Biography
A science-fiction, fantasy and horror author, George R.R. Martin has been writing professionally since the 1970s, and became a household name in 2011 when his fantasy series A Game Of Thrones was adapted into a hit television series.
Born in 1948, Martin rarely travelled further than the streets around his school and home. He was keen to see the world, and used books and his imagination as a way to escape. He wrote short stories for his neighbourhood friends, and became an avid fan of comic books, a passion that continues to this day.
Graduating from college in 1970, Martin became an English instructor but continued to write in his spare time. It was the sudden death of a close friend that led to him re-evaluating his life, and in 1979 he quit teaching to write full time. His vampiric novel Fevre Dream was published in 1982, and he also wrote numerous award-winning short stories. In 1991, inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien, he started work on his own epic fantasy series: A Game Of Thrones. The first in the series was published in 1996, and by the time he published the fourth, the series had become a New York Times bestseller and production had started on the HBO show.
Brutal, shocking and intense, the A Game Of Thrones series now encompasses five novels - with a further two planned - as well as various short stories. Intricate, twisting and full of betrayal, George R.R. Martin creates worlds and characters we can believe in and truly care about.
