Short answers, pulled from the story.
George R. R. Martin is best known as the author of the epic fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, which began with A Game of Thrones in 1996. The series was adapted by HBO into the Primetime Emmy Award-winning television series Game of Thrones, which ran from 2011 to 2019.
George R. R. Martin was born on the 20th of September, 1948, in Bayonne, New Jersey. He grew up in a federal housing project near the Bayonne docks, and his childhood world consisted mainly of the area between First Street and Fifth Street.
Martin worked as a tournament director for the Continental Chess Association from 1973 to 1976, during the American chess craze that followed Bobby Fischer's 1972 world championship victory. The weekend tournaments gave him income while leaving five weekdays free to write. He also taught English and journalism at Clarke College from 1976 to 1978.
By its fourth season, Game of Thrones averaged 18.4 million viewers across multiple platforms, making it the most-watched series in HBO history at the time, surpassing the previous record held by The Sopranos. The series premiere in 2011 was seen by 2.2 million viewers.
Martin has lived in Santa Fe for decades and the city declared the 29th of March as George R. R. Martin Day. He purchased and restored the Jean Cocteau Cinema there in 2013, opened a bookstore called Beastly Books in 2019, and pledged $2.7 million toward a Meow Wolf art space in January 2015.
Martin has named Stan Lee as possibly his greatest literary influence, ahead of Shakespeare or Tolkien. He has described J. R. R. Tolkien's work as a major touchstone and cited the Wars of the Roses, the novel The Accursed Kings, and Ivanhoe as direct inspirations for A Song of Ice and Fire. He has also named William Faulkner as an influence on his thematic aims.