Fannie Hurst (1889-1968) was an American novelist. Born in Hamilton, Ohio, and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, she graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 1909. Hurst was a member of the Lucy Stone League, 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. She published over twenty novels and story collections in her lifetime, including Stardust, Lummox, A President Is Born, Back Street, and Imitation of Life.