George R.R. Martin was born September 20, 1948 in Bayonne, New Jersey. His father was Raymond Collins Martin, a longshoreman, and his mother was Margaret Brady Martin. He has two sisters, Darleen Martin Lapinski and Janet Martin Patten.
Martin attended Mary Jane Donohoe School and Marist High School. He began writing very young, selling monster stories to other neighborhood children for pennies, dramatic readings included. Later he became a comic book fan and collector in high school, and began to write fiction for comic fanzines (amateur fan magazines). Martin's first professional sale was made in 1970 at age 21: "The Hero," sold to Galaxy, published in February, 1971 issue. Other sales followed.
In 1970 Martin received a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, graduating summa cum laude. He went on to complete a M.S. in Journalism in 1971, also from Northwestern.

As a conscientious objector, Martin did alternative service 1972-1974 with VISTA, attached to Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation. He also directed chess tournaments for the Continental Chess Association from 1973-1976, and was a Journalism instructor at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa, from 1976-1978. He wrote part-time throughout the 1970s while working as a VISTA Volunteer, chess director, and teacher.
In 1975 he married Gale Burnick. They divorced in 1979, with no children. Martin became a full-time writer in 1979. He was writer-in-residence at Clarke College from 1978-79.
Moving on to Hollywood, Martin signed on as a story editor for Twilight Zone at CBS Television in 1986. In 1987 Martin became an Executive Story Consultant for Beauty and the Beast at CBS. In 1988 he became a Producer for Beauty and the Beast, then in 1989 moved up to Co-Supervising Producer. He was Executive Producer for Doorways, a pilot which he wrote for Columbia Pictures Television, which was filmed during 1992-93.
Martin's present home is Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (he was South-Central Regional Director 1977-1979, and Vice President 1996-1998), and of Writers' Guild of America, West.

Awards & Honors

• A Game of Thrones Ignotius Award, Best Foreign Novel of 2002
  
• A Storm of Swords #1 on SF Site Readers' Choice Best SF and Fantasy Books of 2000 
• 1999 Nebula Award nomination for A Clash of Kings
  
• A Clash of Kings tops Locus Poll for Best Fantasy Novel of 1999
  
• Hugo Award, 1974 Novella: "A Song for Lya"
  
• Nebula Award, 1979 Novelette: "Sandkings"
  
• Hugo Award, 1979 Novelette: "Sandkings"
  
• Hugo Award, 1979 Short Story: "The Way of Cross & Dragon"
  
• Nebula Award, 1985 Novelette: "Portraits of His Children"
  
• Daikon (Japanese Hugo) Award, 1982: Best Short Fiction in Translation, "Nightflyers"
  
• Balrog Award, 1983 Fantasy Novel: The Armageddon Rag
  
• Gigamesh (Spanish) Award, 1987: Best Collection/Anthology: Songs the Dead Men Sing
  
• Daedelus Award for 1987: Wild Cards
  
• Bram Stoker Award, 1987 Novelette: "The Pear-Shaped Man"
  
• World Fantasy Award, 1988 Novella: "The Skin Trade"
  
• Six-time winner of the Locus Award.
  
• Finalist for the 1971 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction.
  
• World Fantasy Award (Howard) finalist for 1982, 1983.
  
• Finalist for the Writers Guild Award, best teleplay, anthology series, for 1986.
  
• Hugo Award, 1997 Novella: "Blood of The Dragon"

Stories translated into German, French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Dutch, Japanese, Portugese, Croatian, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Finnish, and Esperanto.

Directly from George Martin's homesite: www.georgerrmartin.com