Richard Gary Brautigan was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. Born on January 30, 1935, he was a prolific writer who wrote throughout his life. He published ten novels, two collections of short stories, and four books of poetry. Brautigan's work has been published both in the United States and internationally throughout Europe, Japan, and China. He is best known for his novels Trout Fishing in America (1967), In Watermelon Sugar (1968), and The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966 (1971). Tragically, Richard Brautigan died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1984.