Donna Leon

Donna Leon is an American novelist, born in Montclair, New Jersey, in 1942. She taught English abroad, including in Iran, before settling in Venice, where she lectured for the University of Maryland's European division from 1981 to 1990. In 1992 she published “Death at La Fenice”, the first of the Commissario Guido Brunetti mysteries, a series now some thirty novels long in which Venice itself is the real leading character. She has also written essays and books tied to baroque opera and Venetian music, and a memoir, “Wandering Through Life” (2023). Long opposed to seeing her novels translated into Italian, she left Venice in 2015 and now lives in Switzerland, having taken Swiss citizenship in 2020.