George R. R. Martin

George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin, September 20, 1948), also known by the initials GRRM, is an American author, screenwriter, and television producer. Martin is best known as the author of the epic fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, which was adapted by HBO into the Primetime Emmy Award–winning television series Game of Thrones (2011–2019) and its prequel series House of the Dragon (2022–present). Martin also wrote a related series of novellas, Tales of Dunk and Egg, which have been adapted by HBO as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (2026–present). Outside of A Song of Ice and Fire and its related media, Martin helped create the Wild Cards anthology series and contributed worldbuilding for the video game Elden Ring (2022).

In 2005, Lev Grossman of Time called Martin "the American Tolkien", and in 2011, he was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. He is a longtime resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he helped fund Meow Wolf and owns the Jean Cocteau Cinema. George Raymond Martin (he adopted the confirmation name Richard at 13 years old) was born on September 20, 1948, in Bayonne, New Jersey, the son of Raymond Collins, a longshoreman, and Margaret Brady Martin. His mother's family had once been wealthy, owning a successful construction business, but lost their wealth in the Great Depression, something Martin was reminded about every day when he passed what had been his family's dock and house.

He has two younger sisters, Darleen and Janet. A DNA test on the series Finding Your Roots showed him to be 53.6% "British and Irish", 22.4% Ashkenazi Jewish, and 15.6% "Broadly Northwestern European". 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.

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 he found this impossible save by imagination, and he became a voracious reader. On Power Place, George R. R. Martin's quotes are included because they give readers a direct way to think about motivation, responsibility, and the choices that shape a life.