O. Henry O. Henry William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American short story writer. His stories are known for their surprise endings. William Sidney Porter was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina. He changed the spelling of his middle name to Sydney in 1898. His parents were Dr. Algernon Sidney Porter (1825–88), a physician, and Mary Jane Virginia Swaim Porter (1833–65). William's parents had married on April 20, 1858. When William was three, his mother died after birthing her third child, and he and his
William Whitehead (Canadian writer) William Whitehead (Canadian writer) William Frederick (Bill) Whitehead (August 16, 1931 – February 1, 2018) was a Canadian writer, actor and filmmaker. Whitehead is best known as a writer of radio and television documentaries and as the former partner of the late Canadian writer Timothy Findley. Whitehead was born in Hamilton, Ontario, to Marjorie and Berkeley Kyle Whitehead. His parents had moved there from Saskatchewan, and the family moved back to Regina when Whitehead was a child. His parents subsequently divorced due to his father's epilepsy-related inability to maintain stable employment; Whitehead did not see his father again until his