Svetlana Vassileva-Karagyozova is an Associate Professor at the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Kansas, where she teaches upper-level courses in Polish and Czech as well as in West Slavic literatures, cultures and film. She is the author of the book "Coming of Age under Martial Law: The Initiation Novels of Poland's Last Communist Generation." Her research interests include 20th and 21st century Polish and Czech literature and film, trauma theory, gender and post-humanist studies.