Biographical Overview
Andrew Edward Hotchner (August 31 1917 – February 15 2020) was an American writer, playwright, literary agent, and philanthropist. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and spent much of his adult life in New York City.
Career Highlights
| Area | Notable Contributions |
|---|---|
| Literary work | Authored several novels and memoirs, including The Girl Who Stood on a Rooftop (1941), The Double Nature of Man (1942), and the memoir Final Days: The Last Year of Ernest Hemingway (1977). |
| Hemingway scholarship | Maintained a lifelong friendship with Ernest Hemingway. Edited and compiled Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters (1979) and co‑edited The Letters of Ernest Hemingway: The Portable Edition (1992). |
| Playwriting and theater | Wrote stage plays such as The A. E. Hotchner Playhouse productions for regional theaters; his play Promise of the Dead (1974) was produced Off‑Broadway. |
| Literary agency | Founded A. E. Hotchner, Inc., representing authors including James Baldwin, Ray Bradbury, and Norman Mailer. |
| Philanthropy | Co‑founder of the Ernest Hemingway Society (1988) and a benefactor of the Brown Institute for Media Innovation (2015). Awarded the National Medal of Arts (1976) for contributions to American letters. |
Legacy
Hotchner’s work is recognized for bridging literary creation and advocacy for writers’ rights. His editorial projects helped preserve and disseminate Ernest Hemingway’s correspondence, contributing substantially to twentieth‑century American literary scholarship. He lived to the age of 102, remaining active in literary circles into his late nineties.
