Hinton also stated in an interview with that she enjoys writing fan fiction.

Scott Fitzgerald ), taking classes at the local university, and horseback riding.

However, she has revealed that she enjoys reading ( Jane Austen, Mary Renault, and F. In interviews, Hinton has stated that she is a private person and an introvert who no longer does public appearances. 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. Hinton's publisher suggested she use her initials instead of her feminine given names so that the very first male book reviewers would not dismiss the novel because its author was female. In 2017, Viking Press stated the book sells over 500,000 copies a year. Since then, the book has sold more than 14 million copies. She wrote the novel when she was 16 and it was published in 1967. 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. While still in her teens, Hinton became a household name as the author of The Outsiders, her first and most popular novel, set in Oklahoma in the 1960s.

In 1988, she received the inaugural Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association for her cumulative contribution in writing for teens. Hinton is credited with introducing the YA genre. 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. Young-adult novels, children's books, screenplays

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton