Zoë Cary-Beckett studies popular fiction across media, with a focus on comics, science fiction, fantasy, and video games. She received her PhD in English Language and Literature from the University of Chicago in 2025, where her dissertation examined the ontological status of storyworlds. Her work sits at the intersection of narrative theory, media studies, and cultural criticism.

Zoë currently teaches college courses on Blaxploitation cinema and Critical Video Games Studies. Alongside collaborators John Jennings and David Brame, she is the author of Black Butterflies, a graphic novel under contract with Abrams ComicArts (forthcoming 2027).

contact: zcarybeckett@gmail.com

*please note that publications before 2022 appear under the name “Zoë Smith”