Now, a Literary Moment...

What does it take to write a classic novel? For Ray Bradbury and his visionary tale Fahrenheit 451, the answer may surprise you.

Bradbury: I heard typing in the basement under the library and I went down to see what was there. And discovered there was a typing room where you could rent a typewriter for ten cents a half hour. I thought, hell, this is a great place to write so I went and got a bag of dimes. And I went down and the novel began that day and nine days later, it was finished.

While books are forbidden and burned in Fahrenheit 451, for Bradbury the library provided both a place to work and inspiration.

Written in 1953 with over five million copies in print , Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 remains a timeless classic.

This Literary Moment was created by The National Endowment for the Arts.