O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney Porter. He was born in 1862 in North Carolina. He worked as a pharmacist, a ranch hand, a bank clerk, and a newspaper columnist. For while he lived Central America and later went to prison for embezzling from a bank. He then became a very successful short-story writer. In his final years, he suffered from alcoholism and sickness and died penniless.

O.Henry specialized in short sentimental stories that built up to a surprise ending or "twist" of fate. Sometimes the ending was humorous, other times bittersweet, but usually ironic. He wrote about adventurers and common people: from small time criminals to lonely people who came to the big city, from poor people with little money to cowboys on the range.