Betty Smith

Betty Smith (1896–1972) was born Elizabeth Lillian Wehner in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York—the same neighborhood she would immortalize in her fiction. The daughter of German immigrants, she grew up in poverty, leaving school after eighth grade to work in factories and offices. She later earned a high school equivalency and attended the University of Michigan, where she studied journalism, drama, and creative writing, winning several Avery Hopwood awards for her plays. This author hub collects 1 work in the Canon Compass ranking, led by A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.