Award-winning Italian author Lia Levi is best known as the author of several works of fiction largely dedicated to Jewish themes. She belongs to a generation of cultured and well-integrated Jewish intellectuals whose literary works testify to the renewed interest in Jewish history and cultural traditions that developed among European intellectuals and artists throughout the twentieth century. She has published over 30 books for children and young adults, which draw heavily on the experiences of her childhood in Italy during the Second World War. Levi will talk about the interplay of life experiences in her works of fiction for adults, the choices an author makes in selecting and sifting real-life elements and will read from a selection of her books. Presented by the Shoah Committee and the Embassy of Italy in Ottawa.