Elwyn Brooks White was a leading American essayist, humorist, poet, and literary stylist, author of beloved children's classics such as Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and The Swan's Trumpet. He graduated from Cornell University in 1921 and, five years Later, he joined the staff of the newly founded The New Yorker magazine. His essays in this publication quickly garnered critical acclaim. Written in a personal and direct style, and with an affable sense of humor, his witty pieces contained reflections on various topics. : city life, politics, literature… He also wrote poems, cartoon legends, and brief sketches for the magazine, and his writings helped set his intellectual and cosmopolitan tone.

Author of more than seventeen books of prose and poetry, White was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1973. He won countless awards, including the 1971 National Medal of Literature, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Prize, for "a substantial contribution and Enduring Children's Literature, ”and the 1978 Special Pulitzer Prize for all of his work. He also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 and the Gold Medal for essays and criticism from the National Institute of Arts and Letters. During his life, many young people asked him if his stories were true. In a letter, he replied: “They are imaginary. But real life is only one type of life, there is also the life of the imagination.