Whitney E. Jones received her doctorate in English from the University of Tennessee.  There, she honed her powers of literary criticism and wrote stories inspired by her really weird dreams in early morning minutes stolen from dissertation writing. Whitney’s first creative work was a counting book she wrote and illustrated when she was five years old, which she gave to her grandmother as a gift. She has since published short stories and poetry in addition to literary criticism on children’s literature and has over 10 years of experience teaching college writing and literature. Her favorite author is Jane Austen, her favorite book is The Giver, and her favorite literary character is Anne of Green Gables. Her favorite writing advice is: “Embrace the shitty first draft.”

Whitney’s most recent publications include:

• A six word story published on 2elizabeths.com
• “Mad Girls: Creativity and Growing Up in Jane Eyre and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
• Space and Place in The Hunger Games: New Readings of Suzanne Collins’ Trilogy
• “Growing Up Blake in a Potter World: Using Harry Potter to Teach William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience.” Teaching Harry Potter: Essays on Classroom Wizardry from Elementary School to College. Ed. Valerie Estelle Frankel.

Check out Whitney’s personal blog, all about her love for children’s books: WhitneyJonesReads