Peter DeVries was born 27 February 1910 in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Dutch immigrant parents. He was an American editor and comic novelist.
He was educated in Dutch Christian school and graduated from Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1931.

His early occupations in the 30’s were: a vending machine operator, toffee-apple salesman, and radio actor. From 1938-1944 he was editor of Poetry magazine. From 1944 to 1987, he was on the staff of The New Yorker magazine at the insistence of James Thurber. There, he wrote stories and touched-up cartoon captions.

He married Katinka Loeser and they had four children – Jon, Derek, Jan, and Emily. Emily died of leukemia when 12 years old. This event inspired his 1961 work, The Blood of the Lamb.

He died 28 September 1993 in Norwalk, Connecticut.