History

Elsa Morante was born in 1912 and raised in Rome. In 1941 she married the prominent author Alberto Moravia, whose anti-Fascist reputation forced them to flee the German occupation and hide in the mountains until the Liberation. During this time Morante began to write her first novel, House of Liars. She would complete three more major works during her career, winning the Premio Strega in 1957 for Arturo's Island. Her final novel, Aracoeli, earned her the Prix Medicis Etranger in 1985, the year of her death.