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AUTHOR: Stephen Winick

Stephen Winick is a folklorist at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress, the home of one of the largest ethnographic archives in the world. He has worked at AFC since 2005. He is the founder of the Folklife Today blog, the co-host of the Folklife Today podcast, and the principal author of the Center’s fieldwork manual, Folklife and Fieldwork. He serves on the programming team that produces the Center's concerts and other public events, and as the editor for most of the Center's publications. Before coming to the Library, he was one of the regional folklorists for New Jersey, where he ran the Delaware Valley Folklife Center in Camden, founded the South Jersey Caribbean Carnival, and produced seven successful exhibits of New Jersey folklife. He holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania and an undergraduate degree in Middle English from Columbia University. He has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, George Mason University, and George Washington University. His writing about diverse folklore topics, including ballads, songs, music, legends, proverbs, and riddles, has appeared in many publications, including Folklore, The Journal of American Folklore, Library of Congress Magazine, Dirty Linen, Realms of Fantasy, and Sing Out! He was a contributing editor to the Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd edition, and to the All Music Guide, and has served on the editorial committee of the Journal of American Folklore. He presents regularly at academic conferences, and takes an active role in academic societies. As a singer with several folk groups, he has performed at diverse venues, including Cecil Sharp House, the Ark, the Birchmere, The Music Center at Strathmore, Chicago Folkstage, and Mystic Seaport Museum. He has appeared on albums by Jennifer Cutting’s OCEAN Orchestra, Ship’s Company Chanteymen, and the Washington Revels, and is working on his own album of Robin Hood ballads. In 2022 he was elected a Fellow of the American Folklore Society.

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