Writing the
Sleep Crisis
Exploring representations of
sleep in contemporary culture.
Picture credit: Insomnia. Stephen Magrath. CC0 1.0 Universal
About
This research project explores how sleep, and lack thereof, is represented in contemporary writings across fiction, non-fiction, and digital culture. It’s the first study to analyse cultural engagements with the sleep crisis, namely, the sense that contemporary society is profoundly sleep-deprived.
“Writing the Sleep Crisis” is led by Dr Diletta De Cristofaro. It is currently funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement 892459, and based at Politecnico di Milano, Italy. The project also involves collaborations with Northumbria University, UK, where it was based between July 2020 and August 2021 funded by the Wellcome Trust’s Research Fellowship in Humanities and Social Science.
Sleep Stories
An Exclusive Commission
Durham Book Festival 2021
Featured Event
“Are We in a Sleep Crisis? Perspectives from Contemporary Culture” – A talk at The Lit&Phil by Dr Diletta De Cristofaro, June 2021
Picture credit: Insomnia. Stephen Magrath. CC0 1.0 Universal
People
Dr Diletta De Cristofaro
Principal Investigator on “Writing the Sleep Crisis”
Prof Simona Chiodo
Full Professor of Philosophy at Politecnico di Milano
Prof Katy Shaw
Professor of Contemporary Writings at Northumbria University
Prof Jason Ellis
Professor in Psychology at Northumbria University
Featured Publication
“Writing the Sleep Crisis”, The Polyphony: Conversations Across the Medical Humanities, December 2020
In this post in The Polyphony, Diletta De Cristofaro introduces the project and discusses sleep deprivation and speculative fiction that imagines the future end of sleep.
News
Sleep Stories Episode Three: Encroach by Andrew McMillan
The third and final episode of “Sleep Stories”, a podcast series co-commissioned in collaboration with Durham Book Festival is now available. “Encroach” is an exclusive short story, inspired by the th…
Sleep Stories Episode Two: The Night Watch by Jenn Ashworth
The second episode of “Sleep Stories”, a podcast series co-commissioned in collaboration with Durham Book Festival is now available. “The Night Watch” is an exclusive short story, inspired by the them…
Sleep Stories Episode 1: Daffodilly Dreams by Salena Godden
The first episode of “Sleep Stories”, a podcast series co-commissioned in collaboration with Durham Book Festival is now available. “Daffodilly Dreams” is an exclusive short st…
Follow the Project
Get in Touch
Email Dr Diletta De Cristofaro:
diletta.decristofaro[at]gmail.com
I was interviewed for this and then totally forgot to follow up on it until now—it was a great chat with @trufelman and they got stuff out of me that no other podcast ever has (hopefully it made it into the final cut!). Mattresses as panacea for capitalism, I say. https://twitter.com/trufelman/status/1458785931415240722
In an act of what might be considered podcast blasphemy (!!!) this week- we wonder if a fancy mattress can actually help you sleep better
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1ukvM6lW0680FKhAOJewYe?si=1eb136a0192c4657
The Book of Sleep
#HaythamElWardany
"It’s true that the book isn’t about the revolution and its defeat but it is haunted by the political through the discussion of sleep and its attempt to escape the conventional portrayal of sleep as a surrender, a laziness, an anti-activity." https://twitter.com/arablit/status/1463363551825784832
13 Books in Translation: A Literary History of Egypt After 2011 https://arablit.org/2021/11/24/13-books-in-translation-a-literary-history-of-egypt-after-2011/
Or, in the words of one U Prez, "When I woke up this morning, it already felt like it was tomorrow." (he didn't know he was talking about a crisis of time and sleep. he thought it was a "brand story" about a glorious future 🤣). https://twitter.com/writing_sleep/status/1462805814012526596
An era when we wake up "still sleepy and already late to fulfill commitments that are renewed infinitely": Sidarta Ribeiro on the sleep crisis in The Oracle of Night. @PantheonBooks