The Day of the Owl

The Day of the Owl
First edition
AuthorLeonardo Sciascia
Original titleIl giorno della civetta
TranslatorArchibald Colquhoun and Arthur Oliver
LanguageItalian with some Sicilian
Publication date
1961
Publication placeItaly
Published in English
1963
Media typePrint
Pages136 pp (English edition, softcover)
ISBN1-59017-061-X
Preceded bySicilian Uncles 
Followed byThe Council of Egypt 

The Day of the Owl (Italian: Il giorno della civetta [il ˈdʒorno della tʃiˈvetta]) is a crime novel about the Sicilian Mafia by Leonardo Sciascia, finished in 1960 and published in 1961.

As the author wrote in his preface of the 1972 Italian edition, the novel was written at a time in which the existence of the Mafia itself was debated and often denied. Its publishing led to widespread debate and to renewed awareness of the phenomenon.

The novel is inspired by the assassination of Accursio Miraglia, a communist trade unionist, at Sciacca in January 1947. Damiano Damiani directed a movie adaptation in 1968.

Sciascia used this story as refutation against the Mafia and the corruption, apparent to his eyes, that led all the way to Rome.