Nine Lives

Siegfried Kra was born in Danzig in 1930. After escaping from the Gestapo, his family emigrated to New York, where Siegfried learned how to speak English without an accent, to be viewed as an American, rather than a German. He attended CCNY, then went to medical school in France and Switzerland before completing his training in cardiology at Yale. In a half century of practice, he treated tens of thousands of patients, some of whom inspired his fictional story collections. Dr. Kra has published over a dozen books, including What Every Woman Must Know About Heart Disease from Warner Books, and The Three-Legged Stallion from W.W. Norton; and most recently from Pleasure Boat Studio, Twilight in Danzig and The Dancer in the Garden. His passions include opera, growing orchids, and tennis, which he still plays weekly at age ninety. He also still teaches as an Associate Professor of Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine and at Quinnipiac University Netter School of Medicine.