S. E. Hinton | |
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| Born | Susan Eloise Hinton (1948-07-22)July 22, 1948 (age 76) Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1967–present |
| Genre | Young-adult novels,children's books,screenplays[1][2] |
| Notable awards | Margaret Edwards Award 1988 |
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Susan Eloise Hinton (born July 22, 1948) is an American writer best known for heryoung-adult novels (YA) set inOklahoma, especiallyThe Outsiders (1967), which she wrote duringhigh school.[a] Hinton is credited with introducing the YA genre.[4][5]
In 1988, she received the inauguralMargaret Edwards Award from theAmerican Library Association for her cumulative contribution in writing for teens.[6][b]
While still in her teens, Hinton became a household name[a] as the author ofThe Outsiders, her first and most popular novel, set in Oklahoma in the 1960s. She began writing it in 1965.[7] The book was inspired by two rival gangs at her school,Will Rogers High School,[8] theGreasers and theSocs,[3] and her desire to empathize with the Greasers by writing from their point of view.[c] She wrote the novel when she was 16 and it was published in 1967.[10] Since then, the book has sold more than 14 million copies.[8] In 2017,Viking Press stated the book sells over 500,000 copies a year.[3]
Hinton's publisher suggested she use her initials instead of her femininegiven names so that the first[11] malebook reviewers would not dismiss the novel because its author was female.[7][d] After the success ofThe Outsiders, Hinton chose to continue writing and publishing using her initials because she did not want to lose what she had made famous[e] and to allow her to keep her private and public lives separate.[f]
In interviews, Hinton has said that she is a private person and anintrovert who no longer does public appearances.[12] She enjoys reading (Jane Austen,Mary Renault, andF. Scott Fitzgerald),[7] taking classes at the local university, and horseback riding. Hinton also revealed toVulture that she enjoys writingfan fiction.[13]
She resides inTulsa, Oklahoma, with her husband David Inhofe, asoftware engineer she met in her freshman biology class at college.[8] He is a cousin of former Oklahoma SenatorJim Inhofe.[14]
Thefilm adaptationsThe Outsiders (March 1983) andRumble Fish (October 1983) were both directed byFrancis Ford Coppola; Hinton cowrote the script forRumble Fish with Coppola. Also adapted to film wereTex (July 1982), directed byTim Hunter, andThat Was Then... This Is Now (November 1985), directed byChristopher Cain. Hinton herself acted as alocation scout, and she hadcameo roles in three of the four films. She plays a nurse in Dallas's hospital room inThe Outsiders. InTex, she is the typing teacher. She also appears as a sex worker propositioning Rusty James inRumble Fish. In 2009, Hinton portrayed the school principal inThe Legend of Billy Fail.[15]
Hinton received the inaugural 1988Margaret A. Edwards Award[b] from theAmerican YA librarians, citing her first four YA novels, which had been published from 1967 to 1979 and adapted as films from 1982 to 1985. The annual[b] award recognizes one author of books published in the U.S., and specified works "taken to heart by young adults over a period of years, providing an 'authentic voice that continues to illuminate their experiences and emotions, giving insight into their lives'." The librarians noted that in reading Hinton's novels "a young adult may explore the need for independence and simultaneously the need for loyalty and belonging, the need to care for others, and the need to be cared for by them."[6]
In 1992, she was inducted intoPhi Beta Kappa by theUniversity of Tulsa,[16] and in 1998 she was inducted into the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame at the Oklahoma Center for Poets and Writers ofOklahoma State University–Tulsa.[17]
The five YA novels, her first books published, are Hinton's works most widely held in WorldCat libraries.[18] All are set in Oklahoma, and take place within ashared universe.
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