S. E. Hinton

S. E. Hinton Bio

Susan Eloise Hinton, known professionally as S. E. Hinton, is an American writer born on July 22, 1948, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She is widely recognized as one of the most influential voices in young-adult literature, best known for her debut novel The Outsiders, which she began writing while still in high school. Hinton is credited with helping to define and popularize the modern young-adult genre through stories that explore teenage life, loyalty, class tensions, and personal growth. Over a career spanning more than five decades, she has produced novels, children’s books, adult fiction, and screenplays, several of which have been adapted into well-known films.

Early Life and Background

Susan Eloise Hinton was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on July 22, 1948. Her father, Grady, worked as a door-to-door salesman, while her mother, Lillian, worked in a factory. Hinton has described her mother as physically and emotionally abusive, recalling that Lillian once threw one of her early manuscripts into a trash burner, although she allowed Hinton to rescue the pages. She has also described her father as an extremely cold man. The family attended a fundamentalist church with hellfire-and-brimstone preaching, an experience Hinton has said turned her away from religion as an adult.

When Hinton was fifteen, her father developed a brain tumor, and he died during her junior year of high school. The loss had a lasting impact on her personal life and on her early writing. Growing up in Tulsa gave her a strong sense of place, and the rivalries she observed among local teenagers later became the foundation for her fiction. She attended Will Rogers High School, where two real rival groups helped inspire the central conflict of her first novel.

Path to Writing

Hinton began writing The Outsiders in 1965, at the age of sixteen, after she was moved by the social divisions she saw between different groups of teenagers at her high school. The novel was inspired by two rival gangs at Will Rogers High School, the Greasers and the Socs, and by her desire to tell the story from the point of view of the Greasers. Her publisher suggested she use only her initials on the cover so that male reviewers would not dismiss the book because its author was female, and the pen name S. E. Hinton stuck. The book was published in 1967, and Hinton later chose to keep using her initials so she could separate her public writing life from her private life.

After finishing high school, Hinton attended the University of Tulsa in her hometown. There she met her future husband, David E. Inhofe, in a freshman biology class. She has said that he encouraged her to keep writing after she experienced writer’s block following the success of The Outsiders, eventually helping her complete her second novel. Hinton has remained closely connected to Tulsa throughout her life, drawing on the city and its surroundings for the settings of nearly all of her fiction.

S. E. Hinton Career

Early Career (1967-1971)

S. E. Hinton’s early career was defined almost entirely by her debut novel, The Outsiders, published in 1967 by Viking Press. She wrote the book at sixteen, and it was promoted using only her initials to avoid gender bias from reviewers. The novel became a major success, eventually selling more than 14 million copies, and it established Hinton as an important new voice in American literature. In 2017, Viking Press reported that the book continued to sell over 500,000 copies a year.

Following that success, Hinton released her second novel, That Was Then, This Is Now, in 1971. The book followed two close friends whose bond is tested by exposure to drug dealing. By the early 1980s, her first four novels had sold more than 10 million copies in total, confirming her place as a leading writer for young readers.

Breakthrough (1975-1988)

Hinton’s breakthrough as a sustained bestselling author came through a string of well-received young-adult novels in the 1970s and 1980s. Her third book, Rumble Fish, was published in 1975 and told the story of a high-schooler whose admiration for his older brother leads to jealousy and heartbreak. Her fourth young-adult novel, Tex, arrived in 1979 and followed a reckless teenager and his difficult family life. Her final young-adult novel, Taming the Star Runner, was published in 1988 and remains the only one of her YA titles that has not been adapted into a film.

During the same period, several of her books were adapted into notable films. Tex was released in 1982 under director Tim Hunter, while The Outsiders and Rumble Fish both came out in 1983 under the direction of Francis Ford Coppola. Hinton co-wrote the screenplay for Rumble Fish with Coppola. That Was Then, This Is Now followed in 1985, directed by Christopher Cain. Hinton worked as a location scout on these productions and made cameo appearances in three of the four films, playing a nurse in The Outsiders, a typing teacher in Tex, and a sex worker in Rumble Fish.

Notable Works and Milestones

The Outsiders stands as Hinton’s signature work and the foundation of her reputation, a novel that has remained continuously in print since 1967. Her film adaptations, especially those directed by Francis Ford Coppola, cemented her influence on American popular culture. In 1988, Hinton received the inaugural Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association for her cumulative contribution to writing for teens, a milestone that recognized her role in shaping the modern young-adult genre.

S. E. Hinton Award Nominations

S. E. Hinton has been recognized by major literary institutions for her lasting contributions to writing for young readers. Beyond the Margaret Edwards Award, she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa by the University of Tulsa in 1992, honoring her scholarly and literary standing. In 1998, she was inducted into the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame at the Oklahoma Center for Poets and Writers of Oklahoma State University-Tulsa, further recognizing her importance to Oklahoma letters. Detailed records of additional nominations across her career are not fully verified in the source material.

S. E. Hinton Awards Won

S. E. Hinton has earned major honors for her body of work in young-adult and children’s literature. In 1988, she received the inaugural Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association for her cumulative contribution to writing for teens. She was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa by the University of Tulsa in 1992, and in 1998 she was inducted into the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame.

S. E. Hinton Family

Susan Eloise Hinton’s family life has remained closely tied to Oklahoma. She married David E. Inhofe, a software engineer she met in her freshman biology class at the University of Tulsa, in 1970. David E. Inhofe is a cousin of former Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe. The couple’s only child, a son named Nicholas David, was born in August 1983 in Tulsa, where the family has continued to live.

Personal Life

S. E. Hinton has described herself as a private person and an introvert, and she has stepped back from public appearances. She enjoys reading authors such as Jane Austen, Mary Renault, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, taking classes at her local university, and horseback riding, with experience in both dressage and jumping. She has also shared that she enjoys writing fan fiction. Hinton and her late husband raised their son in Tulsa, the same city that has inspired nearly all of her fiction.