Jack London (1876-1916)

Jack London, the famous American writer, was born in San Francisco. His family was poor, and Jack began to work when he was nine years old. He got up at three in the morning and carried newspapers to people’s houses. After that, the boy went to school. When school was over, he carried the evening newspapers around the town. On Saturdays and Sundays, he worked at a hotel. The boy liked to read and spent all his free time with books.

Jack London left school at thirteen. After that, he worked for ten or more hours every day, but he soon lost his work. Many people in San Francisco had no work at that time, so they decided to march to Washington and ask for work and bread. Jack London marched to Washington too. He did not get any work there and was arrested with other workers.

After that, London continued to read books and learn on his own. For a year, London was a student at a university, but he soon left it. He had no more money and could not pay for the university. He found work at a factory and, in the evening, wrote poems and stories. But nobody wanted to publish his stories.

Gold was found in Alaska at that time, so London went there. He lived in Alaska for a year, but did not find any gold. He met heroes for his stories there—strong men. Back in San Francisco, Jack London worked in different places and, at night, wrote his stories about the North. In 1898, some of them were published, and people liked them very much. In 1902, Jack London visited the capital of England and wrote a novel about the poor people of London. Between 1905 and 1909, Jack London wrote his best stories and novels. One of the novels was “Martin Eden,” in which the writer described his life.