Porgy is a novel written by the American author DuBose Heyward in 1925, as well as a play which Dorothy Heyward helped him to write which was premiered in 1927.
Even before the play had been fully written, Heyward was in discussions with George Gershwin for an operatic version of his novel, which appeared in 1935 as Porgy and Bess (renamed to distinguish it from the play).