Peter Straub Biography

Peter Straub wrote thrilling bestselling novels beginning in the 1970s, a line of horror and mystery novels that included Ghost Story (1979) and, written with Stephen King, The Talisman (1984).

Straub grew up in Wisconsin and earned degrees from the University of Wisconsin (1965) and Columbia University (1966).

He taught high school English for a while, then went to Ireland to work on his doctorate — and write poetry.

Straub also started writing novels and moved to London, where he lived when Julia (1975) and If You Could See Me Now (1977) were published.

Ghost Story was a bestselling horror novel that made Peter Straub a household name (the movie version was released in 1981).

He followed that with more bestselling novels, expanding from horror novels to mystery novels such as Koko (1988), Mystery (1990) and The Throat (1993), known as The Blue Rose Trilogy.

Straub won many Bram Stoker Awards for his novels and stories, and was given a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.

His other novels include Shadowland (1980), Floating Dragon (1983) Lost Boy Lost Girl (2003) and In the Night Room (2004).