G07: L&L The Outsiders: S.E. Hinton Biography

S.E. Hinton, was and still is, one of the most popular and best known writers of young adult fiction. Her books have been taught in some schools, and banned from others. Her novels changed the way people look at young adult literature.

S.E. Hinton wrote most of the classic coming-of-age novel The Outsiders when she was just 16 years old. That year, she got a D in creative writing.

Obviously her teacher was blind to what makes Hinton’s writing so special: a talent for narrative verve, a keen understanding of class dynamics and a precision of language as only a teenager can understand it.

Susan Eloise Hinton was born on the 22nd of July 1950 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Since Oklahoma did not have many activities for girls, reading and writing became her pastimes. She also wanted to become a cattle rancher as a young girl but that ambition was overcome by her love for writing. Her stories written in the beginning were mostly about cowboys and gun fighting and horses.

Forty years after her initial success with The Outsiders, author S.E. Hinton is back with Some of Tim's Stories, a clipped and concise look at two cousins whose lives take very different paths. In this vanityfair.com exclusive, Hinton discusses the evolution of her work.

The book, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this month, was arguably one of the most influential young adult books of its time, and leading this tour was the self-described fanboy Danny O’Connor, 48, who made his own contribution to pop-culture history as a member of the 1990s hip-hop group House of Pain.

On June 7, S.E. Hinton will make a rare appearance and accept the Tribune's Young Adult Book Prize at the Chicago Tribune Printers Row Book Fair. "The Outsiders," Hinton's first and most famous book, was first published 41 years ago, when Hinton was only 17. The book has sold more than 13 million copies and become a standard on middle-school reading lists.