Mark Winegardner ( born November 24 , 1961 ) is an American writer born and raised in Bryan , Ohio . Robert Rosen is an American writer born in Brooklyn , New York , on July 27 , 1952 . The King and I . It is based on Margaret Landon 's novel , Anna and the King of Siam ( 1944 ) , which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens , governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s . The King and I (1956 film) . The screenplay by Ernest Lehman is based on the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II musical The King and I , based in turn on the novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon . That novel in turn was based on memoirs written by Anna Leonowens , who became school teacher to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s .
The King and I is based on a novel by an American writer born in 1908.