Alfred Damon Runyan was born on 4th October 1880, in Manhattan, Kansas.

When Runyon was two his father was forced to sell his newspaper and the family moved eventually settling in Pueblo, Colorado where Runyon spent his youth.

By most accounts, he attended school only through the fourth grade and then worked for his father in the newspaper trade.

In 1898 Runyon enlisted in the U.S. Army to fight in the Spanish–American War. After his service he returned to Colorado and worked for the local newspapers.

By 1910 he had moved to New York to work for Hearst newspapers, writing a daily column. He was soon promoted to be the Hearst newspapers' baseball columnist and developed his trademark viewpoint of writing up the eccentric and the unusual, whether on the field or in the stands.

But Runyon also wrote poetry, plays, essays and, of course, his short stories with his famous 'Runyonesque' characters who were funny, gritty and instantly memorable, all distilled into black and white type.

Of course, the cliché about newspapermen and writers is that they are heavy drinkers, chain-smokers, gamblers and obsessively chase women with a sideline in gathering info and only getting something written just before the deadline hits. And that, pretty much, was Runyon's life.

In 1938 he developed throat cancer which would leave him unable to speak but he continued to work at a ferocious pace, pursuing a Hollywood career as writer and producer at MGM, Universal and RKO studios.

Alfred Damon Runyon died in New York City on 10th December 1946 from throat cancer. He was 66.

His ashes were scattered from a plane over Broadway.

In his early short Story 'The Defense of Strikerville' Runyon takes up the cause of workers' rights as it comes up against the nasty tactics of big-dog capitalism.

Runyon's poems brilliantly illustrate his style and ideas with works that are individual, observational, heavy on the vernacular and bring a rarely seen poetic talent to our attention.