S E Hinton (1948 – )

Her YA books, written in the 1960s and 1970s, all set in Oklahoma, and were written for and about teenagers.

Hinton's best known work is The "Outsiders" (1967), wrote while in High School. The Outsiders was made into a movie in 1983 directed by Francis Ford Coppola starring Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez and Diane Lane. Coppola also directed the film adaptation of Hinton's Book RumbleFish (1975) which was also released in 1983.

Two of Hinton's other YA Books, "That Was Then, This Is Now" (1971) and "Tex" (1979) were also adapted into Film. Hinton herself appears in cameo roles as minor characters in three of the four films. Her last book written with a teenage protagonist was "Taming the Star Runner" (1988)

During the 1990s Hinton published two children's books "Big David, Little David (1995), a picture book and "The Puppy Sister "(1995), a chapter book; followed in the 2000s by adult works "Hawkes Harbor" (2004), a novel and "Some of Tim's Stories" (2007), a collection of short stories.