Digital Repository

William Sydney Porter (O. Henry)

William Sydney Porter—better known by his pen name, O. Henry—was born in North Carolina and died in New York. But his sixteen years in Texas, from 1882 to 1898, made a lasting mark on his life and work. Later in life, when he began writing fiction under an assumed name, it was his early stories about Texas that helped launch his career.

Image: Studio Portrait of O. Henry, 1906. Image courtesy of the Austin History Center.

Audio: Houston Public Media

Studio Portrait of O. Henry