Thornton Wilder was born in Madison, Wisconsin, on April 17, 1897, the second of five children. He spent his childhood traveling back and forth to the Far East where his father was posted as the United States Consul General to Hong Kong and Shanghai. Wilder's mother was a cultured, educated woman who instilled a love of literature, drama, and languages in her children. The Wilder children were all highly educated and accomplished.

In 1915 Wilder finished high school in California and enrolled in Oberlin College in Ohio, where he studied the Greek and Roman classics. When the family moved to New Haven, Connecticut, two years later, Wilder followed, enrolling in Yale University. After he had complete his B.A. in 1920, he went to Rome, where he studied archaeology. That summer in Rome inspired his first novel, "The Cabala" (1926).

Wilder's breakthrough novel was "The Bridge Of San Luis Rey" (1927), an examination of the fate of five travelers who fall to their deaths from a bridge in 18th-century Peru.

In 1938 Wilder wrote "Our Town," which was a huge success on Broadway. The play traces the childhood, courtship, marriage, and death of Emily Webb and George Gibbs, and finds universal meaning in the ordinary lives lived in Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, a fictional town. based on Peterborough, New Hampshire, where Wilder spent many summers at the MacDowell Colony.

Inspired by James Joyce's "Finnegan's Wake," "The Skin Of Our Teeth" came out in 1943. It depicts five thousand years in the lives of George and Maggie Antrobus. The play was Wilder's critical response to the American entry into World War II. Although many visitors exited the theater after the first act, the play earned Wilder a Pulitzer Prize.

"The Matchmaker" (1954) was turned into the Broadway musical "Hello, Dolly! " - a critical and popular success. The musical went on to win 10 Tony Awards and ensured Wilder's financial security for life.

In addition to Pulitzer Prizes and Tony awards, Wilder received many other literary awards for his work as well.

On December 7, 1975, Wilder died at the age of 78 in Hamden, Connecticut, where he had lived for many years with his devoted sister Isabel.