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 F. Brown (writer) William F. Brown (writer) William Ferdinand Brown (born April 16, 1928 in Jersey City, New Jersey) is an American playwright best known for writing the book of the musical, "The Wiz" (1974), an adaptation of L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls, for which he received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. His other works include "The Girl in the Freudian Slip" (1967) based on his 1959 novel, which played on Broadway for three days in May after a tour; "How to Steal an Election" (1968),