Mark Twain (1835 - 1910) was an American writer. He published books and was a popular and humorous speaker. His most famous novels are about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He grew up in a poor family, which lived in a port town on the Mississippi River in the south of the USA. Young Samuel tried his hand at many occupations. For example, he searched for gold, but found the work very difficult and not very rewarding. He sometimes reported in newspapers what he had experienced. More and more he was able to make a living from it, and he traveled around the country for lectures. This way he also came to Germany, Switzerland and other countries in Europe.