R.L. Stine

Biography

Robert Lawrence Stine was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1943. Stine was a rather shy and fearful child, but he did have a clever imagination. At the age of nine, Stine began typing up his own short stories and humor magazines such as Tales to Drive You Batty. He would then circulate these publications to friends during class. In high school, Stine wrote a humor column for the school newspaper called "Stine's Lines."

At Ohio State University, R.L. Stine edited a humor magazine and contributed articles under the name "Jovial Bob." After college, he moved to New York City with aspirations of becoming a writer. For 16 years, R.L. Stine worked at Scholastic, where he edited and wrote for a humor magazine called Bananas. Stine also wrote for Nickelodeon's television show, Eureeka's Castle.

R.L. Stine's first children's book, How to be Funny, was published in 1978. Stine wrote humor and joke books until one day an editor asked him to write a young adult horror novel. After Blind Date became an instant best seller, Stine started a young adult horror series called Fear Street. In 1992 R.L. Stine wrote his first book for Goosebumps, which would quickly became the best-selling children's book series in history. Stine also hosted the top-rated Goosebumps television show on Fox.

Today R.L. Stine writes books for two new series, Mostly Ghostly and Rotten School. He and his wife live in New York City.