Following graduation from Yale University, Levi received a Mellon Fellowship to study at Cambridge University, where in 1979 he co-founded the literary magazine Granta and served as U.S. Editor until 1987.
After leaving Granta, Levi divided his time between writing and producing. He is the author of two novels, A Guide for the Perplexed, and the recent Septimania. His plays and operas have been performed in the US, England, Italy, the Netherlands and Georgia. Levi’s many short stories and articles have been published in Granta, Condé Nast Traveler, GQ, Terra Nova, The Nation and The New York Times.
Levi divides his time between New York and Rome, where he writes for The International New York Times and Condé Nast Traveler and serves as Artistic Advisor for the Zaubersee Festival in Luzern, Switzerland. He also runs a workshop in Cultural Journalism at Under The Volcano in Tepoztlán, Mexico.