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The Road was written by Cormac McCarthy, a prolific writer with several acclaimed novels to his credit. McCarthy was born in Rhode Island on July 20, 1933. His given name was Charles McCarthy, his father's name, but he changed it to Cormac, meaning “son of Charles, so as not to be confused with his father. He attended University of Tennessee but left after one year to serve in the military. He returned to college but left again to pursue a writing career. McCarthy published his first novel, The Orchard Keeper, in 1965, and received the William Faulkner Award. In 1979, he published his novel Suttree after struggling with it for 20 years. It's argued that this was his best novel and he's never surpassed it. However, with the publishing of Blood Meridian in 1985, McCarthy gained mainstream attention, and this novel was called one of the best novels of the 20th century by renowned critic Harold Bloom. McCarthy went on to publish his popular Border Trilogy. His novel No Country for Old Men (2005) was adapted to film by the Coen brothers and received several Academy Awards in 2007. McCarthy published The Road in 2006. The novel was adapted to film and released in 2009 to mixed reviews.