O. Henry

Born William Sydney Porter in Greensboro, North Carolina, O. Henry became famous under the pen name that readers still know today. Before literary success, he worked a range of jobs, including pharmacist, ranch hand, draftsman, and bank clerk, and spent important years in Texas that shaped both his life and his fiction.

His stories are celebrated for their humor, quick pace, sympathy for everyday people, and the clever reversals that became his trademark. After moving to New York in 1902, he wrote prolifically, drawing on the energy of city life and publishing many of the short pieces that made him widely popular.

Though his life included hardship as well as success, his work has endured because it is lively, accessible, and full of human feeling. Readers still return to stories such as "The Gift of the Magi" for their charm, irony, and generosity of spirit.