Born in London, A. A. Milne attended a small, independent school run by his father. He went on to Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1903 with a B.A. in Mathematics. His articles for a student magazine gained attention from the popular British magazine Punch, where he became a regular contributor and later, an assistant editor. Milne was primarily a playwright until his two books about a boy name Christopher Robin--named after his son, Christopher Robin Milne (1920-96)--and characters inspired by his son's stuffed animals (led by a teddy bear named Winnie-the-Pooh) overshadowed his previous work.

A veteran of World War I and II, Milne died at his home in Sussex in 1956, a couple weeks after his 74th birthday.