George R.R. Martin

George R.R. Martin (full name George Raymond Richard Martin - born Sep 20, 1948), also known as  as GRRM is a fantasy and science fiction novelist, a screenwriter and TV producer.
He became famous for his series of books: A Song of Ice and Fire, a blockbuster series of fantasy novels that has been bought to the small screen by HBO in its TV series: "The Game of Thrones".

George R. R.Martin is co-executive producer on the show and writes the scripts for 10 episodes a season.
He's been called "the American Tolkien"and Time magazine considered him one of the "most influential people in the world."
GRRM was born on September 20, 1948 in New Jersey and is of Italian, Irish, German, English, and French ancestry.

George R.R. Martin Answers Facebook Fans' Questions

He was a keen reader with a vivid imagination, and dreamt of visitng far off places- different cultures fascinated him.

Martin began writing when he was young- he wrote stories about a mythical kingdom populated by his pet turtles, and became became an avid comic-book fan, especially keen on Marvel Comics.

In 1970 Martin earned a B. S. in Journalism from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, and from 1976 to 1978 Martin was an English and journalism instructor at Clarke.

The sudden death of friend Tom Reamy in 1977 made Martin look at his own life, and he decided to write full time. 

In the eighties, Martin moved in to TV and was hired as staff writer and then as an Executive Story Consultant, for the relaunch of the Twilight Zone. 

A Song of Ice and Fire
At the beginning of the 90s, Martin returned to writing novels and began "A Song of Ice and Fire", which was inspired by the Wars of the Roses and Ivanhoe. A Game of Thrones, was published in 1996. 9 years later, in 2005, A Feast for Crows, the 4th novel, moved to the very top of The New York Times Bestseller List and also hit the Number 1 ranking on The Wall Street Journal bestseller list.

A Feast for Crows was nominated for both a Quill Award and the British Fantasy Award.
Martin had, by this time, truly hit the startosphere!

The 5th book, A Dance with Dragons, published in July 2011, also hit the Number 1 spot on the NY Times Bestseller List and held a spot on the list for no less than 88 weeks.