E. B. (Elwyn Brooks) White

Born in Mount Vernon, New York, in 1899, E. B. White studied at Cornell University and later became one of the defining voices of The New Yorker. He also wrote essays for Harper's and earned a reputation for prose that was clear, graceful, and quietly witty.

Many readers first meet him through Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, and The Trumpet of the Swan, books that helped make him one of the most cherished children's authors of the 20th century. He is also widely associated with The Elements of Style, the classic guide to writing that he revised and expanded from William Strunk Jr.'s original work.

White spent much of his later life in Maine, where rural life and close attention to the natural world shaped some of his finest writing. He died in 1985, but his books and essays still feel remarkably fresh: humane, funny, and full of care for both language and living things.