Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythical island of Neverland as the leader of the Lost Boys, interacting with fairies, pirates, mermaids, Native Americans, and occasionally ordinary children from the world outside Neverland.
Illustration of Peter Pan playing the pipes, by F. D. Bedford from Peter and Wendy (1911)
Cover of 1915 edition of J. M. Barrie's novel, first published in 1911, illustrated by F. D. Bedford
Peter Pan, as he appears in Walt Disney's film adaptation (1953)
The Paradise of Peter Pan by Edward Mason Eggleston, 1934
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several successful novels and plays. There he met the Llewelyn Davies boys, who inspired him to write about a baby boy who has magical adventures in Kensington Gardens, then to write Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, a 1904 West End "fairy play" about an ageless boy and an ordinary girl named Wendy who have adventures in the fantasy setting of Neverland.
Portrait by Herbert Rose Barraud, 1892
Barrie in 1892
Some of Barrie's novels
Peter Pan statue (1912) by Sir George Frampton in Kensington Gardens, London