Before joining the faculty of the Institute of English Studies, Christopher Thornton taught at Zayed University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the American University in Cairo, the European Institute for International Communication in Maastricht, the Netherlands, and Emerson College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the Boston area.  Besides teaching he is also a practicing writer, primarily in nonfiction and film.  He has an MFA (master of fine arts) in theater from Brandeis University, in Massachusetts.  He has written two screenplays and is currently working on a Netflix series.  He has also published two book-length travel narratives on Iran.  His next project would be another book-length work of travel literature, this time on Eastern Europe.