Joseph Luzzi (PhD, Yale) is Professor of Comparative Literature and Faculty Member in Italian Studies at Bard College, and he taught previously at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of five books including My Two Italies, a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection, and In a Dark Wood: What Dante Taught Me About Grief, Healing, and the Mysteries of Love, a Vanity Fair “Must-Read” selection that has been translated into multiple languages. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, TLS, The London Times, and Chronicle of Higher Education, among others, and his awards include a Yale College Teaching Prize, Dante Society of America Essay Prize, and Wallace Fellowship at Villa I Tatti, Harvard’s Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. In 2017 he was named Cittadino Onorario/Honorary Citizen in Acri, Calabria, his Italian parents’ birthplace. Luzzi’s work has been featured in media venues including the Guardian and National Public Radio, and his next book is Botticelli’s Secret: The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance, which will be published by W. W. Norton in 2022. Learn more at www.JosephLuzzi.com.
Professor Luzzi recently created The Virtual Book Club, an international community of readers dedicated to exploring major literary works past and present. The Virtual Book Club is open to new members, sign up is available at https://josephluzzi.com/virtual-book-club/.