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.