author
Andrew Fetler
1925–2017
A Latvian-born American novelist and short-story writer, he drew on a life shaped by war, migration, and teaching to create fiction with real emotional range. He also spent decades helping young writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
3 Audiobooks
About the author
Born in Riga in 1925, Andrew Fetler was raised in several countries before his family immigrated to the United States in 1939. He later served in the U.S. Army during World War II, an experience that became part of the deep historical feeling readers often notice in his work.
Fetler went on to build a life in literature as both a teacher and a writer. He taught English and creative writing at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he became professor emeritus, and he published novels and story collections including The Travelers and To Byzantium.
His fiction earned major recognition, including two O. Henry Awards and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He died in 2017 at age 91, remembered as a thoughtful storyteller whose work bridged continents, generations, and the private consequences of history.