Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) was the most successful, most published Black woman writer of the first half of the 20th century. Over a career that spanned three decades, she published seven books in her lifetime—a revolutionary feat for a Black woman working during a time of severe sexism and racial discrimination. Hurston was the self-proclaimed "queen" of the Harlem Renaissance, and she has influenced multiple generations of writers, including Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Toni Cade Bambara, Zadie Smith and Tayari Jones, among many others.