Sasha Colby

Sasha Colby is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Simon Fraser University (SFU), currently seconded full-time as director of SFU's Graduate Liberal Studies Program—a hybrid MA program for working-aged adults. She teaches writing, literary modernism (1880-1950), and leads field schools in Oxford (biography) and Rome (Italian food history).

Her academic foundation includes a BA and MA from the University of Victoria and a PhD from the University of Sussex. Colby's research investigates 20th-century literary and visual history through biographical and creative frameworks, with persistent focus on modernist literature, World War II forced labor narratives, and archaeology's influence on literary imagination. She bridges scholarly rigor with accessible creative forms like plays, films, and installations to democratize historical discourse.

Her publications reveal a trajectory from archaeological-literary intersections (Stratified Modernism, 2009) to modernist biographical drama (Staging Modernist Lives, 2017) and award-winning WWII creative non-fiction (The Matryoshka Memoirs, 2023). This evolution demonstrates her commitment to excavating marginalized histories—particularly Ukrainian forced labor, Nazi resistance, and women's wartime experiences—through innovative narrative techniques that merge oral history with intergenerational memoir.

Scientific recognition includes:

• Gold Medal for Europe Non-Fiction (Independent Publisher Book Awards, 2023)
• Shortlisting for Taste Canada’s Culinary Narrative Award (2023)

Major research funding comprises an SSHRC Insight Grant (2020-2025) for WWII photography projects and an SSHRC Standard Research Grant (2009-2012) for modernist plays. She also directed the SSHRC-funded Voicing the Mosaic community project, documenting immigrant language experiences through installation art. As program director, she mentors non-traditional graduate cohorts while advancing collaborative creative scholarship through international performances and film adaptations.