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Nina Willner is an American nonfiction author, a former intelligence officer and human rights activist. Her first book Forty Autumns A Family’s Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall (HarperCollins William Morrow, 2016, ISBN 0062410318) is the true story of Willner's mother's escape from communist East Germany at age 20, the large family she left behind the Iron Curtain, and their four-decade journey to reunite. During the Cold War, Willner, a U.S. Army intelligence officer, was sent into the heart of Soviet-controlled East Berlin to lead classified missions. Willner uses her personal story to tell the broader story of the Cold War and the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.
Nina Willner | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1961 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Nonfiction author; former intelligence officer |
| Website | https://www.ninawillner.com |
Forty Autumns was named “Top 15 Nonfiction Books of 2016” by Christian Science Monitor and Kirkus Reviews praised it as a book that “celebrates the resilience of the human spirit.” The book has been sold in the US, UK, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Holland, Slovakia, Brazil and China.
Biography
editWillner grew up mostly in Falls Church, Virginia. Her father Eddie Willner, a Jewish Auschwitz and Buchenwald survivor, emigrated to the U.S. after WWII and served a career in the U.S. Army. Her mother, Johanna Willner, is a teacher. Willner has five siblings. She is Jewish.
Willner began her career in Berlin. After a career in U.S. intelligence, she worked in the fields of human rights and rule of law, in education and for women’s and children’s charity causes. She has spent three decades living and working for the U.S Government, for non-profits and humanitarian outreach programs in Russia, Belarus, Czech Republic, Germany, Canada and in Turkey.
Willner's next book The Boys in the Light: An Extraordinary WWII Story of Survival, Faith and Brotherhood will be published in July 2025 by Penguin Random House (Dutton), and is a narrative nonfiction about the true story of Eddie Willner's journey through the Holocaust as a boy and being rescued and adopted by the a company of young American tankers of the 3rd Armored Division.
References
edit- “15 Best Nonfiction Books of 2016,” The Christian Science Monitor, Dec 20, 2016
- “New memoirs trace identity, exile and exclusion in Germany, Latvia and India,” by Diane Scharper, National Catholic Reporter, Dec 6, 2017
- “Forty Autumns: The Perfect Christmas Gift for Millennials Tempted by Marxism,” by John Zmirak, The Stream, Dec 6, 2017
- “Forty Years of Family Life Lost Behind the Iron Curtain,” by Giulia Rhodes, The Guardian, Oct 8, 2016
- “18 Books You Should Read this October,” by Bethanne Patrick, Literary Hub, Oct 4, 2016
- “A Year of Reading: My Favourite Books of 2016,” by Bob Douglas, Critics At Large, Jan 7, 2017
- “Eddie Willner: A Survivor,” by Nina Willner, USO On Patrol, Sep 19, 2015
- “Nonfiction: Forty Autumns,” by Rebecca Hill, Library Journal (starred review) Sep 15, 2016
- “Forty Autumns,” Publishers Weekly
- “Forty Autumns: A powerful family history covering both sides of the Berlin Wall,” by Julia M. Klein, The Chicago Tribune, Oct 7, 2016
- “Biography and Memoir,” by Julia McMichael, Manhattan Book Review
- “Brings the Cold War to Life,” Booklist
- “The Iron Curtain Rises Again,” by Maureen McCarthy, Star Tribune, Nov 11, 2016
- “Western girl's emotional journey east to adulthood,” by Marina Gerner, The Jewish Chronicle, Dec 1, 2016