Kurt Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis in 1922 and studied biochemistry at Cornell University.
An army intelligence scout during the Second World War he was captured by the Germans and
witnessed the destruction of Dresden by Allied bombers an experience which inspired his
classic novel Slaughterhouse-Five. After the war he worked as a police reporter an advertising
copywriter and a public relations man for General Electric. His first novel Player Piano (1952)
achieved underground success. Cat's Cradle (1963) was hailed by Graham Greene as 'one of the
best novels of the year by one of the ablest living authors'. His eighth book
Slaughterhouse-Five was published in 1969 and was a literary and commercial success and was
made into a film in 1972. Vonnegut is the author of thirteen other novels three collections of
stories and five non-fiction books. Kurt Vonnegut died in 2007.
