Among the most beloved writers of young adult fiction of her generation, S.E. Hinton was born Susan Eloise Hinton in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1948. She was still in high school when she first began writing a story inspired by two rival gangs in her area-which would eventually become her debut novel, The Outsiders. Published in 1967 while Hinton was enrolled at the University of Tulsa, the novel would prove to be a huge success, earning tremendous critical acclaim and eventually selling over 14 million copies. Hinton would eventually earn her degree in education from the University of Tulsa, but ultimately decided against a teaching career and opted to continue writing. After overcoming a bout of writer's block by committing to writing two pages a day, Hinton published That Was Then, This Is Now in 1971. Four years later, she published Rumblefish, and four years after that she published Tex. Hinton was in the middle of a break from writing when, in 1983, director Francis Ford Coppola adapted both The Outsiders and Rumblefish into acclaimed feature films, introducing Hinton to a new generation of fans. Hinton would branch out as a writer in the years to come, publishing adult fiction with Hawkes Harbor, and children's books with Big David, Little David and The Puppy Sister.