Hector Hugh Munro, better known by his pen-name Saki, was the author of The Open Window. Saki was born in present-day Myanmar in 1870, and in his early childhood he was sent to live with family in England. He intended to follow in his father's footsteps and become a police officer in Burma, but this was not to be. When he contracted malaria, he was too ill to work and was sent back to England. He began his writing career as a journalist and published his first book in 1900. He spent some time traveling and writing as a foreign affairs correspondent but settled in London in 1908. From here, he penned a number of witty short stories, including The Open Window. Saki was a gay man but had to keep his romantic life very private because, at the time, homosexual relationships were illegal in England. He served in the First World War, and was killed by a German sniper on the 14th of November, 1916.