Ray Douglas Bradbury was born on August 22nd, 1920 in Waukegan Illinois. He grew up in a close-knit family and read works by Edgar Allen Poe and Nathanial Hawthorne throughout his childhood and teenage years. In 1938, he graduated high school, finishing his formal education, and moved to California to pursue a career as a writer. He spent his days on a Los Angeles street corner and at night in libraries writing short stories and poetry, which got published in local magazines and newspapers. These early years were difficult for Bradbury.
