Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury , 1920-, American writer, b. Waukegan, Ill. A popular and very prolific writer of science fiction , Bradbury skillfully combines social and technological criticism with delightful fantasy. His best-known work is probably The Martian Chronicles (1950), the tale of the ruin of Martian civilization by greedy and corrupt earthlings, which was made into a film (1966) and a TV miniseries (1980). His short-story collections include The Golden Apples of the Sun (1953), The Last Circus and the Executioner (1980), The Toynbee Convector (1988), Quicker than the Eye (1996), and Driving Blind (1997); among his novels are Fahrenheit 451 (1953, film 1966), Dandelion Wine (1957), Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962, film 1983), The Halloween Tree (1972), and A Graveyard for Lunatics (1990). Bradbury has also written scripts for plays and films, a detective novel, children's stories, and poetry.

Bibliography: See biographies by W. L. Johnson (1980), D. Mogen (1986), and S. Weller (2005); studies by G. E. Slusser (1977), W. F. Touponce (1989 and 1998), J. Anderson (1990), and R. A. Reid (2000).

Bradbury, Ray (Douglas) (1920– ), American science fiction and fantasy writer and poet, born in Illinois and living from 1934 in Los Angeles, where he educated himself in the public library. He has published many short stories and novels, including perhaps his best-known single work, Fahrenheit 451 (1953, filmed by Truffaut in 1966), set in an authoritarian future state where reading is banned.