Winnie-the-Pooh was created in the 1920s by English author A. A. Milne, inspired by a real teddy bear and a plush bear named Winnie that Milne and his family encountered. The character first appeared by name in a Christmas Eve story in 1925, and the Pooh book proper was published in 1926.

Details:

• Milne’s son Christopher Robin Milne received a teddy bear in 1921, which partly inspired the Pooh character. The idea evolved into a literary figure after several related works and illustrations by E. H. Shepard.

• The first Pooh stories appeared in The London Evening News around Christmas Eve 1925, with the 1926 collection Winnie-the-Pooh marking the formal book debut.

• The book is part of Milne’s broader Pooh canon, including subsequent titles such as The House at Pooh Corner (1928), and it centers on adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood.