Biographical note

Teresa Hiergeist is a professor of French and Spanish literature and cultural studies at the Department of Romance Studies at Universität Wien. Her research focuses on alternative concepts of society and education, imaginations of social and communal cohesion, negotiations of the sacred and spiritual, human-animal relations in literature and culture. Alex Lachkar is currently working on his PhD between Vienna and the Université Paris-8 on the theorization of the »Despentes Generation«, a group of young authors of lesbian literature in contemporary France. His research focuses on contemporary lesbian and trans literature and the links between generations of writers in France. Stefanie Mayer works at the Department of Romance Studies at Universität Wien. She is currently working on her doctoral project on authorship in the 21st century with a focus on the Mexican writer Cristina Rivera Garza. Her research interests lie in contemporary Latin American literature and cinema, with a focus on gender issues.