Dr. Cynthia Spada

I earned my Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Berkeley, where I focused on 20th-century prose in English and Japanese. I’ve taught academic writing, creative writing, and literature in the United States and Japan and conducted research in Poland. Since fall 2019, I’ve taught at the University of Victoria (ENGL 135, 146, and 225). I also teach Literature of the Anthropocene, Women and Literature, Academic Writing, and Writing Across Disciplines at Royal Roads University.

In addition, I’m a creative writer and to date have published one novel (The Floating World/Ballantine) and one academic monograph (The Demimonde in Japanese Literature/Cambria Press). I've contributed short stories, creative nonfiction essays, literary criticism, and humor to print and online publications, including Salon, The Mississippi Review, and Electric Literature. Currently, I’m working on a historical novel based on my research in Poland into my family’s resistance work during World War II, as well as a nonfiction book about mental illness in the age of environmental crisis. I'm also a board member of The Journal of Literature and Librarianship.

In my classes, I aim to both challenge students and mitigate their anxieties as we explore literary texts and the writing process together. Welcome!