John Cech
Professor
John Cech joined the UF faculty in 1976. He received his BA from the University of Illinois (Urbana) and his PhD from the University of Connecticut (Storrs) in 1974. His teaching and research interests combine American Literature, Creative Writing, and Children’s and Adolescent Literature.
Professor Cech is Director of the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature & Culture and the Producer and Host of the Public Radio program, “Recess!,” a daily program about children’s culture. He is the author of Imagination and Innovation: The Story of Weston Woods (2009); Angels and Wild Things: The Archetypal Poetics of Maurice Sendak (1994) and Charles Olson and Edward Dahlberg: Portrait of a Friendship (1982), and the editor of American Writers for Children, 1900–1960 (1984). He has written several books for children, including My Grandmother’s Journey (1991), First Snow, Magic Snow (1992), Django (1994), Jacques Henri Lartigue Boy With a Camera (1994), and The Southernmost Cat (1995). His first novel for adults, A Rush of Dreamers, was published in 1998. More recently he has contributed six volumes (retellings and scholarly notes) in Sterling Publishing’s Classic Fairy Tale Series: The Elves and the Shoemaker (2007), The Princess and the Pea (2007), Jack and the Beanstalk (2008), Rumpelstiltskin (2008), The Twelve Dancing Princesses (2009), and Puss ‘n’ Boots (forthcoming 2010). In addition, John has also published a selection (with scholarly note) of Aesop’s Fables (2009) and a retelling of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s 1816 fantasy that we refer to today simply as The Nutcracker (2009).
Cech’s articles and reviews have appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, Child, Children’s Literature, The Horn Book, The New York Times Book Review, Parabola, and The Washington Post. He has served as the president of the Children’s Literature Association, the book review editor of Children’s Literature (Yale) since 1982, and a commentator on children’s culture for National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.” In 1992 he was recipient of the Chandler ’s Award for his contributions to the field of Children’s Literature.
Contact
- office: Turlington Hall 4364
- voice: (352) 294-2861
- fax: (352) 392-0860
- email: <jcech@ufl.edu>