Ray Bradbury was born in Illinois, on August 22, 1920. He was one of three kids in his family. His father was Leonard Spaulding Bradbury and his mother was Esther Marie Moberg Bradbury. In 1931, Ray started writing his own stories at the age of 11 for himself. Then in 1932, his father got laid off from being a telephone lineman. In 1934, Ray and his family moved to Los Angeles, California. Bradbury graduated from a Los Angeles High School in 1938. Everyday he would be at the library reading, or be at his house on his typewriter, typing. He sold newspapers to make extra money on Los Angeles street corners from 1938-1942. His first story publication was "Hollerbochen's Dilemma," printed in 1938 in Imagination!, which was a children?s magazine. In 1939, Bradbury published his own fan magazine called Futuria Fantasia. Bradbury's first paid publication was "Pendulum" in 1941 to Super Science Stories. In 1943, Bradbury gave up his newspaper job and worked full time writing his own stories. In 1947 Bradbury married Marguerite McClure. Also in that same year, he published his first short story collection, Dark Carnival.
Highly respected by the writing community, Mr. Bradbury's many honors include the 0. Henry Memorial Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America. Ray Bradbury's writing has been honored in many ways, but perhaps the most unusual was when an Apollo astronaut named the Dandelion Crater on the Moon after Bradbury's novel, Dandelion Wine.
Since 1985, Mr. Bradbury has adapted 42 of his short stories for The Ray Bradbury Television Theater on USA Cable. His creativity has also found expression with Walt Disney Enterprises where he designed the Spaceship Earth exhibition at Epcot Center. Bradbury has touched the hearts of thousands with his magical tales of insightful aliens and futuristic worlds. Best known for such classics as Fahrenheit 451, Dandelion Wine, The Illustrated Man, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and The Martian Chronicles, Bradbury was highly instrumental in the becoming of the science fiction genre. His novels, short stories, poems, plays and children's books have sparked the imagination of an entire generation, not just for their brilliance but for their commentary on the state of humankind. Widely regarded as the most important figure in the development of science fiction as a literary genre, Ray Bradbury's work evokes the themes of racism, censorship, technology, nuclear war, humanistic values and the importance of imagination. His stories are as haunting and disturbing as they are entertaining. Ray currently lives in California with his wife and cat and is still actively writing and lecturing.
