Literary suspense rooted in authentic worlds and unforgettable characters

Andrew Erkkila writes immersive novels about outsiders navigating extraordinary worlds--where authentic communities, emotional intensity, and moments of hard-won humor reveal what people become under pressure. 

Andrew is a former Gila Hotshot with four seasons of fire experience. He has fought fire in most of the western U.S. In 2011, he was honored with the S.W.E.A.T. Award (Superior Work Ethic and Teamwork). 

He graduated from the MFA program at Rutgers-Newark. He received a 2026 Individual Artist Finalist Award from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.  His work has been published in Prairie Schooner, The Master's Review, the New Orleans Review and was listed as a finalist in the 2019 Zoetrope All-Story Screenplay Contest judged by Francis Ford Coppola and as a finalist in the Missouri Review’s 2019 Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize. His work has also been featured on the Great New American Essays podcast and optioned for television. 

He is adjunct faculty at the The College of New Jersey and Rutgers-Newark Writing Program.