John Pennington is a professor of English at St. Norbert College. He specializes in Victorian fairy tales and focuses much of his work on George MacDonald (1824-1905), Scottish fairy tale and fantasy writer, a key influence on C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and Madeleine L'Engle. He has published widely on MacDonald and the following writers: Lewis Carroll, John Ruskin, J. M. Barrie, Richard Adams, Ursula K. Le Guin, J. K. Rowling and Philip Pullman.

Pennington’s most recent publications include a critical edition of MacDonald’s 1858 adult fantasy Phantastes and a collection of critical essays, Crossing a Great Frontier: Essays on George MacDonald’s Phantastes (2017, 2018, both from Winged Lion Press). In addition, he has published an annotated edition of MacDonald’s 1871 fantasy At the Back of the North Wind (Broadview Press, 2011) and a collection of essays, Behind the Back of the North Wind (Winged Lion Press, 2011). With Ryan Cordell, he has authored Writing about Literature through Theory (Flat World, 2013).

He is the editor of North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies, which is archived at St. Norbert College. He retired in 2021.

Biographical Note adapted from SNC Website, 2022.