"Libraries raised me. I don’t believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don’t have any money. When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years."
-Ray Bradbury
Bradbury was born in Waukegan, Illinois. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was 13 years old. He is somewhat distantly related to the American Spalding family, owners of the famous Spalding sports equipment company. His central character Douglas Spaulding, from the novel Dandelion Wine was reportedly drawn from this heritage.
Bradbury was a reader and writer throughout his youth, spending much time in the Carnegie library in Waukegan, Illinois. He used this library as a setting for much of his novel Something Wicked This Way Comes, and depicted Waukegan as "Green Town" in some of his other semi-autobiographical novels — Dandelion Wine, Farewell Summer — as well as in many of his short stories.
He attributes his lifelong habit of writing every day to an incident in 1932 when a carnival entertainer, Mr. Electrico, touched him on the nose with an electrified sword, made his hair stand on end, and shouted, "Live forever!" It was from then that Bradbury wanted to live forever and decided his career as an author in order to do what he was told: live forever. It was at that age that Bradbury first started to do magic. Magic was his first great love. If he had not discovered writing, he would have become a magician. We're happy he decided to chuck the rabbit and make words appear out of a hat instead.
His website, www.Raybradbury.com contains a complete list of Bradbury's titles and some excellent video interview footage of Bradbury taken in 2001.
His website, www.Raybradbury.com contains a complete list of Bradbury's titles and some excellent video interview footage of Bradbury taken in 2001.
