
Read about
Dr Diletta
De Cristofaro
I am an Assistant Professor in English Literature at Northumbria University in the UK and a culture writer. I research and write about contemporary literature and culture. I am particularly interested in narratives of crises and in what these narratives tell us about our society, our sense of self, and of time. I am also a public speaker and contribute to literary and science festivals.
I am an expert in the apocalyptic imagination, especially narratives about the climate crisis. My book on the topic, The Contemporary Post-Apocalyptic Novel: Critical Temporalities and the End Times, is out with Bloomsbury.
I’m now working on my second book, which explores the cultural politics of the sleep crisis, namely, today’s presumed widespread sleep deprivation. This award-winning project has attracted funding from the Wellcome Trust and the European Commission.
My essays and criticism have appeared in media outlets like The Week, New Humanist, Salon, RTÉ and in academic publications like Parallax, ASAP/J, Critique, and boundary 2 online. In 2023, I was shortlisted as a BBC New Generation Thinker.
I am available to write and speak about my areas of expertise.
My latest book is out now in paperback
The Contemporary Post-Apocalyptic Novel
Published by Bloomsbury in 2020, The Contemporary Post-Apocalyptic Novel offers an innovative critical model for our cultural obsession with the apocalypse by focussing on the significance of time in the 21st-century post-apocalyptic novel.
Reviews:
“A landmark study of 21st century fiction”
“A theoretical tour de force”
“A rigorously interdisciplinary work”
“Demonstrates the social relevance of literature and literature analysis”
“Essential reading for scholars working in the area of time studies, whether in specifically literary contexts or more broadly”
“Creates an impetus to reframe critical thinking around post-apocalyptic narratives”
“That rare work that functions on an advanced theoretical level while also nonetheless being applicable to many classroom contexts”
You can find the book in major bookshops like WHSmith, Bookshop.org, Amazon, Blackwell’s, and Barnes & Noble.

I write cultural criticism for the scholarly community and the general audience
Latest Essays & Articles

Contemporary Literature of the End Times
Contemporary Vulnerabilities. Ed. Pier Paolo Piciucco. Turin: Nuova Trauben, 2023. pp. 217-30.

Quantified Sleep: Self-Tracking Technologies and the Reshaping of 21st-Century Subjectivity
Co-authored with Simona Chiodo. Historical Social Research 48.2 (2023): 176-93.

Demons of Sleep
New Humanist, Spring 2023
Click below to see more of my writings
I regularly give academic and public talks
Public Speaking & Podcasts
Click below to watch & listen to past talks
I consult on projects requiring scholarly expertise in my areas of specialism
Consulting
Sleep Stories at Durham Book Festival 2021
A three-part podcast series inspired by the theme of sleep
The podcast series features stories by leading British writers Salena Godden, Jenn Ashworth, and Andrew McMillan, introduced by neuroscientist and writer Erik Hoel, Professor of Sleep Science Jason Ellis, and me.