Dr. Susan Shillinglaw is a professor of English at San Jose State University and Scholar-in-Residence at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas. Previously, she was director of the Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University and edited the award-winning journal Steinbeck Studies (previously The Steinbeck Newsletter). She has published widely on Steinbeck, most recently A Journey into Steinbeck’s California (2006), a travel guide and biography examining the impact of place on Steinbeck’s vision. Currently she is working on a short biography of Steinbeck as well as a biography of his first wife, Carol Steinbeck. For the Steinbeck Centennial in 2002 she co-edited several collections: America and Americans and Selected Nonfiction (Viking); Beyond Boundaries: Rereading Steinbeck (Univ. of Alabama Press); John Steinbeck: Centennial Reflections by American Writers (Center for Steinbeck Studies). She has also published numerous articles, introductions and has co-edited other volumes on Steinbeck. Professor Shillinglaw holds degrees from Cornell College in Iowa, and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She has taught at Wake Forest University, Canisius College, The Buffalo Seminary, Santa Clara University, and since 1984, at San Jose State University.

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