George R. R. Martin
George Raymond Martin (he later adopted the confirmation name Richard at 13 years old)[2] was born on September 20, 1948,[7] in Bayonne, New Jersey,[8] the son of longshoreman Raymond Collins Martin and his wife Margaret Brady Martin. He has two younger sisters, Darleen and Janet. His father was of half Italian descent, while his mother was of half Irish ancestry.[9] He also has French, English, Welsh and German roots.[10]
The family first lived in a house on Broadway, belonging to Martin's great-grandmother. In 1953, they moved to a federal housing project near the Bayonne docks.[9] During Martin's childhood, his world consisted predominantly of "First Street to Fifth Street", between his grade school and his home; this limited world made him want to travel and experience other places, but the only way of doing so was through his imagination, so he became a voracious reader.[11] The young Martin began writing and selling monster stories for pennies to other neighborhood children, dramatic readings included. He also wrote stories about a mythical kingdom populated by his pet turtles; the turtles died frequently in their toy castle, so he finally decided they were killing each other off in "sinister plots".[12]
Martin attended Mary Jane Donohoe School and then later Marist High School. While there he became an avid comic-book fan, developing a strong interest in the superheroes being published by Marvel Comics.[13] A letter Martin wrote to the editor of Fantastic Four was printed in issue No. 20 (Nov 1963); it was the first of many sent, e.g., FF #32, #34, and others. Fans who read his letters then wrote him letters in turn, and through such contacts, Martin joined the fledgling comics fandom of the era, writing fiction for various fanzines;[14] he was the first to register for an early comic book convention held in New York in 1964.[15] In 1965, Martin won comic fandom's Alley Award for Best fan fiction for his prose superhero story "Powerman vs. The Blue Barrier".[16]
In 1970, Martin earned a B.S. in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in Evanston, Illinois, graduating summa cum laude; he went on to complete his M.S. in Journalism in 1971, also from Medill.[17] Eligible for the draft during the Vietnam War, to which he objected, Martin applied for and obtained conscientious objectorstatus;[18] he instead did alternative service work for two years (1972–1974) as a VISTA volunteer, attached to the Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation.[17]