Ray Bradbury
"Predicting the future is much too easy... You look at the people around you, the street you stand on, the visible air you breathe, and predict more of the same. To hell with more. I want better."
-Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury is the author of the book I’m reading, Fahrenheit 451. Together with The Martian Chronicles these are his two most famous books. Bradbury was born in Waukegan, Illinois on August 22, 1920. He is half Swedish and after moving around lot, he ended up living in Los Angeles at an age of 14. Interestingly, raybradbury.com claims that Bradbury started writing at the age 13. He decided that he wanted to be a writer after going to a magician show where the magician pointed him out and commanded: Live forever! It also claims that ever since that day, he has been writing every single day.
As Ray Bradbury had managed to graduate from high school, which was under the depression, he did not have the money to go to college. What he did instead was going to the library almost every day for 10 years. He had many small jobs as he worked his way up to become a known writer. He for example sold newspapers. Bradbury was a horror and fantasy writer who refused to be looked at as a science fiction author. According to biography.com, Bradbury’s work had the foundations of the unreal and fantastical.
Bradbury’s first professional writing was Pendulum. It was sold in November 1941. By 1943 he had managed to become a full time writer and in 1947 he got to publish his first short story collection. Bradbury met his wife in a bookstore and the same year as he managed to become a full time writer, he and Marguerite "Maggie" McClure, got married. She was his biggest support and together they had four daughters, Susan, Ramona, Bettina, and Alexandra.
After a 70 years long carrier, he passed away on June 5, 2012 after being ill for a long time. This man, who became 91 years old, had inspired lots of people to dream, create and think. He was an all-round writer, writing more than 100 short stories, almost fifty books, and also uncountable essays, poems, plays, teleplays, screenplays, and operas. Raybradbury.com says that he recipient of the 2000 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Also he got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Together with this he received several other awards too. Of our time, he was one of the most celebrated authors (Collins, 2012)
To save what I think is the best, to last, he was an optimistic and happy person. And this quote could not show that any clearer: “In my later years I have looked in the mirror each day and found a happy person staring back. Occasionally I wonder why I can be so happy. The answer is that every day of my life I've worked only for myself and for the joy that comes from writing and creating. The image in my mirror is not optimistic, but the result of optimal behavior.” This is written in his book of essays that was published in 2005. It is called Bradbury Speaks (Collins, 2012).
References:
http://www.spaceagecity.com/bradbury/ (downloaded 13.01.2017)
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury 25.10.2016 (downloaded 13.01.2017)
Collins. H 2012 http://www.raybradbury.com/ (downloaded 13.01.2017)
Editors 31.07.2015 http://www.biography.com/people/ray-bradbury-9223240#synopsis (downloaded 13.01.2017)