Peter Straub

Peter Straub is a renowned American author, best known for his horror novels and poetry. He was born on March 2, 1943, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and passed away on September 4, 2022. Straub was the son of a salesman and a nurse, and from a young age, he developed a love for reading, much to his parents' dismay. They had hoped he would become an athlete, a doctor, or a Lutheran minister, but Straub had other plans. After a near-death experience involving a car accident, he spent a year in a wheelchair, during which time he read even more.

Straub attended the University of Wisconsin and earned his English degree with honors. He then went on to obtain his MA at Columbia University. During his time at Milwaukee Country Day School, Straub began writing, and after completing his education, he moved to Dublin, Ireland, to work on his PhD and start writing professionally. Straub's early literary works did not achieve the success he had hoped for, but his fortunes changed when he began incorporating supernatural elements into his writing. His fifth novel, "Ghost Story," was a critical success and was later adapted into a film.

Straub's writing career spanned over four decades, and he published seventeen novels, two volumes of poetry, two collections of short fiction, and several works of non-fiction. His collaborations with Stephen King, "The Talisman" and "Black House," were particularly successful and cemented his place as a master of the horror genre. Straub's work has been translated into more than twenty languages, and he has won numerous awards, including the Bram Stoker Award, World Fantasy Award, and International Horror Guild Award. In 1998, he was named Grand Master at the World Horror Convention, and in 2010, he received the World Fantasy Convention's Life Achievement Award. Straub was married to Susan Bitker, and they had two children, including novelist Emma Straub.