Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| The Outsiders | 1967 |
| That Was Then, This Is Now | 1971 |
| Rumble Fish | 1975 |
| Tex | 1979 |
| Taming the Star Runner | 1988 |
| Hawkes Harbor | 2004 |
Publication Order of Short Story Collections
| Some of Tim’s Stories | 2007 |
Publication Order of Children’s Books
| Big David, Little David | 1995 |
| The Puppy Sister | 1995 |
About S. E. Hinton
S. E. Hinton is an American writer, born Susan Eloise Hinton in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on 22 July 1948. She is best known for “The Outsiders” (1967), a novel about rival teenage gangs that she wrote while still at high school, and she is credited with introducing the young adult genre. All five of her young adult novels are set in Oklahoma.
Hinton began “The Outsiders” in 1965, when she was a pupil at Will Rogers High School in Tulsa. It was inspired by two rival groups at the school, the Greasers and the Socs, and is told from the Greasers’ point of view. Her publisher, Viking, suggested she use her initials so that male reviewers would not dismiss the book because its author was a woman, and she has kept the name ever since. The novel has sold more than 14 million copies.
She went on to the University of Tulsa, where she met David Inhofe, whom she married in 1970. After the success of her first book she suffered from writer’s block, and he encouraged her to write two pages a day. The result was “That Was Then, This Is Now” (1971), about two close friends whose friendship is tested by drug dealing. “Rumble Fish” (1975) follows Rusty-James and his admiration for his older brother, and “Tex” (1979) is about a reckless teenager and his difficult family life. “Taming the Star Runner” (1988) was her last young adult novel.
Four of the five novels were filmed in the 1980s. Francis Ford Coppola directed both “The Outsiders” and “Rumble Fish” in 1983, and Hinton co-wrote the script for the second with him. “Tex” (1982) was directed by Tim Hunter and “That Was Then... This Is Now” (1985) by Christopher Cain. Hinton has cameo roles in three of the films, including a nurse in “The Outsiders”. A stage musical of “The Outsiders” opened on Broadway in April 2024 and won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
In 1988 she received the first Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association for her contribution to writing for teenagers. In the 1990s she turned to younger readers with the picture book “Big David, Little David” and the chapter book “The Puppy Sister” (both 1995). Her first novel for adults, “Hawkes Harbor”, appeared in 2004, followed by the short story collection “Some of Tim’s Stories” in 2007. She lives in Tulsa.