Eleanor H. Porter

Biography

Eleanor H. Porter (1868–1920) was an American novelist best known for creating Pollyanna, one of the most beloved characters in children’s literature. Born Eleanor Hodgman in Littleton, New Hampshire, she studied at the New England Conservatory of Music before turning to writing. Her novel Pollyanna (1913) introduced the "glad game" to popular culture and became an enormous bestseller, followed by the sequel Pollyanna Grows Up (1915). The character’s name became a byword for optimism. Porter wrote over a dozen other novels, but Pollyanna remains her enduring legacy, adapted into films, stage plays, and translations worldwide.