author
Edna Fern
1861–1941
A German-American writer who published as Edna Fern, she wrote poems, stories, and fairy tales that circulated in German-language literary circles in the United States. Her work connects immigrant life, imagination, and the lively world of German-American publishing around the turn of the twentieth century.
1 Audiobook
Venusmärchen: Geschichten aus einer andern Welt
by Edna Fern
About the author
Born Fernande Anna Therese Franziska Auguste Osthaus, she wrote under the pen name Edna Fern. Archival and library records identify her as a German-American author active in St. Louis, Missouri, and note that Edna Fern was a pseudonym for Fernande Richter.
She was associated with the circle around Robert Reitzel, editor of the Detroit-based German-language journal Der arme Teufel, and was a frequent contributor there. Sources describe her as the author of poems and stories, a novel, at least one play, and fairy-tale writing including Venusmärchen.
Some catalog records suggest there is still uncertainty in the surviving reference trail around parts of her life, including whether a death year is recorded as 1941 or 1942 in different databases. What is clear is that her papers and writings preserve the work of a notable German-American literary voice whose career bridged Europe and the immigrant press in the United States.