Kenneth Grahame was born in Scotland in 1859. On leaving school he worked at the Bank of England during the day and also wrote articles, stories, and poems, which he submitted to many publications. He married in 1899 and had a son, Alastair. The Wind in the Willows was originally a story for Alastair, and was spoken aloud as short stories. Only after that did Grahame put them into one book which was published in 1908. He died in 1932 and is buried in Oxford.