L. Frank Baum

L. Frank Baum (1856–1919) was an American writer born in Chittenango, New York, who tried acting, playwriting, poultry breeding, shopkeeping in South Dakota and trade journalism before he found his subject. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900 with W. W. Denslow's illustrations, was meant as a modern American fairy tale without the cruelty of the European ones, and its success led to thirteen more Oz books, a stage musical and early films. He wrote dozens of other children's books under his own name and several pseudonyms, including a series for girls as "Edith Van Dyne." He spent his last years in Hollywood, in a house he called Ozcot.