James Nikopoulos

Hi! My name is JAMES NIKOPOULOS (that’s me below, attempting a snow angel). I am a scholar of laughter and literature. I like to examine the ways emotions and stories address questions about how we communicate with each other and understand ourselves.

Check out my Substack, Zest for Enthusiasm.

I hold an MA and PhD from the CUNY Graduate Center and a BA from UCLA. I have taught at The City University of New York, Rutgers, and for the past twelve years I was a professor at Nazarbayev University, a new international institution in Kazakhstan that partnered with UW Madison and University College London in order to create the country’s first modern research university. I am the author of The Stability of Laughter and numerous scholarly articles on humor, laughter, and the emotions in literature, philosophy, non-verbal communication, and the history of science. (You can hear me discuss offensive humor in this episode of Counterpoint.)

I am very fortunate to be represented by Hafizah Augustus Geter at Janklow and Nesbit. If you’d like to get in touch you can reach me via email.