Kurt Vonnegut

American writer, a master of science-fiction. His novels include "Piano Player," 1952 "Sirens of Titan," 1959 and "Slaughterhouse Five," 1969, which was made into a movie. Before writing, he studied bio-chemistry for two years and anthropology for two years.

Vonnegut served in the Army during WWII and was captured by the Nazis in 1945. He survived imprisonment under the Third Reich and when the war was over was able to write short stories for the "slicks" and science-fiction magazine.

On 30 January 2000 he was rushed to the ER after suffering smoke inhalation while trying to put out a fire at his New York brownstone with the help of a neighbor. He was in serious but stable condition. When released from the hospital, he decided on a change of venue, moving to Northampton, Massachusetts where he taught at Smith College in the fall, 2000. His daughter and son-in-law, both artists, lived there with their three children.

The novelist died in New York City on 11 April 2007 of brain injuries suffered when he fell several weeks earlier in his Manhattan home. He was 84 years old.