Susannah Sharpless

Susannah Sharpless is the Joseph F. Martino ’53 Lecturer in the Department of Literatures in English at Cornell University, alongside being a PhD candidate in the same department. Her research focuses on ecopolitical intersections of gender, race, poetics, and maritime environments in 19th-century American literature. She teaches expository and first-year writing courses, recognized with Cornell’s Gitner Prize for teaching excellence.

Education: PhD/M.A. in English (Cornell University), B.A. in Religion (Princeton University), and a Certificate in Poetry (Princeton University). Her work bridges literary analysis and creative writing, with poems published in Bennington Review, Jewish Currents, and The Collapsar.

Key publications include peer-reviewed articles in ESQ and The Emily Dickinson Journal, exploring themes like Black rebellions’ influence on Higginson and Dickinson’s ecological poetics. She also contributes to public-facing projects like the C19 Podcast and Mask Magazine.