A.A. Milne

Writer

Name at birth: Alan Alexander Milne

Milne is the creator of Winnie the Pooh, the beloved stuffed bear who starred in a series of books by Milne and (much later) in the animated films of Walt Disney. Milne was an author and playwright who found his greatest success writing tales for children; his 1924 book of poetry When We Were Very Young became an enduring classic. Winnie-the-Pooh was published in 1926; the book was inspired in part by the stuffed toys of Milne's son, Christopher Robin, who appears in the stories with Pooh. Pooh's adventures were also covered in Milne's books Now We Are Six (1927) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928).

Extra credit: Milne's children's books were illustrated by Ernest H. Shephard... Milne was also a playwright and a frequent contributor to the British humor magazine Punch... He also authored the detective story The Red House Mystery (1922), which was famously insulted by Raymond Chandler in his essay The Simple Art of Murder.