Julian M OlfJulian Olf (1942-2019) was a distinguished professor of theater and award-winning playwright. Many years ago he enjoyed spinning bedtime tales for his daughter, Kimiko. The stories, about a fanciful family named Linguini, became part of a requisite nghttime ritual that lasted throughout her youth. Decades later he revisited that family in The Book of Linguini: A Romance Set in the Borough of Queens, a picture book for young adult (and not-so-young) readers. As a children's magician, the head counselor and program director of a camp for children with cardiac issues, founding board member of the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter High School, and professor of theatre at the University of Massachusetts, Olf worked with young adults throughout his career. His plays have been performed widely and to excellent reception. Winner of the Nantucket Short Play Award in 2004, Olf also received a 2012 Julie Harris Playwright Award for his play Judith, a full-length play inspired by the biblical tale of Judith and Holofernes. His screenplay Anthony, a contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet, won a Gold Award in 2000 at the Worldfest International Film Festival, Houston. His play (People Almost Always Smell Good in the Art), with the title intentionally in parenthesis, was published in The Massachusetts Review (fall, 2008) and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His short story "Rough Cut" (The Great Stream Review, April 1992) won the Fern Chertkow Memorial Award for Fiction. Olf spent his early childhood on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, surrounded by the arts. His father, a Yiddish folksinger, was a recording artist and actor; his mother, a pianist and music teacher. He received his early arts education at the Henry Street Music School and the High School of Music and Art (NYC). He earned a BA in English from Union College, an MA in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University, and a PhD in Drama and Cinema from New York University. Read More Read Less