The Outsiders was written by a 16-year-old girl!

The Outsiders was written by a 16-year-old girl!



Susan Eloise Hinton went by the name S.E. Hinton so as not to be dismissed outright by male book reviewers. She began writing her first novel, The Outsiders , when she was only 15 years old, and she had it published when she was only 16. The novel was an instant classic. Her follow-up novel, That Was Then, This Is Now didn’t come out until after Hinton was finished with college. After her initial success she suffered from severe writer’s block.



Another fun fact: Hinton made a cameo appearance in the film adaptation of one of her novels. In the movie Rumble Fish, she plays a prostitute.