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.
Most Recent Posts
- Botkin Folklife Lecture Premiere: Paddy Bowman and Lisa Rathje September 25th, 2023
- Homegrown Plus: Spaelimenninir’s Scandinavian Folk Music September 15th, 2023
- Homegrown Artist Nani Noam Vazana Interviewed September 11th, 2023
- New Guide Offers a Tool Kit for Staging an Archive Challenge September 9th, 2023
- Homegrown Plus: Christylez Bacon’s Progressive Hip Hop August 31st, 2023
- Homegrown Plus Premiere: Deitsch Folk Music from Germany August 23rd, 2023
- Homegrown Plus Premiere: Hudaki Village Band’s Carpathian Music from Ukraine August 2nd, 2023
- Ukrainian Musicians Visit American Folklife Center July 26th, 2023
- A New Look for the AFC Web Pages July 24th, 2023