Celebrated writer and social activist who explored the struggles of ordinary women and their everyday lives in her work. She attracted a devoted following and much praise from critics with the four-dozen stories she wrote. Paley was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for “Collected Stories” published in 1994. She was the first official state author of New York. Her work was usually written in the first person, and often focused on women who were single mothers, Jewish, and from New York. She was an advocate of liberal causes, protested against both the Vietnam and Iraq wars, and taught for many years at Sarah Lawrence and City College of New York.