Writing is a field in which only the most creative people can excel. The most talented  will leave an imprint which will be forever in the mind of readers. .One of those names which immediately comes to our mind is Mark Twain. His Books like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn always made our childhood life thrilling and exciting. If any one ask me to pick up my favorite writer, Mark twain will always  be my first choice.

Mark Twain, whose original name is Samuel L Clemens was born to a wealthy family on November 30 1835 in Florida, Missouri. He was the 6th son of John Marshall Clemens and Jane Clemens nee Lampton.  Samuel had six more siblings but only three of them survived to reach adulthood. Samuels’s early life was spent in the small village of Hanniball.  His father was a judge who died in 1847. Samuel completed his education only till 5th standard and became an apprentice following his father’s death. He worked as a printer in New York City, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Cincinnati and self-educated himself in the vast libraries of these cities. Originally Samuels ambition was to become a steamboat pilot because even if they were under an apprenticeship they would be paid a salary of 500$ a month (a big sum back then). However he failed to be a pilot.

 Later when his brother Orion Clemens became nominated to become a secretary to the governor of the territory of Nevada, Samuel accompanied him and became a miner at Nevada but failed in the occupation. His first success was in 1865 as a writer. He went in a world tour and fell in love with Olivia Langdon who would later become his wife. He married her in 1870 and had 4 children. However three of them had unfortunate deaths. He also developed a close friendship with Nikolas Tesla and Thomas Edison and loved science and technology.

 In 1889, he wrote the book- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court in which a person from USA  who live In the 20th century time travels to England which was the under the rule of King Arthur a legendary king who’s thought to have lived from 3rd to 4th BCE. It contains a mixture of Science – Fiction, Science and Medieval History. Even though he was a great author he had some financial troubles. He had some failed investments like the Paige typesetting machine and the Charles L Webster and Company and by 1894, the debts were a huge amount. In order to pay all of this, Mark Twain and his family went on a world lecture tour and paid of the debt.

Tragedy soon struck Mark twain.  It all began in 1896 during his world tour when his elder daughter Susy Clemens died because of meningitis. Then his wife died in 1905 and his daughter died because of drowning in 1909 in a hotel. His close friend Henry Huttleston Roger died because of stroke in 1909 and his friend Ina Coolbrith lost all the things she had in the San Francisco Earthquake in 1906. He also felt responsible for the death of his younger brother Henry Clemens who died because of an explosion in the steamboat in which Mark Twain was an apprentice and the death of his first child Langdon Clemens who died when he was just 19 months because of the cold. His last words were to his last surviving child Clara Clemens “Fetch me my glasses “. Those were his last words. He once said that he was born with the Halley’s Comet and he wants to die with the Halley’s Comet and so he did because he died on April 22 1910 just one day after the comet closest approach to Earth.

Mark Twain wrote two of the most famous book in the history of  world literature -The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  He also wrote some other less known but still very well received books like A Pauper and The Prince, A Tramp aboard and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court etc.  Even though Mark twain was a popular author, he only received only two major awards in his lifetime, the first one being an honorary doctorate from Yale University in 1901 and the second one being an honorary doctorate from Oxford University in 1907. His first successful book was a short story called Jim Smiley and the Jumping Frog.

So friends just look at Mark Twain’s life closely: He was born to a wealthy family who gradually lost all their wealth, he had multiple failed investments, was very depressed in life and even thought he was responsible for his first child’s death. But still he learned to move towards the future and not mourn for the past. He never completed his education but still became one of the world’s most renowned figure in the field of literature. This is why we should follow the example Mark Twain set for us and never lose hope. He will always remain as my all time favourite writer.