Reynolds K, ed. Children's Literature Studies: A research handbook. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
• Reynolds K. Children's Literature: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
• Reynolds K. Froggy's Little Brother: Nineteenth-Century Evangelical Writing for Children and the Politics of Poverty. In: Julia L. Mickenberg and Lynne Vallone, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Children's Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, pp.255-274.
• Reynolds K. Children's literature between the covers. Maryland, USA: Recorded Books, 2011. Sound recordings and supporting print materials.
• Reynolds K. Modernism. In: Philip Nel and Lissa Paul, ed. Keywords for Children’s Literature. New York, USA: New York University Press, 2011, pp.151-154.
• Reynolds K. Changing Families in Children's Fiction. In: Grenby, M., Immel, A, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Children's Literature. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp.193-208.
• Reynolds K (associate ed.), Birch D, ed. Oxford Companion to English Literature. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Reynolds K. Words about war for boys: Representations of soldiers and conflict in writing for children before World War 1. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 2009, 34(3), 255-271.
• Reynolds K. Rewarding Reads? Giving, Receiving and Resisting Evangelical Reward and Prize Books. In: Briggs J; Butts D; Grenby MO, ed. Popular Children's Literature in Britain. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008, pp.189-207.
• Reynolds K. Radical Children's Literature: Future Visions and Aesthetic Transformations in Juvenile Fiction. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
• Reynolds K. His Dark Materials in Performance : Finding a Balance between Heritage and Mass Media. In: Collins FM; Ridgman J, ed. Turning the Page : Children's Literature in Performance and the Media. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2006, pp.185-206.
• Reynolds K. What are they reading? A comparison of the reading habits of young people in Australia, Denmark, England and Ireland. Ocnos 2006, 1(1), 19-19.
• Pinsent P, Reynolds K. Children's Literature at Postgraduate Level in the United Kingdom. In: Butler, C, ed. Teaching Children's Fiction. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, pp.172-180.
• Reynolds K. Modern Children's Literature: An Introduction. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
• Reynolds K. Alchemy and Alcopops: Breaking the Ideology Trap. In: Keenan, C., Thompson, M.S, ed. Studies in Children's Literature 1500-2000. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts Press, 2004, pp.138-147.
• O'Sullivan E, Reynolds K, Romoren R. Children's Literature: Global and Local: proceedings of the 2003 congress of the International Research Society for Children's Literature. Kristiansand, Norway: Norwegian Academic Press, 2004.
• Reynolds K, ed. Childhood Remembered. Staffordshire, UK: Pied Piper, 2003.
• Reynolds K, ed. Children's Literature and Childhood in Performance. Birmingham, UK: Pied Piper, 2003.
• Reynolds K, O'Sullivan E, Romoren R. Children's Literature Global and Local: Social and Aesthetic Perspectives. In: O'Sullivan, E., Reynolds, K. and Romoren, R, ed. Children's Literature: Global and Local. Kristiansand, Norway: Novus, 2003, pp.301.
• Reynolds K. Come Lads and Ladettes : Gendering Bodies and Gendering Behaviors. In: Stephens, J, ed. Ways of Being Male: Representing Masculinities in Children's Literature and Film. Sydney: Routledge, 2002, pp.96-115.
• Reynolds K. Researching Children's Literature. In: Vazquez-Garcia, C, ed. Literatura Infantil y Juvenile: Tendencias actuales en investigacion. Vigo, Spain: University of Vigo, 2002.
• Reynolds K, Brennan G, McCarron K. Frightening Fiction. London: Continuum, 2001.
• Avery G, Reynolds K. Representations of Childhood Death. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000.
• Reynolds K. The Truth is Out There...Fin de Siecle Narratives of the Paranormal and Paranoid. In: Webb, Jean, ed. Text, Culture and National Identity in Children's Literature. Helsinki: Nordinfo, 2000.
• Reynods, Kimberley, Tucker, Nicholas (eds). Children's Book Publishing in Britain since 1945. Aldershot: Scolar/Ashgate, 1998.
• Reynolds, Kimberley, Yates, Paul. Too Soon: Representations of Childhood Death in Literature for Children. In: Lesnik-Oberstein, Karin, ed. Childhood and Culture. London: Longman, 1998, pp.27.
• Reynolds, Kimberley. Children's Literature in the 1890s and 1990s. Plymbridge: Northcote House & British Council, 1996.
• Reynolds, Kimberley. Mothering. In: Coates, Jennifer; Madoc-Jones, Beryl, ed. Women's Studies: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwells, 1994, pp.22.
• Reynolds, Kimberley. Telly Texts: Children's Books and the Media. In: Pinsent, Pat, ed. The Power of the Page: Children's Books and their Readers. London: David Fulton, 1993, pp.20.
• Reynolds, Kimberley and Humble, Nicola. Victorian Heriones: Readings and Representations of Women in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Art. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester/Wheatsheaf, 1993.
• Reynolds, Kimberley. Power and Pleasure in Measure for Measure. In: Loughrey, Brian, ed. Critical Essays on Measure for Measure. 1991, pp.13.
• Reynolds, Kimberley. Girls Only? Gender and Popular Juvenile Fiction in Britain 1880-1910. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester/Wheatsheaf, UK; Temple University Press, USA, 1990.