Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin made a very generous gift to Northwestern University this week after donating $5 million.
According to Forbes, the donation will be split into two part, which will be go to Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.
$3 million will be used to found that George R.R. Martin Summer Intensive Writing Workshop, which will help prepare journalism professionals who want to get into creative writing. The workshop is set to debut in 2024 and will take on 6 to 8 “fiction writers, screenwriters, and playwrights” over the summer.
The remaining $2 million will go towards the George R.R. Martin Chair in Storytelling, the title given to the professor chosen to lead the workshop. They will also be in charge of teaching a variety of courses for graduate and undergraduate students.
"George R.R. Martin is a prolific and iconic author with an international audience," said Northwestern University’s President Michael H. Schill said of the donation.
"We are so grateful for his generosity to his alma mater, which will inspire and equip the next generation of storytellers at Northwestern,” he continued.
Northwestern is George’s alma mater. The writer earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the university in 1970, before completing a master’s degree.
George later rose to fame by penning the critically acclaimed Game of Thrones series, of which the HBO show is based. He also wrote Fire & Blood, which inspired the network’s GOT spinoff, House of the Dragon.
George is one of the school’s most accomplished alumni. He was inducted into Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications’ Hall of Achievement in 2015.
“I've had second jobs, but my first love was always writing books or short stories,” he has said of his career. “I grew up reading science fiction, fantasy, horror and comic books, and my father called it all weird stuff.”
The author is no stranger to charitable donations. In 2014, George made headlines for offering a series of prizes to fans who donated to support a wolf sanctuary in New Mexico. The prizes were varied based on donation levels.
One of the prizes was being a named character in his next A Song of Ice and Fire series, which went to a 13-year-old boy, who donated all of his pocket money for a chance of winning.
Sources: Forbes, Northwestern, The Guardian,