The Day of the Owl

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The Day of the Owl

First edition
Author	Leonardo Sciascia
Original title	Il giorno della civetta
Translator	Archibald Colquhoun and Arthur Oliver
Language	Italian with some Sicilian
Publication date	1961
Publication place	Italy
Published in English	1963
Media type	Print
Pages	136 pp (English edition, softcover)
ISBN	1-59017-061-X
Preceded by	Sicilian Uncles
Followed by	The 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.