Allen Kurzweil is a novelist, journalist, teacher and inventor. Educated at Yale University and the University of Rome, he has published four novels and written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Vanity Fair. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Fulbright Commission, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. His literary prizes include the 2016 Edgar Award (Best Fact Crime) for "Whipping Boy," an investigative memoir, and the Premio Grinzane Cavour for his historical novel "A Case of Curiosities."