I’m an Associate Professor of French at Louisiana State University, where I specialize in 20th- and 21st-century French and Francophone literature, music, and culture, specifically sub-Saharan African literature and the literature, music, film, and culture of immigration, Black France, and Afropea.

For over a decade, I taught at the University of Central Arkansas. There, I also served as Interim Department Chair of the Department of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures, and Cultures (2021-23) and as inaugural Associate Director of the School of Language and Literature (2023-24).

Scholarly Monographs

My first book, Race on Display in 20th- and 21st-Century France, came out in 2016 with Liverpool University Press. It’s now available in open access. Listen to my New Books in French Studies podcast interview on the book:

I’m now working on my second scholarly monograph, tentatively titled Resounding Lineages: Traumatic Origins, Black Masculinities, and Intermediality in Contemporary Francophone Immigration and Afropean Literature, which examines how ultracontemporary Afropean authors and artists blur boundaries between literature and music.

The Dissertation-to-Book Workbook

Since 2017, Allison Van Deventer and I have been supporting scholars in navigating the book publishing process. In 2023, we published The Dissertation-to-Book Workbook (U Chicago Press), which helps you understand how to craft a compelling and focused book. We share advice on the academic book publishing process, establishing sustainable routines, and how to find more time for the things that matter most to you on dissertationtobook.com

We’ve also done several podcast interviews about the Workbook:

Productivity Posts

In addition to creating workshops, blog posts, and materials about revising and publishing scholarly monographs at dissertationtobook.com, I also publish materials about scholarly productivity and general writing tips on my blog on this site.