苏珊·埃洛伊丝·欣顿

苏珊·埃洛伊丝·欣顿（Susan Eloise Hinton，1948年7月22日—）是一位美国作家，她创作了以奥克拉荷马州为背景的青年文学作品。 1988年，她因在青年文学写作方面做出的贡献，美国图书馆协会向其颁奖。

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. Hinton is credited with introducing the YA genre. She graduated from the University of Tulsa.

In 1988, she received the inaugural Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association for her cumulative contribution in writing for teens.

Early life

Susan Eloise Hinton was born on July 22, 1948 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her father, Grady, was a door-to-door salesman, and her mother, Lillian, was a factory worker. Lillian was physically and emotionally abusive, throwing one of Hinton's early manuscripts in a trash burner (though she allowed her to rescue them), and Hinton described Grady as "an extremely cold man."

Growing up, she and her family attended a "fundamentalist, hellfire and brimstone" church, which she disliked deeply and turned her away from religion as an adult. Grady developed a brain tumor when Hinton was 15 and died when she was in her junior year of high school.

Career

1960s: The Outsiders

While still in her teens, Hinton wrote The Outsiders, her first and most popular novel, set in Oklahoma in the 1960s. She began writing it in 1965. The book was inspired by two rival gangs at her school, Will Rogers High School, the Greasers and the Socs, and her desire to empathize with the Greasers by writing from their point of view. She wrote the novel when she was 16 and it was published in 1967. Since then, the book has sold more than 14 million copies. In 2017, Viking Press stated the book sells over 500,000 copies a year.

Hinton's publisher suggested she use her initials instead of her feminine given names so that the first male book reviewers would not dismiss the novel because its author was female. 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 and to allow her to keep her private and public lives separate.

1970s–1980s: Young adult novels

In 1971, Hinton released her second book, That Was Then, This Is Now, a coming-of-age story following two close friends, Byron and Mark, whose friendship is tested when the two of them are exposed to the world of drug dealing. Her third book, Rumble Fish, followed in 1975. It is about high-schooler Rusty-James, whose admiration for his older brother leads to jealousy and heartbreak. Her fourth young adult novel, Tex, was published in 1979 and follows reckless teenager Tex and his difficult family life. Taming the Star Runner, her final young adult novel, was published in 1988 and is the only one of her YA novels that has not been made into a film.

By 1982, her four novels had sold over 10 million copies.

1990s–2000s: Children's and adult books

In the 1990s, Hinton began writing children's books. She published the picture book Big David, Little David in 1995. It was followed later that year with The Puppy Sister, a children's novella about a family's pet dog turning into a human.

In 2004, Hinton released her first adult novel, Hawkes Harbor. Unlike her previous books, Hawkes Harbor contains strong language and sexual situations. Her second adult novel, Some of Tim's Stories, was published in 2007.

Hinton continues to write and has tried other styles of writing, including screenwriting.

Personal life

In interviews, Hinton has said that she is a private person and an introvert who no longer does public appearances. She enjoys reading (Jane Austen, Mary Renault, and F. Scott Fitzgerald), taking classes at the local university, and horseback riding (she has shown in dressage and jumping). Hinton also revealed to Vulture that she enjoys writing fan fiction.