Susan Shillinglaw

Born in Iowa, raised in Colorado, Susan Shillinglaw graduated with a B.A. in English and Art from Cornell College and earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Since 1984, she has been a Professor of English at San Jose State University (nearly retired), where she was Director of the University’s Center for Steinbeck Studies for 18 years. In 2012-13 she was named the SJSU President’s Scholar. She was also Director of the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas from 2015-2018.

Dr. Shillinglaw has published widely on John Steinbeck, most recently Steinbeck's Landscapes: Where Story Meets Place. She has also written Carol and John Steinbeck: Portrait of a Marriage (U of Nevada P, 2013); On Reading The Grapes of Wrath (Penguin, 2014); and A Journey into Steinbeck’s California (2006, ’11 and ‘19). For the Penguin New American Library editions, , she has written introductions to several of Steinbeck's novels. Recently, she also co-edited Steinbeck's Uneasy America: Rereading Travels with Charley.

She serves on the editorial board of the Steinbeck Review. And she serves on several local boards: Hopkins Marine Station, the SJSU’s Center for Steinbeck Studies, the Western Flyer Foundation, and Tor House Foundation. In addition to community outreach, she loves reading, gardening, travel, fly fishing and good food.