Nadia Margolis was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, raised in the United States and educated in the U.S. and in France during her college and graduate school years (B.A. at University of New Hampshire, and University of Dijon; Ph.D. at Stanford, University of Paris). She has often traveled to France to research, and give lectures and papers, as a specialist in medieval French literature and on Joan of Arc through the ages in history, literature, and film. Her publications include translations of medieval French poetry and prose, Joan of Arc in History, Literature and Film (1990), co-edited Women in the Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia (2 vols., 2004), and An Introduction to Christine de Pizan (2011). During her forty years of teaching experience at various U.S. colleges and universities, most recently, Mount Holyoke College, she has taught all levels of French language and all centuries of French literature and culture, while additionally acquiring some competence in modern Russian, Italian, German, and their medieval forms. She enjoys gardening and outdoor sports, having first kayaked on le Lac Kir, Dijon, toured Southern France on foot and motor scooter as a student, and later taught the Tour de France as a unit in civilization classes
