Departures of note

Ursula Hegi was a German-born American writer who became one of the most respected novelists exploring German identity and the legacy of the Nazi era. Born Ursula Koch in Düsseldorf in 1946, she grew up in a city heavily bombed during World War II, where discussion of the war and the Holocaust was largely avoided. This silence profoundly shaped her later work and her conflicted feelings about her German heritage.

Hegi emigrated to the United States in 1965 at age 18, became a naturalized citizen in 1967, and earned both bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of New Hampshire in 1979. She taught creative writing and contemporary literature at Eastern Washington University before moving to New York City. Her early novels were set in the United States, but she later turned to exploring her German roots through the fictional town of Burgdorf.

Her breakthrough came with 'Stones from the River' (1994), which chronicles the life of Trudi Montag, a woman with dwarfism navigating Nazi-era Germany. The novel was selected for Oprah's Book Club in 1997, propelling it to bestseller status and bringing Hegi widespread recognition. She received numerous honors including an NEA Fellowship, five PEN Syndicated Fiction Awards, and had two New York Times Notable Book mentions. Her other novels include 'Floating in My Mother's Palm,' 'Salt Dancers,' 'The Vision of Emma Blau,' and 'Children and Fire.' Hegi died in 2026 at age 80.