Kathryn Lachman joined the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the fall of 2008, and teaches in both the French and Comparative Literature programs. A native of South Africa, she holds a Ph.D. in French from Princeton University and the M.A. and B.A. degrees in French from Yale University. She has received numerous research grants, including the George Lurcy Fellowship for research in Paris (2005-6), an Ecole Nationale Supérieure Fellowship (2005-6), and the Henry Hart Rice Fellowship for research in Beirut, Lebanon (1998-2000). She trained as a classical violinist with Erick Friedman at Yale, and earned the Premier Prix in violin performance and the Premier Prix à l’unanimité for chamber music and history of music at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1995. Her academic publications include an edited volume on Maryse Condé entitled Feasting on Words: Maryse Condé, Cannibalism and the Caribbean Text (2006), articles in Research in African Studies and Music, Sound and the Moving Image, and various book chapters on African and Francophone literatures. Her manuscript on the intersections between music, transnational literature, and theory is forthcoming. Professor Lachman's research and teaching interests include contemporary North African literature, Caribbean literature, literary theory, Sub-Saharan African literature, Diaspora studies, and postcolonial opera.