Bradbury Biography Essay

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Biography of Ray Douglas Bradbury

Ray Douglas Bradbury became interested in books and writing at the age of seven and aware of the "fabulous world of future and the world of fantasy," through the arrival of Buck Rogers in comic strips and the magazine Amazing Stories. Thus begun his journey into a life of fantastic and futuristic types of literature that would be synonymous with his name (Kunitz, 1955, p. 111). Bradbury was born in Waukegan, Illinois on August 22, 1920. His parents, Esther and Leonard Bradbury sent him to public school in Waukegan until the Bradbury family moved to California in 1934. Bradbury then entered school at Los Angeles High. The year before he graduated, he joined the Los Angeles Science-Fantasy Society. …show more content…

That was the end of his formal education, but he continued to keep occupied. Bradbury did this by visiting the library at night and writing in the day. He sold newspapers on Los Angeles street corners for four whole years after graduation. Bradbury started his career with the publishing of short stories. Bradbury's first paid publication was a relative success and caused him to take writing more seriously. He even started to develop his own writing style. By 1943, Bradbury gave up selling newspapers and undertook writing full-time. Many writings were added to periodicals (Johnson & Jepson, '98, Internet).
In 1945 one of his short stories was selected for Best American Short Stories. In 1947 Bradbury married Marguerite McClure, and that same year he compiled much of his best material and published them as his first short story collection called Dark Carnival. This was the beginning of his career as a renowned and acclaimed author of science fiction (Johnson & Jepson, 1998, …show more content…

Outside of his literary achievements, Ray Bradbury was the idea consultant and wrote the basic scenario for the United States Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair. He conceived the metaphors for Spaceship Earth, EPCOT, Disney World, and he contributed to the conception of the Orbitron space ride at Euro-Disney, France. He was creative consultant for the Jon Jerde Partnership, the architectural firm that blueprinted the Glendale Galleria, The Westside Pavilion in Los Angeles, and Horton Plaza in San Diego. [Internet]

Ray Bradbury still lives in California and is actively writing and lecturing. His hobbies include painting in oil and watercolors and collecting Mexican tribal dance masks. Despite his familiarity with outer space, he still hasn't learned to drive a car (Fadool, 1976).
The works of Ray Bradbury are as numerous as the sands of the sea, or so it seems. Here is a listing of the works of Ray Bradbury from the Dragon Convention Guest Biographies

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