Madison Sides

Madison is a first-year PhD student in the French department. She holds a BA (English and French) and MA (French) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her master’s thesis was a full-length translation of Ada Limón’s poetry collection, Bright Dead Things, and she hopes to continue translating and writing poetry while focusing on academic research at UVA. In her dissertation, Madison plans to look at the connections between the sewers, prostitution, and public health in 19th-century Paris. She taught beginner-level French courses at UNL from 2023-2025 and also spent a year as a lecturer of English at the Université Gustave Eiffel in Champs-sur-Marne, just outside of Paris, for the 2025-2026 academic year. Her research interests include 19th century literature, the serialized novel, gender and sexuality studies, prostitution and the body, contemporary poetry, and translation.