Birthday

1934-05-27

Place of Birth

Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Biography

Harlan Jay Ellison was an American writer and actor. He is considered to be one of the greatest creators ever in the genre of speculative fiction. As a youngster, Ellison displayed his fearlessness by repeatedly running away from home and taking on a variety of unusual jobs. Best known for his short stories, the extremely prolific Ellison has also written screenplays, teleplays, comic book scripts, novellas, essays and a large assortment of criticism. He hasn’t confined himself to conventions and has experimented wherever possible, pushing others to do the same. He is also the editor of two pioneering science-fiction anthologies, for which he is given a lot of credit for urging the contributing writers to write in a non-traditional way. His unwillingness to let his scripts be altered for commercialization led him to walk out of many TV and Hollywood projects. Whenever his works were modified, Ellison expressed his disapproval by refusing to lend his own name and used the pseudonym of ‘Cordwainer Bird’ instead. Adored and detested in equal measure, contentious Ellison is never shy of expressing his opinion in the strongest of terms. But, there are no divided opinions on his writings, as Ellison has enthralled his fans and critics alike with his incredible body of work.