James Matthew Barrie was a Scottish novelist and playwright best known for his play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. Born in Kirriemuir, Scotland in 1860, Barrie was the ninth of ten children. He was educated at the Glasgow Academy and later at the University of Edinburgh. Barrie's first novel, Better Dead, was published in 1887. He went on to write a number of other novels, including The Little Minister and Sentimental Tommy. He also wrote several plays, including Quality Street, The Admirable Crichton, and What Every Woman Knows. Barrie's most famous work, Peter Pan, was first performed in 1904. It tells the story of a boy who never grows up and his adventures in Neverland. The play was adapted into a novel in 1911 and has since been adapted into numerous films, television shows, and musicals. Barrie was a popular figure in London literary circles and was knighted in 1913. He died in 1937 at the age of 77. His legacy lives on in the form of the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens, London, and the J.M. Barrie Award for Playwriting, which is presented annually by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.