J. M. Barrie

J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) was a Scottish novelist and dramatist, born in Kirriemuir, Angus, the son of a weaver, whose childhood was shaped by his mother's grief for an older brother who died at thirteen. After Edinburgh University and journalism he made his name with novels of Scottish small-town life, then with the plays Quality Street, The Admirable Crichton and Peter Pan (1904), which grew out of his friendship with the five sons of Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, whom he later adopted. The novel Peter and Wendy followed in 1911. He gave the copyright of Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street children's hospital.