Age, Biography and Wiki

Ann Petry (Ann Lane) was born on 12 October, 1908 in Old Saybrook, CT, US, is an American novelist. Discover Ann Petry's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is she in this year and how she spends money? Also learn how she earned most of networth at the age of 88 years old?

Popular As Ann Lane
Occupation Writer
Age 88 years old
Zodiac Sign Libra
Born 12 October 1908
Birthday 12 October
Birthplace Old Saybrook, CT, US
Date of death 28 April, 1997
Died Place Old Saybrook, CT, US
Nationality Oman

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 12 October. She is a member of famous novelist with the age 88 years old group.

Ann Petry Height, Weight & Measurements

At 88 years old, Ann Petry height not available right now. We will update Ann Petry's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Physical Status
Height Not Available
Weight Not Available
Body Measurements Not Available
Eye Color Not Available
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Who Is Ann Petry's Husband?

Her husband is George Petry

Family
Parents Not Available
Husband George Petry
Sibling Not Available
Children Liz Petry

Ann Petry Net Worth

Her net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Ann Petry worth at the age of 88 years old? Ann Petry’s income source is mostly from being a successful novelist. She is from Oman. We have estimated Ann Petry's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income novelist

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Timeline

1908

Ann Petry (October 12, 1908 – April 28, 1997) was an American writer of novels, short stories, children's books and journalism.

1920

Her father wrote a letter to The Crisis in 1920 or 1921 complaining about a teacher who refused to teach his daughters and his niece.

Another teacher humiliated her by making her read the part of Jupiter, the illiterate ex-slave in the Edgar Allan Poe short story "The Gold-Bug".

1925

In 1925, Ann graduated from high school as the only person of Afro-American descent.

The family had none of the trappings of the middle class until Petry was well into adulthood.

Before her mother became a businesswoman, she worked in a factory, and her sisters worked as maids.

The Lane girls were raised sheltered from most of the disadvantages that other black people in the United States had to experience due to the color of their skin; however there were a number of incidents of racial discrimination.

1929

The decision to become a pharmacist was her family's. After graduating in 1929 from Old Saybrook High School, she went to college and graduated with a Ph.G. degree from the University of Connecticut College of Pharmacy in New Haven in 1931 and worked in the family business for several years, while also writing short stories.

1938

On February 22, 1938, she married George D. Petry of New Iberia, Louisiana, and moved to New York.

She worked as a journalist writing articles for newspapers including The Amsterdam News (between 1938 and 1941) and The People's Voice (1941–44), and published short stories in The Crisis, where her first story appeared in 1943, Phylon, and other outlets.

Although the novel is set in the immediate aftermath of World War II, Petry identified the 1938 New England hurricane as the source for the storm that is at the center of her narrative.

Petry was a member of the American Negro Theater and appeared in productions including On Striver's Row.

She also lectured at University of California, Berkeley, Miami University and Suffolk University, and was Visiting Professor of English at the University of Hawaii.

1944

Between 1944 and 1946 she studied creative writing at Columbia University.

She also worked at an after-school program at P.S. 10 in Harlem.

It was during this period that she experienced and understood what the majority of the black population of the United States had to go through in their everyday life.

Traversing the Harlem streets, living for the first time among large numbers of poor black people, seeing neglected children up close—Petry's early years in New York inevitably made impressions on her and led her to put her experiences to paper.

Her daughter Liz explained to The Washington Post that "her way of dealing with the problem was to write this book [The Street''], which maybe was something that people who had grown up in Harlem couldn’t do."

1946

Her 1946 debut novel The Street became the first novel by an African-American woman to sell more than a million copies.

As Petry wrote in "My Most Humiliating Jim Crow Experience", published in Negro Digest in 1946, there was an incident where a racist decided that they did not want her on a beach.

Petry's first and most popular novel, The Street, was published in 1946 and won the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship with book sales exceeding one million copies.

She was featured in a brief All-American News film segment covering her winning the award.

1947

Back in Old Saybrook in 1947, Petry worked on Country Place (1947), The Narrows (1953), other stories, and books for children, but they never achieved the same success as her first book.

She drew on her personal experiences of the hurricane in Old Saybrook in Country Place.

1992

Petry had a strong family foundation with well-traveled uncles, who had many stories to tell her when coming home; her father, who overcame racial obstacles, opened a pharmacy in the small town; and her mother and aunts set a strong example: Petry, interviewed by The Washington Post in 1992, says about her tough female family members that "it never occurred to them that there were things they couldn’t do because they were women."

Petry's desire to become a professional writer was raised first in high school when her English teacher read her essay to the class and commented on it with the words: "I honestly believe that you could be a writer if you wanted to."

1997

She died in Old Saybrook at the age of 88 on April 28, 1997.

2000

She was outlived by her husband George, who died in 2000, and her only daughter, Liz Petry.

2018

In November, 2018, Tayari Jones called for a revival of Petry's acclaim, writing that Petry "is the writer we have been waiting for, hers are the stories we need to fully illuminate the questions of our moment, while also offering a page-turning good time."

In her home state of Connecticut, poet and activist, Jose B. Gonzalez has also led a movement to get Petry more recognition.

2019

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.

Ann, born Anna Houston Lane, was born in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.

She was the youngest of three daughters to Peter Clark Lane and Bertha James Lane.

Her parents belonged to the black minority, numbering 15 inhabitants of the small town.

Her father was a pharmacist and her mother was a shop owner, chiropodist, and hairdresser.

Ann was also the niece of Anna Louise James.

Ann and her sister were raised "in the classic New England tradition: a study in efficiency, thrift, and utility (…) They were filled with ambitions that they might not have entertained had they lived in a city along with thousands of poor blacks stuck in demeaning jobs."