Mark Twain

Mark Twain (the real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens) was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. William Faulkner called him “The Father of American Literature.” Moreover, he was considered to be “the greatest humorist of the United States.”

Twain was born on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri. He was in relatively poor health for the first 10 years of his life. He inherited his sense of humor from his mother. When he was 11, his father died and he left school to work as an apprentice for a printer and help his family. It was here that he learned about writing.

Around the age of 21, Samuel decided to pursue his dream of getting a license as a pilot on a steamboat. It took him two years of hard work and study. During the Civil War in 1861, he moved out to the West and started writing his first adventurous short stories. His first story was called "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." His pen name, Mark Twain comes from a term used on steamboats to signal that the water was 12 feet deep.

Twain’s most famous books include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Mysterious Stranger, Eve's Diary, and others. Despite the hardships of his life, his humor and his love for adventures influenced his work and he became one of the most outstanding authors of all time.