Fannie Hurst in 1932, portrait by Carl Van Vechten.

Fannie Hurst (October 18, 1885 - February 23, 1968) was an American novelist. Some of her more famous novels were Stardust (1919), Lummox (1923), A President is Born (1927), and Imitation of Life (1933).

She was born in Ohio to a Jewish family.

In 1921, Hurst was among the first to join the Lucy Stone League, an organization that fought for women to preserve their maiden names. She was active in the Urban League, and was appointed to the National Advisory Committee to the Works Progress Administration in 1940. She was also a delegate to the World Health Organization in 1952.

Her novels are not well remembered today, and she is best known for screen adaptation of her works such as Imitation of Life. F. Scott Fitzgerald presciently described her as one of several authors "not producing among 'em one story or novel that will last 10 years." The first full biography of Hurst was published in 1999 by Brooke Kroeger.

Bibliography

Short Story Collections

• Just Around the Corner, 1914.
• Every Soul Hath Its Song, 1916.
• Gaslight Sonatas, 1918
• Humoresque, 1919.
• The Vertical City, 1922.
• Song of Life (Knopf), 1927.
• Procession, 1929.
• We are Ten, 1937.

Novels

• Stardust: The Story of an American Girl, 1921.
• Lummox, 1923.
• Mannequin (Knopf), 1926.
• Appassionata (Knopf), 1926.
• A President is Born, 1928.
• Five and Ten, 1929.
• Back Street, 1931.
• Imitation of Life, 1933.
• Anitra's Dance, 1934.
• Great Laughter, 1936.
• Lonely Parade, 1942.
• Hallelujah, 1944.
• The Hands of Veronica, 1947.
• Anywoman, 1950.
• The Man with One Head, 1951.
• Family! 1960.
• God Must Be Sad, 1961.
• Fool, Be Still, 1964.

Autobiography

• Anatomy of Me: A Wonderer in Search of Herself, 1958.

Miscellaneous

• No Food with My Meals, 1935.
• White Christmas, 1942.