Lia Levi

Lia Levi was born to a Jewish family in Pisa, Italy. After the issuance of the Fascist racial laws in 1938, and the start of persecution of Jews, her family left northern Italy and found refuge in Rome. After World War II ended, Levi stayed in Rome, where she completed her studies in philosophy and became a successful journalist. In 1957, she married Roberto Calderoni, with whom she had two children; after they divorced in 1970, she re-married to Luciano Tas. In 1994, Levi published her first novel, Una bambina e basta (Just a Child), which won the Else Morante Prize. A sequel appeared in 1996, Se va via il re (If the King Goes Away). Her novel L’albergo della magnolia (The Jewish Husband) won the Moravia Prize for fiction in 2001 and when it was translated into English in 2009, it received critical acclaim in the English-speaking world. She also has written numerous children’s books about Italian historical events of the recent past. Several of her other works have won major awards. Levi served as the editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine Shalom for more than 30 years, beginning in 1967.