S. E. Hinton

Tulsa beginnings

Susan Eloise Hinton, known to readers as S. E. Hinton, was born on July 22, 1948, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She became one of the defining American writers for teenagers, especially through stories set in Oklahoma. Her best-known book, The Outsiders, was written while she was still in high school and published in 1967. Hinton is credited with introducing the young-adult genre, giving teen readers fiction that treated their conflicts, loyalties, class divisions, and pain as serious subjects.

Hinton’s early life was marked by strain. Her father, Grady, was a door-to-door salesman, and her mother, Lillian, was a factory worker. Hinton later described her father as “an extremely cold man,” and her mother as physically and emotionally abusive. The family attended what Hinton called a “fundamentalist, hellfire and brimstone” church, which she disliked deeply and which turned her away from religion as an adult. When Hinton was 15, her father developed a brain tumor; he died while she was in her junior year of high school.

The books that made her name

Hinton began writing The Outsiders in 1965. The book grew out of two rival groups at Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, the Greasers and the Socs, and from Hinton’s wish to write from the Greasers’ point of view. She was 16 when she wrote the novel. Her publisher suggested that she use initials rather than her feminine given names so early male reviewers would not dismiss the book because it was written by a woman. After the book’s success, she kept using “S. E. Hinton” both because the name had become known and because it helped separate her public and private lives.

The Outsiders became her first and most popular novel, selling more than 14 million copies; in 2017, Viking Press said it was still selling more than 500,000 copies a year. Hinton followed it with That Was Then, This Is Now in 1971, Rumble Fish in 1975, Tex in 1979, and Taming the Star Runner in 1988. By 1982, her first four novels had sold more than 10 million copies. In 1988, she received the first Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association for her cumulative contribution to writing for teens.

Her work also moved into film. Tex was adapted in 1982, directed by Tim Hunter. The Outsiders and Rumble Fish followed in 1983, both directed by Francis Ford Coppola; Hinton cowrote the Rumble Fish script with Coppola. That Was Then... This Is Now was adapted in 1985, directed by Christopher Cain. Hinton acted as a location scout and appeared in cameo roles in several films, including as a nurse in The Outsiders, a typing teacher in Tex, and a sex worker in Rumble Fish.

Hinton later wrote children’s books, including Big David, Little David and The Puppy Sister, both published in 1995, and adult fiction, including Hawkes Harbor in 2004 and Some of Tim’s Stories in 2007. She graduated from the University of Tulsa, was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa by the university in 1992, and entered the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame in 1998. A private person and introvert, she has said she no longer does public appearances. Her books still speak to readers because they began close to real teenage life: school, class, anger, friendship, family trouble, and the need to be seen clearly.