Trivia: Why did author S.E. Hinton choose to go by her initials?
She hated her first name
To make her name androgynous
To keep her work from her parents
Her friends called her “Essie”
The correct answer is To make her name androgynous
So why is this answer correct? : Unfortunately, when S.E. Hinton released “The Outsiders” in 1967, sexism was rampant in the literary world. In order to get critics (and readers) to give the book a fair shot, Hinton’s publisher suggested she use initials. The book is written from a male point-of-view with primarily male characters, and the publisher thought male reviewers wouldn’t be able to suspend their disbelief when confronted with the author’s gender. So, Susan Eloise Hinton became S.E.