Born John Griffith Chaney in San Francisco, California, on 12 January 1876, Jack London was brought up in a working-class family. He self-educated himself and began working at the age of thirteen. He worked in a cannery, a jute mill, pirated oysters, worked aboard a sealing sailing ship, and became a hobo.
Drawing on his own experiences during the Gold Rush days, The Call of the Wild was written in Piedmont, California. His other famous works include White Fang (1906), The Sea-Wolf (1904), and John Barleycorn (1913). A successful novelist, journalist, and social activist, London died 1916 aged forty. He continues to remembered for his celebrated novel, The Call of the Wild.