Ray Bradbury (born in 1920) (1809)

Dark Carnival – Мрачный Карнавал

The Martian Chronicles ['ma∫iən 'kronikəlz] – Марсианские хроники

The Tree of Thanksgiving – Древо благодарения

Dandelion Wine – Вино из одуванчиков

Ray Douglas Bradbury, a prominent American science fiction writer, was born in the Illinois in 1920, but mostly lived in Los Angeles, California. There he graduated from high school, where he put out a school magazine entitled "Future Fantasies". In his youth, Ray developed a love of magic and had aspirations of becoming a magician. In 1937, at the age of 17, Bradbury became a member of the Los Angeles Science Fiction League.

His first story was published in 1941. Since then he has written a lot of brilliant novels and short stories won world-wide recognition. Among his works we find "Dark Carnival", "The Martian Chronicles", "The Tree of Thanksgiving", "The Golden Apples of the Sun", "The April Witch", "Fahrenheit 451", the collection of stories "Dandelion Wine" and a lot of others. Themes of Ray Bradbury's writing are extremely various, they comprise earthly affairs and space travelling.

Most of his publications are volumes of collected short stories. Bradbury's works belong to science fiction that is fiction in which scientific discoveries and developments form an element of a plot or the background. A science fiction writer may carry his characters into remote future and prehistoric past or to unknown worlds.

In addition to his numerous books and short stories, Bradbury wrote two musicals and produced dramatic presentations of a number of his novels.

Bradbury's literary credo is "to make the commonplace miraculous, to make the miraculous commonplace", for "there is always a bit of the known in the unknown".

Bradbury has got countless literary awards, including the Benjamin Franklin Award, the Aviation-Space Writer's Association Award, Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master Award and others. In November 2000, at the age of 80, the legendary science fiction writer, Ray Bradbury became the USA National Book Prize Laureate. He lives in California and has a large family – a wife and four daughters. He continues to work; he enjoys painting and collects Mexican Artwork. His life credo is "Never give up!", and he follows this rule all his life, as he is sure that this is one of the main secrets for achieving success.

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