S. E. Hinton

Susan Eloise Hinton was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hinton wrote her first novel, The Outsiders, while she was still in high school, and it was published in 1967, during her freshman year of college at the University of Oklahoma. Her publishers suggested she write under her initials, noting that her feminine first name might dissuade male readers from reading her books. The Outsiders garnered widespread critical and commercial success due to its gritty and realistic treatment of issues that teenagers faced while coming of age, such as gang violence, drug use, and poverty. Four years later, she published her second novel, That Was Then, This Is Now, which garnered even more critical success. Hinton then published Rumble Fish in 1975, Tex in 1979, and Taming the Star Runner in 1988—all of which, like her first two novels, take place in Oklahoma and focus on young adults. Hinton also published two children’s books in 1995—Big David, Little David and The Puppy Sister. Later in her career, she shifted to writing adult fiction with Hawkes Harbor in 2004 and a collection of short stories in 2007. Hinton’s first four young adult novels have all been adapted into films. She received the inaugural Margaret A. Edwards award in 1988, which recognizes an author whose body of work speaks to young adults. Hinton is credited by many as having introduced the Young Adult genre, and she currently lives in Oklahoma with her husband.