J. M. Barrie

J. M. Barrie was born in 1860 in a Scottish village, the son of a weaver. At the age of twenty-five, he moved to London, where he began his career as a playwright and novelist, a career that would bring him fame and many honors. He told his first Peter Pan stories to the sons of his friend Sylvia Llewellyn Davies, later incorporating them into The Little White Bird. In 1904, Peter Pan made its stage debut and was an immediate sensation, its revival every Christmas in London through 1940 a testament to its popularity. Barrie was made a baronet in 1913, received the Order of Merit in 1922, and was named president of the Society of Authors in 1928. He died in 1937.