Marilyn Sides

Marilyn Sides is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English & Creative Writing and Comparative Literary Studies at Wellesley College. Her teaching spans creative writing (fiction and travel writing) to critical analysis of poetry and fiction, with a focus on speculative fiction, gender studies, and cross-cultural contexts. She has authored notable works including the 1999 novel The Genius of Affection and the 1996 short story collection The Island of the Mapmaker's Wife and Other Tales, which was preceded by her O. Henry Prize-winning story in 1990.

• Education: B.A. & M.A., University of Utah; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University
• Current Course: ENG119 Women* Write Weird Fiction (cross-listed with CPLT 119), analyzing speculative fiction by women authors from the 1980s to 2021.

Her research explores gender dynamics in speculative fiction, the challenges of literary translation, and the intersection of history and narrative. The course emphasizes interpreting dystopian, magic realism, and fantasy texts through cultural and historical lenses, with a diverse reading list including Octavia Butler and Basma Abdel Aziz.

Scientific Awards:

• O. Henry Prize Stories Collection (1990)

She has mentored students in creative writing and comparative literature, with her work fulfilling Wellesley's Diversity of Literatures in English requirement. Her teaching also addresses the friction inherent in reading translated works.