Dorothy West (June 2, 1907 – August 16, 1998) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and magazine editor associated with the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural movement in the 1920s and 1930s that celebrated black art, literature, and music.

At the age of seven, Dorothy's father gained his freedom and by the time he was 10 years old, he had saved enough money in a cigar box to establish his own business.

[2] Late in life, West wrote that Blacks in Boston "were taught very young to take the white man in stride or drown in their own despair.

[8] In 1926, West tied for second place in a writing contest sponsored by Opportunity, a journal published by the National Urban League, with her short story "The Typewriter".

[9] "The Typewriter” appeared in Dodd Mead's annual anthology The Best Short Stories of 1926 alongside work by Ernest Hemingway, Ring Lardner, and Robert Sherwood.

In 1927, she applied for a playwright role in the production of Dorothy and DuBose Heyward's play Porgy but was offered a small acting part instead.

[8][12][13] Although the film project was cancelled shortly before their arrival, West decided to stay in the Soviet Union for a year, returning home only after her father's death.

There, West met other writers of the Harlem Renaissance, including Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Wallace Thurman.

West's written works, including novels, short stories, and periodicals, addressed issues surrounding African-American life and black political and social matters.

The Wedding explores themes of race, class, and gender in a multiracial society and was adapted into a two-part miniseries by Oprah Winfrey in 1998.

During this time, she wrote a number of short stories for the New York Daily News, becoming the first black writer to publish work in that newspaper.

Featuring an ironic sense of humor unique to West's style, the story chronicles the life of a southern woman in pursuit of an upper-class lifestyle in Boston.

In The New York Times, literary critic Seymour Krim described it as "a housewifey novel: a look at life from the kitchen and the parlor", focused on characters who were women first and secondarily Black.

In 1982, The Feminist Press brought The Living Is Easy back into print, giving new attention to West and her role in the Harlem Renaissance, and she was included in the 1992 anthology Daughters of Africa (edited by Margaret Busby).

[1] The New York Times reviewer advised the reader to look past West's "weakness for melodrama" in a few instances and enjoy her "naturalist's ear and eye for detail, an unsentimental view of human failings and a clear, crisp narrative style".

[24] The success of The Wedding was followed by the publication of a collection of West's short stories and reminiscences called The Richer, the Poorer (1995), its 30 selections including 11 pieces not published before.

Guests at her 90th birthday party included Henry Louis Gates Jr., Anita Hill, Jessye Norman and Charles Ogletree.

Her work explored the complexities of Black life in America, and her characters often challenged traditional notions of race, gender, and class.