Acclaimed author Grace Paley died Wednesday at 84.
A short-story writer, poet and essayist, Paley produced a modest body of work, but one which drew praise from literary luminaries like Phillip Roth and Susan Sontag. She was politically active in protesting the Vietnam War and traveling to Hanoi to bring home prisoners of war.
Paley was born to Jewish immigrants from the Ukraine in New York in 1922. She entered Hunter College 15 and was promptly expelled for absenteeism, though she did study alter under the poet W.H. Auden.
Paley had been suffering from breast cancer when she died at her Vermont home.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
