George Raymond Richard Martin, prolific writer and imaginative mind, author of the famous saga “
Game of Thrones“He was born in New Jersey, Bayonne, on September 20, 1948, the son of Raymond, a dockworker, and Margaret Brady Martin. He has two sisters, Darleen and Janet.
He grew up in a popular neighborhood and attended Mary Jane Donohoe School; then he studied at the Marist Higher School, where he began to show his talent for writing.
Even as a child he had a great imagination: he wrote and sold horror stories to his neighbors’ children for a few pennies; He also developed a passion for reading the books of Andre Norton, Eric Frank Russell, and Robert A. Heinlein. During high school, too, he got closer to comics, becoming a great connoisseur and collector.
It was precisely in the field of comics where his first collaborations began. In 1970 Martin He graduated with honors in Journalism from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and sold his story, titled “The Hero“, which was published the following year. A year later he completed a master’s degree in Journalism, also at Northwestern University.
During the Vietnam War, between 1972 and 1974, he became a conscientious objector with the association, Vista, associated with the Cook County Legal Aid Foundation. He also directed chess tournaments for the Continental Chess Association between 1973 and 1976, and was an instructor in Journalism at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa, between 1976 and 1978. He wrote part-time during the 1970s, while volunteering for VISTA, chess director, and teacher.
In 1975 she married Gale Burnick and won the Hugo Award for “Song for Lya“, chosen best story of the year; from the following year.
In 1979 he divorced his wife and dropped out of teaching to devote himself entirely to his literary career.
While the number of prizes increased (by “The king of the arena“, he won the Nebula Prize for the best short story), he wrote the novel in 1980”Windhaven“, followed in 1982 by”Fevre Dream“;”The Armageddon Rag“in 1983 and, since 1986, the series”Wild cards“, in which he imagined a superhero reality.
The works of George RR Martin attracted the attention of fans of the genre, but until now, they failed to enthuse the general public; it is also for this reason that in the second half of the eighties he moved to Hollywood to work as a developer and scriptwriter for various television series for CBS.
He was a screenwriter, for example, of “The Twilight Zone“, as well as script consultant for” Beauty and the Beast, “a series of which he later co-produced.
For Columbia Pictures Television he worked as a writer and executive producer of “Doorways“, but in 1991 he decided to return to the literary career leaving Hollywood and the limits imposed by the big production houses. He began, thus, to write what would become the saga”Song of ice and fire“(original title:” A song of ice and fire “), the fantasy series inspired by” Ivanhoe “(a historical novel by Walter Scott) and the War of the Two Roses.
The first of the seven volumes that are part of the sagae was called “Game of Thrones“(Game of Thrones) and it was published in 1996. The saga continued with”Clash of Kings“(A Clash of Kings, 1998),”Storm of swords“(A Storm of Swords, 2000),”Feast for Crows“(A Feast for Crows, 2005), and”Dance of dragons“(A Dance with Dragons, 2011).
Meanwhile, the American television production company HBO Productions, which in 2007 had bought the television rights to all the books of “Song of ice and fire“launched the filming of” Game of Thrones “, a TV series inspired by the novels.
George RR Martin, executive producer of the series, is directly involved in the script. The series premiered on HBO, the
American cable channel, on April 17, 2011, and soon achieved a remarkable success in the world: the first season was nominated for thirteen Emmy Awards, obtaining two; in 2012 he won another six Emmy Awards; 2 more in 2013 and another 4 in 2014.
Soon, “Game of Thrones“Thanks to the spread of television, it assumed the character of a cult phenomenon not only in the US, but also in the rest of the world, with millions of fans following the adventures of the saga, which will continue with the books -not yet written- “Winter winds“(The Winds of Winter), future sixth work in the series and”A Dream of Spring“, future seventh and last work in the series.
Currently, Martin lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a member of the organization Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (of which he was Regional Director 1977-1979, and Vice President 1996-1998), and of the Writers Guild of America. Since 2011 he has been married to Parris McBride.