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Diana Cavallo, English

Diana Cavallo

Diana Cavallo

Diana Cavallo, CW’53, a writer who taught in the English department at the University of Pennsylvania for 18 years, died on June 17 at age 85.

Ms. Cavallo taught fiction writing in the creative writing program from 1980-1998. She wrote novels and plays, and also wrote and performed monologues. Her play, Two Sisters, won first prize in a contest sponsored by the Ethical Society of Philadelphia. She also wrote the novels A Bridge of Leaves (1961) and Juniper Street Sketches, and the non-fiction book The Lower East Side: A Portrait in Time (1971).

In 1994, she received the Distinguished Service Award from the College of General Studies for her outstanding support of continuing education students (Almanac May 24, 1994).

Before joining Penn, she was a Fulbright Teaching Fellow at the University of Pisa in Italy. She later returned there as a special lecturer and was a featured speaker on classical American writers. She also read from her own work for the United States Information Service at various universities throughout Italy.

She is survived by her nieces, Linda Smythe and Andrea Greger.

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