O.henry Biography and latest books by O.henry

Before the world knew him as O. Henry, his real name was William Sidney Porter. The lad grew up in a post-Civil War depression era. Despite his limited education, Porter was a registered pharmacist by 19, and later, earned a good reputation as a newspaper reporter. Porter then worked with various banks. While working at bank, Porter embezzled money that was meant for a weekly humour publication called \'The Rolling Stone\'. The magazine ran only for a year. Subsequently at 33, Porter was sentenced to 5 years of prison, the sentence was reduced to three years due to good behaviour.

The legend goes that Porter started writing his now famous \'twist in the tail\' short stories at prison, and this was also the first time he started using the pen name O.Henry. There are several stories to the origin of the pen name, none conclusive. Anyway, the stories were published when Porter was a free man and moved to New York City to work as a newspaper writer.

In a writing span of 16 years, O.Henry, as we shall call him now, wrote over 300 stories, winning the hearts of millions of readers in a world where TV and movies were yet to arrive and reading was a primary source of entertainment for the educated public.

The Gift of the Magi is a popular O.Henry pick and so is After Twenty Years and The Last Leaf. We thank O.Henry for the entertainment and the joy he still gives us.