About
Linda Lappin has published four book-length works of adult fiction — The Etruscan, Katherine’s Wish (based on the life of Katherine Mansfield), Signatures in Stone: A Bomarzo Mystery, and Loving Modigliani: The Afterlife of Jeanne Hébuterne, as well as a work of nonfiction, an inspirational creative writing guide: The Soul of Place: Ideas and Exercises for Conjuring the Genius Loci, highly praised by National Geographic Intelligent Traveler, and a workbook for all creatives.
Her work has received the IPPY Gold Medal for Historical Fiction (Katherine’s Wish), the Overall Daphne Du Maurier Award for Mystery and Suspense (Signatures in Stone), the Nautilus Book Award in the category of Creativity (The Soul of Place), the Indie Reader award for Women’s Fiction (Loving Modigliani), the Indie Author Project award for Historical Fiction (Loving Modigliani), the Forward Indies Bronze Medal (Soul of Place), and short listed for the Montaigne Medal for Books of Distinction (Loving Modigliani). The Etruscan was runner up in fiction in the New York Festival of Books, and a Next Generation Indie Award Finalist.
Lappin makes her home in Italy where she has hosted and directed writing retreats and workshops for the Kenyon Review, Workshops in Wild Places, as well as for individual artists and writers bringing their own students or working alone. A former Fulbright fellow to Italy, she has worked as a literary translator from Italian for over thirty years, and has been a recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts grants in translation and the Renato Poggioli Prize in translation from Italian from P.E.N. She has taught literary travel writing for the American Library of Paris, the Aegean Arts Circle (Andros, Greece), Christian Albrechts University of Kiel, (DE), USAC (Italy), Feltrinelli International Rome, and has been a guest instructor at the UCLA writers program extension. She is a frequent guest reviewer for the California Review of Books.
Retired from the University of Rome, she continues to mentor on a private basis. Her new book is Melusine & the Watery Mind, a work of cross genre historical fiction forthcoming in September 2026 from Serving House Books.
She writes about her life and literary adventures on substack (free) at https://lindalappin.substack.com
Featured Work
Loving Modigliani: The Afterlife of Jeanne Hébuterne
PARIS 1920 Dying just 48 hours after her husband, Jeanne Hebuterne—wife and muse of the celebrated painter Amedeo Modigliani and an artist in her own right — haunts their shared studio, watching as her legacy is erased. Decades later, a young art history student travels across Europe to rescue Jeanne's work from obscurity. A ghost story, love story, and a search for a lost masterpiece. "A part fantastical ghost story, part romance focuses on Modigliani's lover…Brilliantly researched, imaginative cross-genre historical fiction…The book's inventive afterlife is as vividly drawn as the streets of Paris." --Kirkus Reviews "A fine tribute to an artist forgotten for 100 years"-- Historical Novels Society. Winner: Indie Reader Women's Fiction, Short Listed: Daphne Du Maurier Award for Mystery & Suspense Writing. Winner: Historical Fiction Indie Author Project, Short Listed: Montaigne Medal Books of Distinction. Short Listed: Indie Author of the Year from Indie Author Project
