CURRICULUM VITAE

Appointments

Harvard University, Visiting Scholar in Medieval Studies, 2024

Boston University, Postdoctoral Scholar, Society of Fellows, Department of English, 2023-2026

• Faculty Appointments in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Global Medieval Studies, and the Minor in Religion, Science, and Medicine

Education

PhD, English, University of California, Los Angeles (2023)                                        

Dissertation: Queer Magic: Sodomy, Sin, and the Supernatural, 1150-1650

Committee: Christine Chism, Lowell Gallagher, Matthew Fisher, Zrinka Stahuljak, E.R. Truitt

MA, English, University of California, Los Angeles (2018)

Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA (2013)                                                                

BA, English and Medieval/Renaissance Studies, cum laude

Minor in Gender & Sexuality Studies

Monograph

Arcane Desires: Medieval Literary Magic and Transgressive Fictions [In Progress]

Peer-Reviewed Articles and Essays

Single-Author Publications

• “Epilogue: Imagining Trans and Intersex Futures through Marie,” Marie de Trans: Tranimality, Translation, and Transformation in Marie de France’s Lais ed. Sara Petrosillo and Meg Cornell (2026). Invited contribution. [In progress]

• “Sexing the Body,” The Bloomsbury Handbook of the History of World Sexualities, ed. Nina Kushner and Nicole von Germeten. London: Bloomsbury Publishing (2026). [In progress]

• “Teaching Reproductive Rights in the Global Middle Ages,” Reproductive Justice After Roe: Lessons from the Premodern Classroom ed. Maggie Solberg and Maeve Callan. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications (2025). [Forthcoming]

• “Assassins Creed: Nottingham, or The Medievalism of Ubisoft’s Ludic Outlaw,” The Bulletin of the International Association for Robin Hood Studies Vol. 5 No.2 (Fall 2025). [Forthcoming]

• "Alchemy, the Liber aureus, and the Erotics of Knowledge." Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality 57, No. 2 (2022): 141-164. Winner of the 2020 Best Graduate Essay Prize, Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship

• “’An Evill Race:’ Utopia, Spenser, and the Dangers of Cultural Hybridity.” Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Vol. 53 (2022): 147-164.

• “Fetishizing the Past: Troilus and Criseyde, Sadomasochism, and the Historophilia of Modern BDSM.” Painful Pleasures: Sadomasochism in the Middle Ages, ed. Christopher Vaccaro. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2022).

Collaborative Publications

• “Nature and Unnaturalness,” A Cultural History of Trans Lives: The Middle Ages, eds. Micah Goodrich and James Sargan. London: Bloomsbury Publishing (forthcoming 2027), with Moss Pepe. [In progress]

• “Introduction,” to special issue “Global Queer and Trans Worlds,” in Journal of Medieval Worlds, with Co-Editors Micah Goodrich and Bryan C. Keene (projected 2025). [In progress]

• “Transcribing Le Pèlerinage de Damoiselle Sapience: Scholarly Editing Covid 19-Style,” The Digital Medievalist 15 (2022), with L. Morreale, et al.

Book Reviews

• “Medieval Writings on Sex Between Men: Peter Damian’s The Book of Gomorrah and Alain de Lille’s The Plaint of Nature, Introduced and trans. David Rollo (book review).” In Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality Vol 59, Issue 2 (forthcoming).

• “Obscene Pedagogies: Transgressive Talk and Sexual Education in Late Medieval Britain, by Carissa Harris (book review).” In Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 50 (2019): 219-221.

• “The Lais of Marie de France: Text and Translation ed. by Claire M. Waters (book review).” In Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 50 (2019): 228-229.

• “‘Mirrors of Virtue: Manuscript and Print in Late Pre-Modern Iceland’ ed. by Margrét Eggertsdóttir, Matthew James Driscoll (book review).” In Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 49 (2018): 251-253.

• “Franciscans and the Elixir of Life: Religion and Science in the Later Middle Ages by Zachary A. Matus, and A Remembrance of His Wonders: Nature and the Supernatural in Medieval Ashkenaz by David I. Shyovitz (book review).” In Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2018, Vol.49, pp.244-248. Combined book review.

Reference Works and Public Scholarship

• “EP 10: Race, Medievalism, and the Global Middle Ages,” The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast, August 2023.

• “EP 6: Medieval History,” The Einstein Challenge. Filmed for The History Channel on May 10th, 2022; air date TBD.

• “EP 208: Medieval Queer Magic w/ Kersti Francis,” The Classical Ideas Podcast; July 23, 2021. https://classicalideaspodcast.libsyn.com/ep-208-medieval-queer-magic-wkersti-francis

• “Interview with Kersti Francis, Queer Medieval Magic Scholar” by Maddy Court in Secret Girlfriend: A Queer Newszine. November 12th, 2020. https://secretgf.substack.com/p/shop-talk-with-kersti-francis-queer

• “Fleeing Backwards: The Problematic Present in Medieval Studies.” In Los Angeles Review of Books PubLab vol. 3; August 2020. https://larbpublab.com/fleeing-backwards/

• “Shoptalk: Overheard at Kalamazoo.” Public Books ed. Sharon Marcus and Caitlin Zaloom. Web, published 5/25/18. http://www.publicbooks.org/shoptalk-overheard-at-kzoo-2018/

Journals, Editions, Editing

• Co-editor with Micah Goodrich and Bryan C. Keene, special issue: “Global Queer and Trans Worlds,” in Journal of Medieval Worlds, (projected 2025). Invited contribution.

• 2018-2019, Editor-in-Chief, Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies

• 2016-2019, Assistant Editor, Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval And Renaissance Studies

Competitive Fellowships and Awards (selections)

• 2021-2022, Charles E. and Sue K. Young Graduate Fellowship, UCLA - Awarded to four graduate students drawn from all UCLA departments who have achieved distinction through outstanding scholarship, teaching, and University citizenship.

• 2020-2021, Collegium of University Teaching Fellowship, UCLA - Awarded to ten graduate students d”rawn from all UCLA departments to design and teach a GE seminar based on their dissertation.

• 2020, Best Graduate Essay Prize, Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship                    

• 2019-2020, Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Romani Fellowship, UCLA               

• 2019, Lenart Graduate Research Travel Fellowship                                                                 

• 2019, Late Antiquity, Medieval and Renaissance Consortium (LAMAR) Summer Research Fellowship, UCLA 

• 2017-2018, Graduate Summer Research Mentorship, UCLA                                                     

• 2018, Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry Award                                         

• 2017-2018, Graduate Research Mentorship, UCLA                                                                    

• 2016, National Science Foundation Travel Award                                                                   

• 2016, Ahmanson Research Fellowship for the Study of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts and Books

• 2015-2016, Late Antiquity, Medieval and Renaissance Consortium Fellowship, UCLA        

Invited Talks

• 2025, “Venereal Magic in the Twelfth Century,” Harvard University Department of English

• 2025, “Envisioning Asexuality in Guigemar,” for the Collations Seminar Series, Harvard University Committee on Medieval Studies

• 2025, “The Intersex Logic of Le Roman de Silence,” for the Pre/Early Modern Trans Studies Symposium III, Boston University

• 2024, “Racialized Magic in Partonope of Blois,” for the Five Colleges Medieval   Colloquium, UMass-Amherst

• 2024, “The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in Context: A Faculty Roundtable,” for LGBT+ Activism, Christian Traditions of Care, and Queer Medievalisms, Harvard University

• 2023, "Trans Codicology: A Manuscript Workshop,” for Bryn Mawr College Department of English + Special Collections

• 2021, “Learned Magic and Female Authority in Medieval Europe,” for The Museum of Natural and Cultural History at The University of Oregon

• 2021, “Queer Magic: Sodomy, Sin, and the Supernatural in the Later Middle Ages,” for The Centre for Medieval Studies at The University of York

Conference Presentations (Selections)

• 2025, “The Intersex Logic of Le Roman de Silence,” Pre- and Early Modern Trans Studies Conference (invited contribution)

• 2025, “Intersex Natures in the Middle Ages,” Modern Language Association Annual Meeting

• 2024, “Magic or Miracle? Melior as Byzantine Saint,” New Chaucer Society Annual Meeting

• 2024, “Foremothers’ Panel: Honoring Monica Green I” 59th International Congress on Medieval Studies

• 2024, “Marco Polo as Global Citizen?” Sewanee University Medieval Colloquium

• 2024, “Racialized Magic in Partonope of Blois,” Modern Language Association Annual Meeting

• 2023, “Langland and Queer Form” International Piers Plowman Society Annual Meeting (invited contribution)

• 2023, “Creating Medieval Feminist Public Scholarship (A Workshop),” Sponsored by the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship, 58th International Congress on Medieval Studies (invited contribution)

• 2023, “The Final Draft: Writing for the Job Market (A Workshop),” Sponsored by the Medieval Academy of America. 58th International Congress on Medieval Studies

• 2023, “International Research in Libraries, Archives, and Museums,” Medieval Academy of America Annual Meeting (invited contribution)

• 2023, “Violence and Visibility in Partonope of Blois,” Modern Language Association Annual Meeting

• 2022, “Collaborative Digital Editing,” Medieval Academy of America Digital Humanities Showcase

• 2022, “‘þām unlonde:’ Monstrous Geography in ‘The Whale’,” 19th Annual PAMLA Conference (invited contribution)

• 2022, “The Utility of Chaucer for Medieval French Pedagogy,” New Chaucer Society Annual Meeting

• 2022, “Queering Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” Sponsored by The Society for Queer Medieval Studies, 57th International Congress on Medieval Studies              

• 2021, “Graduate Students in Crisis,” Feminist Repercussions of COVID-19, Gender and Medieval Studies Conference: Gender and Mobility  

• 2019, “Code-icology: Deciphering Cox Macro MS 5,” Beinecke Library Sponsored Session, 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies

• 2019, “Literature contra Naturam: The Gender of Genre in Twelfth-Century France.” 45th Annual Sewanee Medieval Colloquium              

• 2019, “Fleeing Backwards: The Problematic Present in Medieval Studies,” American Comparative Literature Association Annual Meeting

• 2019, “Reassembling Romance: Gender and Genre in Partonope of Blois,” 11th Annual International Conference on Middle English

• 2018, “Decoding the Liber Aureus: Secrecy and Alchemy in Sixteenth-Century England” 9th Annual Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry Workshop

• 2018, The Ambiguity of Magic in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” Societas Magica Sponsored Session, 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies                     

• 2018, “Trans Magic in Bisclavret,” Princeton University Conference on Superstition and Magic in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods                              

• 2018, “Preternatural Precarity: Queer Vulnerability and Its Forms in Guigemar,” 10th Annual Medievalists@Penn Conference                  

• 2017, “Alchemy, the Liber Aureus, and the Erotics of Knowledge,” Emerging Scholars Conference, UCLA CMRS-CERG (Invited contribution)                         

• 2017, “Lengajes por elz”: The Limitations of Knowledge in Le Devisement du Monde,” UCLA Department of French and Francophone Studies 22nd   Annual Conference 

• 2016, “The Transmission of Alchemical Knowledge in Sixteenth-Century England” History of Science Society Annual Meeting

• 2016, “Anti-Norman Attitudes in the Works of Geoffrey of Monmouth” University of Pennsylvania 3rd Conference in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies

• 2012, “'Tres Grant Mervaille': Magic and Wonder in Le Lai Du Cor,” Moravian University 7th Undergrad Conference in Medieval/Early Modern Studies

Conferences and Panels Organized

• 2024, “Foremothers’ Panels: In Honor of Monica Green” I and II, 59th International Congress on Medieval Studies

• 2024, “25 Years of Getting Medieval,” 59th International Congress on Medieval Studies

• 2024, “Bad Feelings in the Middle Ages” I and II, Modern Language Association Annual Meeting

• 2023, “Asexual Possibilities in Medieval Literature,” 58th International Congress on Medieval Studies

• 2023, “Tamora Pierce: A Retrospective,” 58th International Congress on Medieval Studies

• 2023, “Gendered Violence in Global Medieval Literature,” Modern Language Association Annual Meeting

• 2022, “Queer and Feminist Materiality,” 57th International Congress on Medieval Studies

• 2022, “Rethinking Homosexuality: A Roundtable,”57th International Congress on Medieval Studies

• 2021, Q Grad: Queer Studies Annual Graduate Conference (UCLA)

• 2021, “Queer Medieval Scandinavian Women,” 56th International Congress on Medieval Studies

• 2021, “New Voices in Medieval Feminist Scholarship,” 56th International Congress on Medieval Studies

• 2019, “Nasty Women: Villains, Witches, Rebels in the Middle Ages,” 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies