O. Henry's Workshop? A Prison Cell

William Sydney Porter, better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American short story writer. In 1896, he was accused of taking money from a bank that wasn't his. Instead of staying in Texas, he ran away to Honduras. When his wife became sick, Porter came back to be with her before she died. After that, Porter was found guilty.

He spent more than three years in jail in Ohio. This was when Porter began to really write. While in jail, he chose a pseudonym or made-up name to use for his writings. After that, on anything he wrote, he used O. Henry as his name.

This and more detailed information was learned by the 10th grade students of Kherson Specialized School No. 54. They took part in a literary quiz about life and work of the writer in the Foreign Language Department and in Kherson Window on America center.