Kersti Francis is a writer, editor, video game consultant, and medievalist based in Los Angeles. Since 2013, she has provided content editing, copy-editing, and proofreading services for mediums ranging from newspaper and journal articles to poetry and fiction pieces to PhD dissertations and technical handbooks. She also writes weekly book reviews for Publishers Weekly and can be found procrastinating on Twitter (@kerstifrancis), where she tweets about feminism, queerness, dogs, history, and niche debates in academia.

As a PhD candidate in English at UCLA, Kersti works on the intersections between magic, gender, and sexuality in the Middle Ages and English Renaissance. Her dissertation project, Queer Magic: Sodomy, Sin and The Supernatural, 1150-1650, uses the guiding framework of medieval understandings of nature and sins contra naturam to argue that literary magic functions as a “safe” form of heresy for authors to engage in queer imaginings of bodies, genders, and sexual acts. Kersti has also worked extensively on medieval histories of science, focusing on the role of alchemy in the Latin Christian West and the Dar al-Islam; on depictions of Mary Magdalene in medieval and Victorian understandings of prostitution; and on the figure of the meykongr (maiden-king) in the Old Norse saga tradition. Her work has been supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Ahmanson Foundation, The National Science Foundation, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and the UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, among others.

Kersti holds an AB from Bryn Mawr College in English and Medieval/Renaissance Studies with a minor in Gender and Sexuality Studies and an MA and PhD (June 2023) in English from the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to graduate study, Kersti was a fundraising professional, working for the Bryn Mawr Fund as Assistant Director of Annual Giving. In this role, Kersti directed young alumnae and student philanthropy as well as managing the Bryn Mawr Phonathon program. In addition to her enthusiasm for fundraising for the College, Kersti is also Class of 2013 co-president and songsmistress; she is the co-president emeritus of the Bryn Mawr Club of Los Angeles. In Fall 2023, Kersti will join Boston University's Society of Fellows as a Postdoctoral Researcher.