John Updike was born in Reading Pensylvania on March 18, 1932. He graudated high school as co valedictorium. He went on to Harvard, and went to Oxford to study drawing.

Updike's early career was spent as a staff writer at The New Yorker. He has specialized in inventing middle-class American characters who are obsessed with all the wrong things, as well as being materialistic and unfaithful.

John Updike is best known for his "Rabbit" series of novels, including Rabbit, Run (1960), Rabbit Redux (1971), Rabbit is Rich (1981) and Rabbit at Rest (1991), the last two of which won Pulitzer Prizes for fiction. The series traces the life of protagonist Harry Angstrom.

In addition to the "Rabbit" series and other novels, Updike has also produced poems, short story collections and essays.