The Outsiders turns 50

Author S. E. Hinton was just a teen herself—16—when the book was first published half a century ago

Happy 50th! Can you believe it’s been this long? No. I can’t believe I’m this old! You started writing the book when you were 15, so you’re not that old. I just like to write. I’ve been writing practically since I learnt to read. So by the time I wrote The Outsiders, I’d been writing for about eight years. It was actually the third book I’d written. What sparked The Outsiders? I began a short story about a kid who got beaten up going home from the movies. Another reason why I wrote it is that I wanted to read it. There was nothing realistic being written for teens at that time. It was all, like, “Mary Jane Goes to the Prom” And I’d been to a few proms, and that was not what was happening. I wanted to read a book that dealt realistically with teen life as I was seeing it. How do you think it affected your career to have success so young? My success was slow. My first royalty cheque was for $10. So I wasn’t thinking, “Oh, I’ve got it made for the rest of my life.” The only thing that overwhelmed me was the realisation that there was an audience out there. You spent a lot of time on the movie set. What memory stands out? The best thing, besides working with Francis [Ford Coppola], whom I adore, was the boys. They were typical goofy teenagers, but you get ’em in front of a camera and they’d turn into these serious artists. I loved watching that. What’s it been like to watch their careers? Insane. And I’ve stayed in touch with all of them. I loved them very much and they knew that I loved them, and they’ve never forgotten it. Rob [Lowe] used to call me Mom half the time.