“Medicine involves dealing with people who are going through changes and cycles, often people trapped in bodies that are going out from under them. Spending time with them lets you think their way, gives you insights as a writer.”

American author, educator, and physician

Ethan Andrew Canin is an American author, educator, and physician. He is a faculty member at the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. He is known for work that bridges medicine and literature, and for his role in teaching writers at one of the best known graduate programs in the United States. The available facts place him as both a practicing physician and a working writer, with his career grounded in writing and instruction rather than a single public role.