Ombretta Frau is a Professor of Italian Literature at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. She earned her Ph.D. at Harvard in 2002. Her academic interests include Italian intellectuals between the 19th and 20th centuries, the relationship between literature and art, the history of fascism in Italy, online verbal violence, and motherhood in literature. She is the author of over fifty articles and blog posts on numerous Italian authors, including Luigi Pirandello, Annie Vivanti, Grazia Deledda, Marchesa Colombi, Jolanda, Matilde Serao, Italo Calvino, Dacia Maraini, and Aldo Palazzeschi. Together with Cristina Gragnani, she co-authored the volumes Sottoboschi letterari and Taccuino di Harvard di Pirandello. With Juliet Guzzetta, she is guest editor of the 2024 issue of g/s/i on Giorgia Meloni and right-wing feminism. In 2007, she published the autobiography Expatriate: From Turin to Honolulu by Mantea. She collaborates with Enciclopedia delle Donne and the Treccani Dictionary. In 2022, Frau received the Meribeth E. Cameron Faculty Award for Scholarship.