Dorothy Parker

Born in 1893, Dorothy Parker became one of the most distinctive literary voices of 20th-century America. She wrote poems, stories, reviews, and essays that were celebrated for their quick intelligence, dark humor, and clear-eyed take on love, disappointment, and modern life.

She is closely associated with the Algonquin Round Table, the famous New York circle of writers and critics whose conversation became almost as legendary as their published work. Parker's writing reached a wide audience through magazines and books, and she also worked as a screenwriter, showing how easily her voice could move between forms.

Even now, she stands out for how fresh and quotable her work feels. Beneath the famous wit is a writer who could be deeply funny, unsentimental, and moving all at once, which is a big part of why readers still return to her.