Niha's Curse
The first novel in the trilogy, introducing Set, Niha, the Dragon Code, and a world where obedience and choice rarely coexist peacefully.
Explore the book →Biography · Press · Appearances
Cynthia
Díaz Del Solar
Author of the Dragon Memories trilogy, creator of the Salsa Analysis storytelling framework, and a literary analyst working across dark fantasy, short fiction, narrative structure, and worldbuilding.
Biography
Stories, systems, and the worlds between them.
Cynthia Díaz Del Solar is a Chilean author and literary analyst based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. She writes in both English and Spanish and is the author of the Dragon Memories trilogy: Niha's Curse, Drift, and The Memory Remains.
Her writing interests include fantasy, philosophy, mythology, nonhuman points of view, memory, justice, identity, and the relationship between individuals and the societies around them. Her fiction combines character-driven storytelling with detailed worldbuilding, including cultures, institutions, laws, magic systems, geography, and biological rules designed to continue shaping events beyond any single protagonist.
Alongside her fiction, Cynthia created Salsa Analysis, a bilingual storytelling and criticism framework that examines stories through interconnected narrative ingredients. Her work with the framework spans written analysis, video, audio commentary, and workshops focused on how storytelling choices function individually and as part of a complete narrative experience.
Writing & Projects
Published work and storytelling projects
Fiction, analysis, and literary projects built around character, narrative design, and worlds with consequences.
Drift
The trilogy continues as its characters navigate a world already shaped by decisions, memory, power, and consequence.
Explore the book →The Memory Remains
The trilogy's final published installment, bringing its long-running questions of memory, agency, sacrifice, and responsibility together.
Explore the book →Short Stories
A growing bilingual library of short fiction, published in each story's original language with a translation where one exists.
Read short stories →Salsa Analysis
A seven-ingredient framework for examining structure, flow, emotion, detail, identity, stakes, and payoff across storytelling formats.
Explore Salsa Analysis →Campfire Circle
A curated literary project highlighting stories worth gathering around and independent authors worth discovering.
Visit the Campfire Circle →Awards & Recognition
2026 MARTY Award
Recognition from the Mississauga Arts Council for emerging literary work in fiction and non-fiction.
31st Mississauga Arts Awards
Literary Arts Fiction & Non-Fiction — Emerging
Cynthia Díaz Del Solar was named the 2026 winner in the Emerging Literary Arts — Fiction & Non-Fiction category at the MARTY Awards, presented by the Mississauga Arts Council.
June 18, 2026 · Mississauga, Ontario
Events & Appearances
Recent appearance
Public appearances, workshops, panels, literary events, and community programming.
SEPTEMBER
12
2026
Mississauga Literary Festival
Hazel McCallion Central Library
Cynthia participated in the 2026 Mississauga Literary Festival with an author table and presented a storytelling workshop at Hazel McCallion Central Library.
Workshop
Local and Global Story Structure Through the Salsa Analysis Framework
The workshop examined how an installment can feel complete on its own while also strengthening a larger series. Using the Salsa Analysis storytelling framework, participants explored how structure, flow, emotion, detail and continuity, identity, stakes, and payoff operate locally and globally across novels, film, television, animation, and video games.
Read the full workshop description
What happens when someone accidentally begins with Book Two, Season Three, or the second game in a series? Do they feel lost, or does the story welcome them into the world and leave them wanting more?
Using the Salsa Analysis storytelling framework, this workshop explores how stories can function at two levels: locally, as a satisfying individual experience, and globally, as part of a larger narrative.
Through seven storytelling ingredients — Structure, Flow, Emotion, Detail and Continuity, Identity, Stakes, and Payoff — participants will examine how each installment can accomplish its own Narrative Objective while strengthening the larger series around it.
Although the workshop focuses on series planning, the principles apply across formats. Examples draw from novels, film, television, animation, and video games to show how different media use different tools to solve many of the same storytelling challenges.
The goal is not to provide a formula for the “perfect” story, but to offer a practical framework for examining what creators are building, why their storytelling choices are there, and how those choices work together locally and globally.
Media
Featured video
Selected video, appearances, announcements, and future interviews without loading heavy social embeds on every visit.
MARTY Awards · 2026
Watch on TikTok
Winner announcement
Watch the nominees and the announcement of the Literary Arts Fiction & Non-Fiction — Emerging winner.
Newsletter
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Book news, new short stories, Salsa Analysis, Campfire discoveries, events, and literary projects—without needing to chase every platform.
Press & Contact
Media, event, and publishing inquiries
High-resolution press materials are shared by request rather than posted as public downloads.
Press materials
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