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Dr. Nithya Sivashankar

  • Assistant Professor - English
Portrait of Dr. Nithya Sivashankar

Biography and expertise

I am an Assistant Professor who teaches courses on children's literature, adolescent literature and world literature. I have a PhD in Literature for Children and Young Adults from The Ohio State University with a Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in South Asian Studies, and an MA in Writing for Children from University of Central Lancashire. My research has been published in the form of peer-reviewed journal articles in Journal of Popular Romance Studies, Children's Literature in Education, Research on Diversity in Youth Literature, The ALAN Review and Journal of Children's Literature, and has also appeared as part of several edited collections.

In the past, I have worked as an editor at Karadi Tales, a children’s publishing house in India.

Education

Doctorate Degree

PhD in Teaching and Learning

The Ohio State Univ Main Campus, 2020

Master's Degree

MA in Writing for Childern

2013

Teaching Interests

Research Interests

  • Sivashankar, N. (n.d.). Rethinking the Application of Narrative Theory in Children’s Literature. In The Routledge Handbook of Research on Diversity in Children’s and YA Literature.
  • Viswanath, T., & Sivashankar, N. (2025). “I’d really really like a boyfriend”: Adolescence, Ideology, and Subjectivity in Indian/Indian American YA Netflix Romances. Journal of Popular Romance Studies.
  • Jackson, S. E., Sivashankar, N., & Degener, R. M. (2025). Critical Peritextual Analysis: Critical Possibilities of Peritext in Books for Young Readers. Research on Diversity in Youth Literature, 6(2). Retrieved from https://iopn.library.illinois.edu/journals/rdyl/article/view/1607
  • Jackson, S., Degener, R. M., & Sivashankar, N. (2022). “The Roots Beneath the Fruit: Reading for Justice and Action in Picturebooks about Food. Journal of Children’s Literature, 48(1), 7–18.
  • Sivashankar, N., & Viswanath, T. (2021). Beyond Bollywood: Identifying and Analyzing Problematic Stereotypes in Indian American Young Adult Novels. The ALAN Review, 48(2), 51–63.
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  1. Member

    MA Literature Committee

  2. Member

    Major/Minor Committee

  3. Editorial Review Board Member

    Journal of Children's Literature

  4. Member

    Scholarships Committee

  5. Member

    TKL Committee

  6. Editor

    Research on Diversity in Youth Literature

  7. View all activities