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Biography · Literature & Journalism

Ann Petry

1908–1997

United States

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Biography

Ann Petry (October 12, 1908 – April 28, 1997) was an American writer of novels, short stories, children's books and journalism. Her 1946 debut novel The Street became the first novel by an African-American woman to sell more than a million copies. In 2019, the Library of America published a volume of her work containing The Street as well as her 1953 masterpiece The Narrows and a few shorter pieces of nonfiction.

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Biography text · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source checked 2026-10-20

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