“In graduate school, I decide to write my doctoral thesis on how Italian architecture influenced English playwrights of the seventeenth century. I wonder why certain playwrights decided to set their tragedies, written in English, in Italian palaces.”

British-American author

Jhumpa Lahiri is a British-American author known for her short stories, novels, and essays. She writes in English and, more recently, in Italian. Her work spans fiction and nonfiction, and she is especially associated with concise, carefully observed prose. Alongside her English-language writing, she has also published in Italian, broadening the language of her literary work.