J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) was a bestselling writer well before he created Peter Pan. His famous children's plays grew from stories he had made up for the young sons of his friends Arthur and Sylvia Davies. First performed in 1904, Peter Pan was such a success it became an annual Christmas event. In 1911, Barrie novelized the play. Upon his death, Barrie left the copyright for Peter Pan to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London. <p/> Alison Lurie is the bestselling author of such novels as The War Between the Tates and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Foreign Affairs. She has also written extensively about children's literature, including Don't Tell the Grownups, Boys and Girls Forever, and, as co-editor, the Garland Library of Children's Classics. She is F. J. Whiton Professor of American Literature Emeritas at Cornell University.
