(born 1950) Born in New York City, NY of Southern migrant parents, Gloria Naylor grew up within the community of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Influenced by Toni Morrison, Naylor wrote her first novel, The Women of Brewster Place in 1981, focusing on the lives of women converging in a ghetto community The novel was critically acclaimed and commercially successful (developed into a television movie by Oprah Winfrey). Linden Hills (1985) focused on a suburban black community and revealed sensitivity to African American class issues. Naylor’s three other novels, Mama Day (1988), Bailey’s Cafe (1992) and The Men of Brewster Place (1998) have not matched the success of her first novel.