The Loudest Voice

Grace Paley

1959

There is a certain place where dumb-waiters boom, doors slam, dishes crash; every window is a mother’s mouth bidding the street shut up, go skate somewhere else, come home. My voice is the loudest. [ . . . ]

One cold morning the monitor tapped me on the shoulder. “Go to Room 409, Shirley Abramowitz,” he said. I did as I was told. I went in a hurry…

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Creator Bio

Grace Paley

1922–2007

Born and brought up in the Bronx, Grace Paley wrote short stories and poetry. As a feminist and peace activist, she wrote works that portrayed the everyday lives of her contemporaries. She taught at Sarah Lawrence College and the City College of New York, earning Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, the National Institute of Arts and Letters Award, and the title of New York’s first state author.

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