Susan Eloise Hinton (born July 22, 1948) is an American writer best known for her young-adult novels (YA) set in Oklahoma, especially The Outsiders (1967), which she wrote during high school.
[3] Hinton's publisher suggested she use her initials instead of her feminine given names so that the first[11] male book reviewers would not dismiss the novel because its author was female.
[7][d] After the success of The 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.
[12] She enjoys reading (Jane Austen, Mary Renault, and F. Scott Fitzgerald),[7] taking classes at the local university, and horseback riding.
[13] She resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with her husband David Inhofe, a software engineer she met in her freshman biology class at college.
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'."