Ursula Hegi (born May 23, 1946) is a German-born American writer. She is currently an instructor in the MFA program at

Stony Brook Southampton Stony Brook Southampton is a campus location of Stony Brook University, located in Southampton, New York, between the Shinnecock Indian Reservation and Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on the eastern end of Long Island. History Southampton Colleg ...

. She was born Ursula Koch in 1946 in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, Germany, a city that was heavily bombed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

.. Her perception growing up was that the war was avoided as a topic of discussion despite its evidence everywhere, and

The Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

was a particularly taboo topic. This had a strong effect on her later writing and her feelings about her German identity. She left

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

in 1964, at the age of 18. She moved to the United States in 1965, where she married (becoming Ursula Hegi) in 1967 and became a naturalized citizen the same year. In 1979, she graduated from the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

with both a bachelor's and master's degree. She was divorced in 1984. The same year, she was hired at

Eastern Washington University Eastern Washington University (EWU) is a public university in Cheney, Washington, United States. It shares its satellite campus in Spokane, Washington with Washington State University. Founded in 1882, the university is academically divided in ...

, in

Cheney, Washington Cheney ( ) is a city in Spokane County, Washington, United States. The full-time resident population was 13,255 as of the 2020 census. Eastern Washington University is located in Cheney. When classes are in session at EWU, the city's populati ...

, near

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

, where she became an Associate Professor and taught creative writing and contemporary literature. Hegi's first books were set in the United States.. She set her third, ''Floating in My Mother's Palm'', in the fictional German town of "Burgdorf," using her writing to explore her conflicted feelings about her German heritage. She used the setting for three more books, including her best selling novel '' Stones from the River'', which was chosen for

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in 1997. Hegi appeared on ''

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'' on April 8, and her publisher reprinted 1.5 million hardcover copies and 500,000 paperbacks. She subsequently moved from Spokane to

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. Hegi's many awards include an NEA Fellowship and five PEN Syndicated Fiction Awards. She won a book award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) in 1991 for '' Floating in My Mother's Palm''. She has also had two ''

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'' Notable Book mentions. She has written many book reviews for ''

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'', the ''

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'', and ''

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''.

Bibliography

Novels

*''Intrusions'' (1981) *'' Floating in My Mother's Palm'' (1990) *'' Stones from the River'' (1994) *''Salt Dancers'' (1995) *''The Vision of Emma Blau'' (2000) *''Sacred Time'' (2003) *''The Worst Thing I've Done'' (2007) *''Children and Fire'' (2011) *''The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls'' (2020)

Short stories

*''Unearned Pleasures and Other Stories'' (1988) *''Hotel of the Saints'' (2001)

Children's books

*''Trudi & Pia'' (2003), with pictures by Gisele Potter

Non-fiction

*''Tearing the Silence: On Being German in America'' (1998)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hegi, Ursula 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists Eastern Washington University faculty Writers from Spokane, Washington University of New Hampshire alumni Writers from Düsseldorf Emigrants from West Germany to the United States 1946 births Living people 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners Novelists from Washington (state) American women academics