The beginning of this month will be remembered for years to come as the day that claimed the life of the Great writer Ray Bradbury. So, in honour of the man himself Frontier has decided to feature his work for our writing post.

Ray Bradbury was a giant of American literature who helped popularize science fiction with works such as The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451 – a classic novel about book censorship in a future society, and other favorites such as The Illustrated Man and Something Wicked This Way Comes.

As is the case with most of my posts, I am fascinated not only by the work of the artist but also by the person behind it. Someone with character, someone interesting with a story of their own separate to their work, someone with a life full of colour and chaos! Here’s a few interesting things about Ray Bradbury…

• He never learned to drive a car after witnessing an accident that killed several people and did not travel by airplane until much later in life
• He did not go to college, instead educating himself by spending hours reading in libraries, and began writing for pulp magazines.
• Fahrenheit 451 was made into an movie by French director Francois Truffaut and
• He famously called the internet a scam perpetrated by computer companies.

If you haven’t had the chance to check out some of his work already please do! As a writer, you will see Ray Bradbury has a style and voice unmatched. Also, see here for a letter from Ray to the Fayetteville Public Library detailing how he wrote the book Farenheit 451.

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