Jack Zipes is a celebrated scholar, translator, and author known for his influential work on fairy tales, folklore, critical theory, and German literature. He is Professor Emeritus in the Department of German, Nordic, Slavic, and Dutch at the University of Minnesota.
Zipes has written, co-written, and edited more than sixty books. Among his most notable titles are Breaking the Magic Spell, Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion, The Great Fairy Tale Tradition, and Buried Treasures: The Power of Political Fairy Tales. His scholarship centers on how storytelling—especially fairy tales—shapes culture and politics, with a particular emphasis on the legacy of the Brothers Grimm and the enduring role of these tales in society.
He won the International Brothers Grimm Award, the World Fantasy Convention’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship
Zipes co-founded the Neighborhood Bridges literacy initiative in collaboration with the Children’s Theatre Company. He later launched Little Mole and Honey Bear, a publishing venture that brings forgotten children’s stories and socially conscious tales from the early 1900s back into print.
Zipes studied at Dartmouth College, then earned his master’s and PhD in Comparative Literature from Columbia University. He also studied in Munich and Tübingen. Zipes has held faculty positions at New York University, the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and the University of Florida.