Thornton Niven Wilder was born in Madison, Wisconsin on April 17, 1897, the son of Amos Parker Wilder and Isabella Niven Wilder. His twin brother died at birth, and Wilder grew up with an older brother, Amos, and three younger sisters, Charlotte, Isabel, and Janet. This multi-talented family lived in China for a time, where Amos Parker Wilder was U.S. consul general to Hong Kong and Shanghai. Thornton Wilder began writing as a boy. He finished high school in California, attended Oberlin College in Ohio, and received his undergraduate degree at Yale and his graduate degree at Princeton. By the time he died on December 7, 1975, at his home in Hamden, Connecticut, Thornton Wilder was an American icon, and an internationally famous playwright and novelist. To this day, his works are read, performed and appreciated by audiences worldwide.

(Bio from The Thornton Wilder Society, http://www.tcnj.edu/~wilder/biography/frame.html)