Biography of Ray Bradbury (1920-)
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury, the author of more than 500 published literary works,
was born in Waukegan, Illinois, on August 22, 1920. Bradbury moved with his
family to Tucson, Arizona, when he was 6, but returned to Waukegan the
following year. In 1932, Bradbury's father lost his job and the family again moved
to Tucson, only to return to Waukegan the next year. In 1934, when Bradbury
was 14, the family moved permanently to Los Angeles, California. Mr. Bradbury
still resides in Los Angeles, but regards Waukegan as his hometown and has
used it as the setting of two of his novels, under the pseudonym of Green Town.
In his youth, Bradbury developed a love of magic and aspired to become a
magician. Encouraged in his creativity by his family, Bradbury turned to writing at
a young age, a profession at which many would argue he has worked quite a bit
of magic. In 1937, at the age of 17, Bradbury became a member of the Los
Angeles Science Fiction League, through which he published his first work, a
short lived science fiction fan magazine. Bradbury's first short story was
published in Weird Tales when he was 20. This was the first of many
professional publications of Bradbury's work, which includes Dark Carnival
(1947), Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), The Golden
Apples of the Sun (1953), Dandelion Wine (1957), Something Wicked This Way
Comes (1962), Death is a Lonely Business (1985), The April Witch (1987), Death
Has Lost Its Charm (1987), The Toynbee Collector (1988), Graveyard for
Lunatics (1990), Folon's Folon's (1990), Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on
Creativity (1991), A Chrestomathy of Ray Bradbury: A Dramatic Selection (1991),
and his most enduring work, Fahrenheit 451 (1953).
In addition to his numerous books and short stories, Bradbury wrote for years for
both Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone. He has written two
musicals, produced dramatic presentations of a number of his novels, and wrote
the screenplay for 1953's Moby Dick. His cable television show, The Ray
Bradbury Theater, has won numerous cable awards, and five of his novels
(Fahrenheit 451, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, It Came from Outer Space,
The Illustrated Man, and Something Wicked This Way Comes) have been made
into major motion pictures. Bradbury was a consultant for the 1963 World's Fair
and helped to design the Spaceship Earth ride at Disney World's EPCOT Center.
Additionally, Mr. Bradbury has worked as a consultant on city engineering and
rapid transit.
Though Ray Bradbury is most widely regarded as a science fiction writer, he has
not limited himself to that genre, having also produced works of drama and
psychological realism. Furthermore, it would be unfair to classify much of
Bradbury's more philosophical science fiction, Fahrenheit 451 included, within the
genre of science fiction. Fahrenheit 451 is as much a work of social criticism,
comparable to Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World, as a work of
science fiction. Bradbury has also written works of horror, fantasy, and mystery,
and many of his works - particularly his short stories - reject the supernatural
entirely for themes of childhood wonder, love, nostalgia, and hope. Bradbury's
work has contributed to American literature on many levels, and he remains one
of a very few authors who entertains both young and old alike.
Bradbury has been the recipient of countless literary awards, including the O.
Henry Memorial Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the Aviation-Space
Writer's Association Award for best space article in an American Magazine, the
World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Science Fiction Writers of
America Grand Master Award. In 2000, the National Book Foundation recognized
him for his Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. And in his most
unique and fitting recognition, the moon's Dandelion Crater was named after
Bradbury's novel Dandelion Wine.
Mr. Bradbury, father of four daughters, Susan, Ramona, Bettina, and Alexandra,
and grandfather of many, currently resides in Los Angeles, where he continues to
write and speak, enjoys painting, and collects Mexican artwork. He suffered a
stroke in 1999 but has continued to publish books at a prodigious clip. His more
recent works include The Homecoming (2006), Let's All Kill Constance (2002),
and One More for the Road (2002), a collection of short stories. Though he is
one of the preeminent science fiction writers of his generation, he is also a noted
technophobe: he has never driven a car, and he distrusts the internet,
computers, and ATM machines.