Judith Harris, journalist and former diplomat, is the author of Pompeii Awakened, A Story of Rediscovery, a five-year book launched as the result of a BBC-TV documentary on Pompeii which she directed. She was a co-curator of exhibitions on Pompeii in New York City and San Francisco as well as a frequent lecturer on the ancient city. A graduate of Northwestern University, Judith Harris also studied at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, she has lived for decades in Rome, Italy, where she was a regular contributor to Time magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters news agency and Art News. Her other published books are Reflections from a Roman Lake, The Monster in the Closet and Evelina, A Victorian Heroine in Venice.