O. Henry (pseudonym for William Sydney Porter) was born on September 11, 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina.

U.S. short-story writer. He wrote for newspapers and later worked as a bank teller in Texas, where he was convicted of embezzlement; he began writing stories in prison as O. Henry. He moved to New York, where his tales romanticizing the commonplace, particularly the life of ordinary New Yorkers, and often using coincidence and surprise endings, became highly popular.

 His collections include Cabbages and Kings (1904); The Four Million (1906), including The Gift of the Magi; The Trimmed Lamp (1907), including The Last Leaf; and Whirligigs(1910), including The Ransom of Red Chief.