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Professor Catherine Butler
(she/her)
Teams and roles for Catherine Butler
Professor of English Literature
Overview
I joined Cardiff University in 2015, having previous worked at the University of the West of England in Bristol. I specialize in children's literature, but have published in various areas of English.
I am the author of several monographs and the editor of five academic volumes, as well as having published six novels for children and young adults. I am editor of the journal, Children’s Literature in Education, and a board member of the International Journal for Young Adult Literature.
I am part of the School's English Literature research group.
Publication
2024
- Butler, C. 2024. Heard but not seen: Gardens and their child ghosts in Rudyard Kipling, T. S. Eliot and Lucy M. Boston. Modernist Cultures 19 (1), pp.58-80. (10.3366/mod.2024.0418)
- Ćošković, I. and Butler, C. 2024. YA literature and Japan. In: Mooney, J. et al., Routledge Companion to Young Adult Literature. Routledge
2023
- Butler, C. 2023. British children's literature in Japanese culture: Wonderlands and looking-glasses. Bloomsbury Perspectives on Children's Literature London: Bloomsbury.
2021
- Butler, C. 2021. Lost futures: reading, memory and repression. International Research in Children's Literature 14 (2), pp.156-168. (10.3366/ircl.2021.0394)
- Butler, C. 2021. The Green Knowe books - a patchwork of genres. In: Watson, V. et al., Lucy Boston: An Artist in Everything She Did. Cambridge: Oldknow Books. , pp.37-52.
2020
- Butler, C. 2020. Children's literature research in a world of Coronavirus. Japan Society for Children's Literature in English Newsletter 2020 (Autumn), pp.8-13.
- Butler, C. 2020. Japan reads the Cotswolds: Tourism, children’s literature and the Japanese imagination. Children's Literature 48 , pp.198-233. (10.1353/chl.2020.0008)
- Butler, C. 2020. Portraying trans people in children’s and young adult literature: problems and challenges. Journal of Literary Education 3 , pp.10-24. (10.7203/JLE.3.15992)
- Butler, C. 2020. The Cotswolds and children’s literature in Japanese fantasy: the case of Castle Combe. In: Seaton, P. and Yamamura, T. eds. Contents Tourism and Pop Culture Fandom: Transnational Tourist Experiences. Channel View Publications. , pp.85-97. (10.21832/9781845417239-009)
2019
- Butler, C. 2019. Arrietty comes home: Studio Ghibli's The Borrower Arrietty and its English-language dubs. Annals of The Institute for Comparative Studies of Culture 80 , pp.57-71.
- Butler, C. 2019. Shoujo versus Seinen? Address and reception in Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011). Children's Literature in Education 50 , pp.400-416. (10.1007/s10583-018-9355-9)
2018
- Butler, C. 2018. Literary studies deconstructed: A polemic. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. (10.1007/978-3-319-90475-7)
2017
- Butler, C. 2017. Children's literature: Ideologies of the past, present and future. In: Hanson, C. and Watkins, S. eds. The History of British Women's Writing, 1945-75. Vol. 9, London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan
- Butler, C. 2017. Counterfactual historical fiction for children and young adults. In: Beauvais, C. and Nikolajeva, M. eds. The Edinburgh Companion to Children's Literature. Edinburgh Companions to Literature Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. , pp.179-193.
2015
- Butler, C. 2015. Diana Wynne Jones and Bristol. In: Mulvey-Roberts, M. ed. Literary Bristol: Writers and the City. Bristol: Redcliffe Press. , pp.179-195.
- Butler, C. 2015. Margaret Mahy: librarian of Babel. Lion and the Unicorn 39 (2), pp.129-145. (10.1353/uni.2015.0014)
- Butler, C. 2015. The "Grand Tour" as transformative experience in children's novels about the Roman invasion. In: Maurice, L. ed. The Reception of Ancient Greece and Rome in Children's Literature: Heroes and Eagles. Brill. , pp.259-279.
2014
- Butler, C. 2014. Enchanting places: readers and pilgrimage in the novels of Diana Wynne Jones. Strange Horizons 2014 (27 Oct)
- Butler, C. 2014. Plato’s Orpheus [poem]. Strange Horizons 2014 (6 Oct)
- Butler, C. 2014. Taking Children’s Literature seriously. The Author CXXV , pp.126-127.
- Butler, C. 2014. Want to save the United Kingdom? Move the capital to Glasgow [Newspaper Article]. The Guardian 2014 (19 Jn)
2013
- Butler, C. 2013. A dog is for life. In: Butler, C. ed. Twisted Winter. Quicksilver A&C Black Childrens & Educational. , pp.103-119.
- Butler, C. 2013. Critiquing calypso: authorial and academic bias in the reading of a young adult novel. Children's Literature in Education 44 (3), pp.264-279. (10.1007/s10583-012-9189-9)
- Butler, C. 2013. Introduction. In: Butler, C. ed. Twisted Winter. Quicksilver A & C Black Childrens & Educational. , pp.7-10.
- Butler, C. 2013. La Fantasy pour la jeunesse dans les iles britanniques. La Revue des Livres Pour Enfants , pp.104-109.
- Butler, C. 2013. Tolkien and worldbuilding. In: Hunt, P. ed. Tolkien and Children’s Fiction: A New Casebook. New Casebooks Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. , pp.106-120.
2012
- Butler, C. 2012. A conversation with Diana Wynne Jones. In: Jones, D. W. ed. Reflections: On the Magic of Writing. Oxford: David Fickling Books. , pp.255-279.
- Butler, C. 2012. Introduction. In: Alston, A. and Butler, C. eds. Roald Dahl: A New Casebook. New Casebooks Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. , pp.1-13.
- Butler, C. 2012. Modern children’s fantasy. In: James, E. and Mendlesohn, F. eds. The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature. Cambridge Companions to Literature Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. , pp.224-235.
- Butler, C. 2012. Reflecting on Reflections. In: Jones, D. W. ed. Reflections: On the Magic of Writing. Oxford: David Fickling Books. , pp.ix-xviii.
- Butler, C. and O'Donovan, H. 2012. Reading history in children's books. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
2011
- Butler, C. 2011. Film adaptation: the case of The Secret Garden. In: Grenby, M. O. and Reynolds, K. eds. Children's Literature Studies: A Research Handbook. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. , pp.195-205.
- Butler, C. 2011. Postmodernism. In: Grenby, M. O. and Reynolds, K. eds. Children's Literature Studies: A Research Handbook. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. , pp.178-184.
- Butler, C. 2011. Psychological approaches to children’s literature. In: Grenby, M. O. and Reynolds, K. eds. Children's Literature Studies: A Research Handbook. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. , pp.171-177.
2010
- O’Donovan, H. , Kincaid Speller, M. and Butler, C. 2010. Diana Wynne Jones. Special issue of Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. Vol. 21, No. 2. International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts.
2009
- Butler, C. 2009. Children of the stones: prehistoric sites in British children’s fantasy, 1965-2005. In: Parker, J. ed. Written on Stone: The Cultural Reception of Prehistoric Monuments. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press. , pp.143-154.
- Butler, C. 2009. Experimental girls: feminist and transgender discourses in Bill’s New Frock and Marvin Redpost: Is He a Girl?. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 34 (1), pp.1-20. (10.1353/chq.0.1889)
- Butler, C. 2009. Hand of blood. Gr8reads Edinburgh: Barrington Stoke.
- Butler, C. 2009. The learning and teaching of children’s literature in Europe. Project Report.[Online].Bristol: Education, Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency. Available at: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/llp/project_reports/documents/comenius/all/com_mp_503589_ltcl.pdf.
2008
- Butler, C. 2008. After the Inklings. In: Wells, S. ed. The Ring Goes Ever on - Proceedings of the Tolkien 2005 Conference: v. 1&2: 50 Years of The Lord of the Rings. Vol. 1, Coventry: The Tolkien Society. , pp.238-242.
2007
- Butler, C. 2007. Holiday work: on writing for children and for the academy. Children’s Literature in Education 38 (3), pp.163-172. (10.1007/s10583-007-9042-8)
- Butler, C. 2007. Kiss of death. Gr8reads Edinburgh: Barrington Stoke.
2006
- Butler, C. 2006. Death of a ghost. London: HarperCollins Children's.
- Butler, C. 2006. Four British fantasists: place and culture in the children’s fantasies of Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Susan Cooper, and Diana Wynne Jones. Lanham: Children's Literature Association and Scarecrow Press.
- Butler, C. 2006. Introduction. In: Butler, C. ed. Teaching Children’s Fiction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. , pp.1-15.
- Butler, C. 2006. The Lurkers. London: Usborne.
2005
- Butler, C. 2005. “You are feeling very sleepy…”: hypnosis, enchantment and mind-control in children’s fiction. In: Moody, N. and Horrocks, C. eds. Children’s Fantasy Fiction: Debates for the Twenty-First Century. Liverpool John Moores University and the Association for Research in Popular Fictions. , pp.175-190.
2004
- Butler, C. 2004. The fetch of Mardy Watt. London: Collins Voyager.
2002
- Butler, C. 2002. An Interview with Diana Wynne Jones. In: Rosenberg, T. et al., Diana Wynne Jones: An Exciting and Exacting Wisdom. Peter Lang. , pp.163-172.
- Butler, C. 2002. Calypso dreaming. London: Collins Voyager.
- Butler, C. 2002. “Now here: where now?” Magic as reality and as metaphor in the work of Diana Wynne Jones. In: Rosenberg, T. et al., Diana Wynne Jones: An Exciting and Exacting Wisdom. Peter Lang. , pp.66-78.
2001
- Butler, C. 2001. Alan Garner’s Red Shift and the shifting ballad of “Tam Lin”. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 26 (2), pp.74-83. (10.1353/chq.0.1604)
1998
- Butler, C. 1998. Timon’s tide. A Dolphin paperback London: Orion Children's.
1997
- Butler, C. 1997. The Darkling. London: Orion Children's Books.
- Butler, C. 1997. The stagirite and the scarecrow: stanza 3 of Cowley’s ode “to the royal society” (1667). Restoration 21 , pp.1-14.
1995
- Butler, C. 1995. Introduction. In: Butler, C. ed. Female Replies to Swetnam the Woman-Hater.. For Her Own Good: A Series of Conduct Books Thoemmes Continuum. , pp.v-xli.
1993
- Butler, C. 1993. Integrating computing into the history curriculum. History and Computing 5 , pp.199-203.
Articles
- Butler, C. 2001. Alan Garner’s Red Shift and the shifting ballad of “Tam Lin”. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 26 (2), pp.74-83. (10.1353/chq.0.1604)
- Butler, C. 2019. Arrietty comes home: Studio Ghibli's The Borrower Arrietty and its English-language dubs. Annals of The Institute for Comparative Studies of Culture 80 , pp.57-71.
- Butler, C. 2020. Children's literature research in a world of Coronavirus. Japan Society for Children's Literature in English Newsletter 2020 (Autumn), pp.8-13.
- Butler, C. 2013. Critiquing calypso: authorial and academic bias in the reading of a young adult novel. Children's Literature in Education 44 (3), pp.264-279. (10.1007/s10583-012-9189-9)
- Butler, C. 2014. Enchanting places: readers and pilgrimage in the novels of Diana Wynne Jones. Strange Horizons 2014 (27 Oct)
- Butler, C. 2009. Experimental girls: feminist and transgender discourses in Bill’s New Frock and Marvin Redpost: Is He a Girl?. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 34 (1), pp.1-20. (10.1353/chq.0.1889)
- Butler, C. 2024. Heard but not seen: Gardens and their child ghosts in Rudyard Kipling, T. S. Eliot and Lucy M. Boston. Modernist Cultures 19 (1), pp.58-80. (10.3366/mod.2024.0418)
- Butler, C. 2007. Holiday work: on writing for children and for the academy. Children’s Literature in Education 38 (3), pp.163-172. (10.1007/s10583-007-9042-8)
- Butler, C. 1993. Integrating computing into the history curriculum. History and Computing 5 , pp.199-203.
- Butler, C. 2020. Japan reads the Cotswolds: Tourism, children’s literature and the Japanese imagination. Children's Literature 48 , pp.198-233. (10.1353/chl.2020.0008)
- Butler, C. 2013. La Fantasy pour la jeunesse dans les iles britanniques. La Revue des Livres Pour Enfants , pp.104-109.
- Butler, C. 2021. Lost futures: reading, memory and repression. International Research in Children's Literature 14 (2), pp.156-168. (10.3366/ircl.2021.0394)
- Butler, C. 2015. Margaret Mahy: librarian of Babel. Lion and the Unicorn 39 (2), pp.129-145. (10.1353/uni.2015.0014)
- Butler, C. 2014. Plato’s Orpheus [poem]. Strange Horizons 2014 (6 Oct)
- Butler, C. 2020. Portraying trans people in children’s and young adult literature: problems and challenges. Journal of Literary Education 3 , pp.10-24. (10.7203/JLE.3.15992)
- Butler, C. 2019. Shoujo versus Seinen? Address and reception in Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011). Children's Literature in Education 50 , pp.400-416. (10.1007/s10583-018-9355-9)
- Butler, C. 2014. Taking Children’s Literature seriously. The Author CXXV , pp.126-127.
- Butler, C. 1997. The stagirite and the scarecrow: stanza 3 of Cowley’s ode “to the royal society” (1667). Restoration 21 , pp.1-14.
- Butler, C. 2014. Want to save the United Kingdom? Move the capital to Glasgow [Newspaper Article]. The Guardian 2014 (19 Jn)
Book sections
- Butler, C. 2012. A conversation with Diana Wynne Jones. In: Jones, D. W. ed. Reflections: On the Magic of Writing. Oxford: David Fickling Books. , pp.255-279.
- Butler, C. 2013. A dog is for life. In: Butler, C. ed. Twisted Winter. Quicksilver A&C Black Childrens & Educational. , pp.103-119.
- Butler, C. 2008. After the Inklings. In: Wells, S. ed. The Ring Goes Ever on - Proceedings of the Tolkien 2005 Conference: v. 1&2: 50 Years of The Lord of the Rings. Vol. 1, Coventry: The Tolkien Society. , pp.238-242.
- Butler, C. 2002. An Interview with Diana Wynne Jones. In: Rosenberg, T. et al., Diana Wynne Jones: An Exciting and Exacting Wisdom. Peter Lang. , pp.163-172.
- Butler, C. 2009. Children of the stones: prehistoric sites in British children’s fantasy, 1965-2005. In: Parker, J. ed. Written on Stone: The Cultural Reception of Prehistoric Monuments. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press. , pp.143-154.
- Butler, C. 2017. Children's literature: Ideologies of the past, present and future. In: Hanson, C. and Watkins, S. eds. The History of British Women's Writing, 1945-75. Vol. 9, London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan
- Butler, C. 2017. Counterfactual historical fiction for children and young adults. In: Beauvais, C. and Nikolajeva, M. eds. The Edinburgh Companion to Children's Literature. Edinburgh Companions to Literature Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. , pp.179-193.
- Butler, C. 2015. Diana Wynne Jones and Bristol. In: Mulvey-Roberts, M. ed. Literary Bristol: Writers and the City. Bristol: Redcliffe Press. , pp.179-195.
- Butler, C. 2011. Film adaptation: the case of The Secret Garden. In: Grenby, M. O. and Reynolds, K. eds. Children's Literature Studies: A Research Handbook. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. , pp.195-205.
- Butler, C. 1995. Introduction. In: Butler, C. ed. Female Replies to Swetnam the Woman-Hater.. For Her Own Good: A Series of Conduct Books Thoemmes Continuum. , pp.v-xli.
- Butler, C. 2006. Introduction. In: Butler, C. ed. Teaching Children’s Fiction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. , pp.1-15.
- Butler, C. 2013. Introduction. In: Butler, C. ed. Twisted Winter. Quicksilver A & C Black Childrens & Educational. , pp.7-10.
- Butler, C. 2012. Introduction. In: Alston, A. and Butler, C. eds. Roald Dahl: A New Casebook. New Casebooks Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. , pp.1-13.
- Butler, C. 2012. Modern children’s fantasy. In: James, E. and Mendlesohn, F. eds. The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature. Cambridge Companions to Literature Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. , pp.224-235.
- Butler, C. 2002. “Now here: where now?” Magic as reality and as metaphor in the work of Diana Wynne Jones. In: Rosenberg, T. et al., Diana Wynne Jones: An Exciting and Exacting Wisdom. Peter Lang. , pp.66-78.
- Butler, C. 2011. Postmodernism. In: Grenby, M. O. and Reynolds, K. eds. Children's Literature Studies: A Research Handbook. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. , pp.178-184.
- Butler, C. 2011. Psychological approaches to children’s literature. In: Grenby, M. O. and Reynolds, K. eds. Children's Literature Studies: A Research Handbook. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. , pp.171-177.
- Butler, C. 2012. Reflecting on Reflections. In: Jones, D. W. ed. Reflections: On the Magic of Writing. Oxford: David Fickling Books. , pp.ix-xviii.
- Butler, C. 2020. The Cotswolds and children’s literature in Japanese fantasy: the case of Castle Combe. In: Seaton, P. and Yamamura, T. eds. Contents Tourism and Pop Culture Fandom: Transnational Tourist Experiences. Channel View Publications. , pp.85-97. (10.21832/9781845417239-009)
- Butler, C. 2015. The "Grand Tour" as transformative experience in children's novels about the Roman invasion. In: Maurice, L. ed. The Reception of Ancient Greece and Rome in Children's Literature: Heroes and Eagles. Brill. , pp.259-279.
- Butler, C. 2021. The Green Knowe books - a patchwork of genres. In: Watson, V. et al., Lucy Boston: An Artist in Everything She Did. Cambridge: Oldknow Books. , pp.37-52.
- Butler, C. 2013. Tolkien and worldbuilding. In: Hunt, P. ed. Tolkien and Children’s Fiction: A New Casebook. New Casebooks Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. , pp.106-120.
- Butler, C. 2005. “You are feeling very sleepy…”: hypnosis, enchantment and mind-control in children’s fiction. In: Moody, N. and Horrocks, C. eds. Children’s Fantasy Fiction: Debates for the Twenty-First Century. Liverpool John Moores University and the Association for Research in Popular Fictions. , pp.175-190.
- Ćošković, I. and Butler, C. 2024. YA literature and Japan. In: Mooney, J. et al., Routledge Companion to Young Adult Literature. Routledge
Books
- Butler, C. 2023. British children's literature in Japanese culture: Wonderlands and looking-glasses. Bloomsbury Perspectives on Children's Literature London: Bloomsbury.
- Butler, C. 2002. Calypso dreaming. London: Collins Voyager.
- Butler, C. 2006. Death of a ghost. London: HarperCollins Children's.
- Butler, C. 2006. Four British fantasists: place and culture in the children’s fantasies of Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Susan Cooper, and Diana Wynne Jones. Lanham: Children's Literature Association and Scarecrow Press.
- Butler, C. 2009. Hand of blood. Gr8reads Edinburgh: Barrington Stoke.
- Butler, C. 2007. Kiss of death. Gr8reads Edinburgh: Barrington Stoke.
- Butler, C. 2018. Literary studies deconstructed: A polemic. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. (10.1007/978-3-319-90475-7)
- Butler, C. 1997. The Darkling. London: Orion Children's Books.
- Butler, C. 2004. The fetch of Mardy Watt. London: Collins Voyager.
- Butler, C. 2006. The Lurkers. London: Usborne.
- Butler, C. 1998. Timon’s tide. A Dolphin paperback London: Orion Children's.
- Butler, C. and O'Donovan, H. 2012. Reading history in children's books. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
- O’Donovan, H. , Kincaid Speller, M. and Butler, C. 2010. Diana Wynne Jones. Special issue of Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. Vol. 21, No. 2. International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts.
Monographs
- Butler, C. 2009. The learning and teaching of children’s literature in Europe. Project Report.[Online].Bristol: Education, Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency. Available at: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/llp/project_reports/documents/comenius/all/com_mp_503589_ltcl.pdf.
Research
My research is centred on children’s literature, especially fantasy and historical fiction. Other research interests include:
- children's literature and Japan
- gender identity
- the relationship of the academy to creative authors and ‘lay’ readers
- fan fiction
My current monograph is a book titled British Children's Literature in Japanese Culture (Bloomsbury, 2023).
Teaching
My current teaching is primarily in children's literature, which I teach both from the point of view of academic criticism and as a branch of creative writing.
Biography
I arrived at Cardiff University in 2015. Previously I taught for 25 years at the University of the West of England, Bristol, where I was Associate Professor in English Literature.
As well as my academic work, I have practised as a children's writer, and have had six novels published by HarperCollins, Orion and Usborne, as well as shorter works and collections.
Honours and awards
- Mythopoeic Scholarship Award, 2009
Professional memberships
- Children's Literature Association
- Society of Authors
Academic positions
- Associate Professor, University of the West of England
Supervisions
I am interested in supervising PhD students in the areas of:
- Children's literature
- Fantasy literature
Current supervision
