Over the weekend, Vol.1 Brooklyn pointed us towards this delightful collection of never-before-seen photographs of Ernest Hemingway as a teenager, in all his handsomely smug glory. Inspired, we took it upon ourselves to dig up a handful of snapshots of other legendary authors in those awkward (or not so awkward, as the case may be) teenage years, before they penned the words that made them famous. After the jump, check out what we found — and if we missed your favorite photo of a soon-to-be-famous author, be sure to add it to our collection in the comments.
A 17-year-old Ernest Hemingway as a high school junior. [via]
A teenage Neil Gaiman. [via]
A 16-year-old Flannery O’Connor, profiled in her high school paper. [via]
Philip Roth at his senior prom at Weequahic High School, 1950. He’s all the way in the back. [via]
At left, an 18-year-old Toni Morrison (then Chloe Wofford) with a few of her Lorain High School classmates. [via]
Fifteen-year-old Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain. [via]
Gorgeous Mary Karr in her hometown, age 15. [via]
A 16-year-old Allen Ginsberg having a swell time. [via]
A 15-year-old Martin Amis with his famous daddy. [via]
Fifteen-year-old Sylvia Plath. [via]
Seventeen-year-old J.D. Salinger’s yearbook photo from Valley Forge Military Academy, 1936. [via]
At the far right, a 14-year-old Virginia Stephen, soon to be Woolf. [via]
Anaïs Nin at 19. [via]
A teenage Maurice Sendak. [via]
Margaret Atwood’s Leaside Highschool senior yearbook photo. [via]
Samuel Beckett as a very serious 14-year-old. [via]