Yet, she all but started a new genre in writing — young adult literature.

On Saturday [date] Hinton will be inducted into the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame in a banquet and ceremony . . . at Philbrook Museum of Art.

As a teen-ager in the late '60s, Hinton wrote "The Outsiders," a story that sprung from her observations of conflicts between the "in" crowd and the "out" crowd at Tulsa's Will Rogers High School.

But she did not write her book for publication. That came by serendipity.

"I was writing it for myself. That's the best way to write a book," she said.

"I look back and I think it was totally written in my subconscious or something. I was mad about the social situation in my high school, and I've always been an introspective person. A lot of Ponyboy's thoughts were my thoughts. He's probably the closest I've come to putting myself into a character. I didn't have any grand design. I just sat down and started writing it."

She mentioned to a friend that she was writing a book. The friend's mother had a friend who also wrote and had a New York agent. She encouraged Hinton to send the manuscript to the agent. The rest is history.

"The Outsiders," with more than 8 million copies in print, is one of the best selling books for young adults of all time.

Hinton still lives and writes in Tulsa, most recently two children's books.

In preparation for Saturday's event, Rogers University's KRSC-TV (Cable-12) will rebroadcast at 8 p.m. Thursday an interview with Hinton.

At the banquet, film star Gailard Sartain, a longtime friend of Hinton's, will deliver a special video presentation at the event.

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