Kathleen M. O'Connor is the William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. She holds a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary and joined the Faculty of Columbia Seminary in1995. Previously, she taught at the Maryknoll School of Theology in Ossining, NY.

Her book, entitled Lamentations and the Tears of the World (Orbis Books, 2002), received the Catholic Press Association first prize in scripture in 2003. Her other books include The Wisdom Literature (Liturgical Press, 1988), The Confessions of Jeremiah (Scholars Press, 1988), Troubling Jeremiah , co-editor (Sheffield Academic Press, 1999).

Currently, she is completing a book on Jeremiah. She received a Henry Luce III Fellowship for 2004-5 for this project, entitled "A History of Love and Disaster in the Book of Jeremiah."She was president of the Catholic Biblical Association of America, 2008-09. She has taught frequently in local Churches and given courses and retreats in Central America, Thailand, Japan and Ireland.