Early Years
West was born in Boston on June 2, 1907, to Isaac Christopher West, who was formerly enslaved and later became a successful businessman, and Rachel Pease Benson, one of 22 children. West reportedly wrote her first story at the age of 7. At age 14, she won several local writing competitions.
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". The person West tied with was future novelist Zora Neale Hurston.
Read more about this topic: Dorothy West
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or years:
“As I went forth early on a still and frosty morning, the trees looked like airy creatures of darkness caught napping; on this side huddled together, with their gray hairs streaming, in a secluded valley which the sun had not penetrated; on that, hurrying off in Indian file along some watercourse, while the shrubs and grasses, like elves and fairies of the night, sought to hide their diminished heads in the snow.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When people ask me how I develop recipes, I have to respond: “travelling, eating, watching, experimenting, and constantly asking myself: ‘Do I want to eat this dish again?’” Will I yearn for it some evening when I’m hungry? Will I remember it in six months’ time? In a year? Five years from now?”
—Paula Wolfert, U.S. cookbook writer. Paula Wolfert’s World of Food, Introduction, Harper and Row (1988)