After careers in tech­nol­o­gy and math­e­mat­ics edu­ca­tion, Chicagoan Del­la Leav­itt stud­ied cre­ative writ­ing amid the vibrant, Mid­west­ern lit­er­ary com­mu­ni­ty. Her debut his­tor­i­cal nov­el, Vivian’s Deci­sion, is an all-too-rel­e­vant, mul­ti-gen­er­a­tional, Chica­go Jew­ish fam­i­ly saga set in 1956 and the ear­ly 20th cen­tu­ry. Del­la earned sup­port for this nov­el-in-progress from a New­ber­ry Library fel­low­ship and a City of Chica­go indi­vid­ual artist’s grant.