Mark Twain

Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835-April 21, 1910), a widely popular American humorist and novelist. With little formal education, Twain began his literary career in a print shop in Hannibal, Missouri. After his father's death, he worked for a newspaper and printer and then worked with his brother to produce the Hannibal Journal. Twain often contributed to the paper himself writing sketches and poems. He later became a steamboat pilot—an occupation that brought him into company with many kinds of people that influenced his writing. His first novels were The Gilded Age and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Other well-known novels include The Prince and the Pauper, Life on the Mississippi, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.