Philip Nel

Philip W. Nel (born March 29, 1969) is an American scholar of children's literature and University Distinguished Professor of English at Kansas State University.

He is best known for his work on Dr. Seuss and Harry Potter, which has led to him being a guest on such media programs as CBS Sunday Morning, NPR's Morning Edition, Talk of the Nation, and CNN's Don Lemon Tonight.

Philip W. Nel was born on March 29, 1969, in Massachusetts.

He received his B.A. from the University of Rochester in 1992, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in 1993 and 1997, respectively.

He married Karin Westman on May 24, 1997.

In response to the question of why he writes about what he does, Nel told Contemporary Authors, "To study children's literature is to be reminded of why reading (and re-reading) is fun, but it is also to see how complex and interesting supposedly 'simple' books really are. And that's fun, too."

Nel began his teaching career while he was a graduate student at Vanderbilt.

He continued there as an adjunct professor for a year before moving on to the College of Charleston for two years.

In 2000, he began teaching at Kansas State as an assistant professor, then as associate professor in 2005.

In 2006 he was appointed Director of the Program in Children's Literature at Kansas State, was made Professor in 2008, and University Distinguished Professor in 2013.

Twelve years in the making, Nel's biography of Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss was published in 2012 from the University Press of Mississippi.

In 2013, Fantagraphics published the first volume of Crockett Johnson's Barnaby — for which he is serving as a co-editor and providing biographical essays.