Dr Diletta De Cristofaro

An online public talk for the Italian edition of the European Researchers’ Night

The talk will be in Italian and will take place on 24th September, 15:40-16pm CEST.

Nel talk “Il sonno è in crisi? Che cosa ci dice la cultura contemporanea” Diletta De Cristofaro (PhD), esplorerà come il sonno è rappresentato nella cultura contemporanea, tra letteratura, film, saggistica, e apps, e discuterà, attraverso questi riferimenti culturali, la cosiddetta crisi del sonno, cioè, l’idea che nella società contemporanea non dormiamo abbastanza. 

You can now watch the recording:

Or, if you prefer, the talk is also available as podcast.

An exclusive commission inspired by the project

We are delighted to be working with three leading British writers on this series of podcasts inspired by the theme of sleep. Durham Book Festival, Northumbria University, and Politecnico di Milano (Italy) have co-commissioned exclusive short stories from poet and author, Salena Godden whose debut novel, Mrs Death Misses Death is shortlisted for the 2021 Gordon Burn Prize, award-winning poet Andrew McMillan whose latest collection is pandemonium and acclaimed novelist Jenn Ashworth, whose latest novel is Ghosted.

Each podcast will be introduced by Dr Diletta De Cristofaro, Professor Jason Ellis and Dr Erik Hoel, who will explore the science and culture of sleep. Find out more at their roundtable event on Saturday 9 October. Tickets here.

The first podcast will be released on Saturday 9 October and subsequent episodes will be released on Saturday 16 and Saturday 23 October.

Update:

All episodes are now available to listen to here.

“Sleep Stories” is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement 892459.

Forty Winks Café as case study for organising a successful Being Human Festival Café

In this case study for Being Human Festival, the UK’s only national festival of the humanities, Dr Diletta De Cristofaro looks back on Forty Winks Café, held in November 2020 as part of the Festival. Read Diletta’s insights into organising a Being Human Café and her advice on making online events welcoming and participatory here. 

You can watch the recording of Forty Winks Café here.

On 7-8 July 2021, Prof Jason Ellis and Dr Diletta De Cristofaro will be speaking at “Making Sleep: New Insights for a New Public Health?“, an online workshop at IAS, University of Surrey.

The workshop will bring together scholars and practitioners to debate and discuss how we might move beyond traditional confines and work towards a new national sleep strategy.  

Check out the programme here.

A report and a short video of the event is now available here.

On 10th June 2021, Dr Diletta De Cristofaro will deliver an online public lecture at The Lit&Phil

The lecture, “Are We in a Sleep Crisis? Perspectives from Contemporary Culture”, explored representations of sleep in contemporary culture and the so-called sleep crisis, namely the idea that contemporary society is sleep-deprived.

The Lit&Phil is Newcastle’s literary and philosophical society. Find out more here.

Update

You can now catch up with the recorded event:

The project was featured in “Sleep Tight”, an article by Kelly Rose Bradford in Costco Connection magazine, in the January/February 2021 issue. Read it here.

December 2020: Dr Diletta De Cristofaro introduces the project in The Polyphony, Conversations Across the Medical Humanities

In this post Diletta De Cristofaro introduces her Wellcome Trust project ‘Writing the Sleep Crisis’ and discusses sleep deprivation and speculative fiction that imagines the future end of sleep. The post also looks back on Forty Winks Café, the project’s inaugural event at Being Human Festival 2020, the UK’s only national festival of the humanities.

Read the full post in The Polyphony.

Picture credit: Insomnia. Stephen Magrath. CC0 1.0 Universal

On 9th December 2020, Dr Diletta De Cristofaro will be giving a talk at Northumbria University’s Institute of Humanities titled “The Sleep Crisis in Contemporary Writings”.

On 19th November 2020, we will be delivering an online event at the UK’s only festival of the humanities

Trouble sleeping? Worried about coronavirus? Want to find out more about representations of sleep, health, and illness in contemporary culture, as well as sleep health? Brew your favourite relaxing tea and get cosy at this virtual café!

Forty Winks Café, chaired by Claire Malcolm of New Writing North, will feature three short talks by Northumbria University’s academics and Q&A sessions. Prof Katy Shaw will introduce the evening by discussing how writings grapple with health issues like the current pandemic. Dr Diletta De Cristofaro will then take you on a science fiction tour of nightmarish sleepless futures. Finally, Prof Jason Ellis will put you to bed with an interactive session and top tips for a good night’s sleep.

The group will be collecting your recommendations of books and films about sleep, health, and illness into an online resource, so do start suggesting your favourite titles and passages when registering for the café and through #fortywinkscafé on Facebook and Twitter!

Update

You can now download the resource list and catch up with the recorded event: