Henry Charles Bukowski was born in Andernach, Germany, the only child of an American soldier and a German mother. At the age of three, he came with his family to the United States and grew up in Los Angeles. He attended Los Angeles City College from 1939 to 1941, then left school and moved to New York City to become a writer. His lack of publishing success at this time caused him to give up writing in 1946 and spurred a ten-year stint of heavy drinking.

Bukowski wrote Post Office about his twelve years as a postal clerk (the opening line is, "It began as a mistake."), Factotum, which concerned his skid-row wanderings from the 1940s onward. these volumes served as the basis for Barfly starring Faye Dunaway and Mickey Rourke. Later books included Hollywood. Ham On Rye was the story of his adolescence in 1930s Los Angeles.

Notes Of A Dirty Old Man was a collection of columns written for an underground LA newspaper in the 60s. Septegenarian Stew, South of No North, Hot Water Music and Tales Of Ordinary Madness are collections of stories and poems. Volumes of poetry include Shakespeare Never Did This and Run With The Hunted. In at least one of his books he mentions getting blown by a fan.

In 1960, he was rushed to the hospital with a stomach hemorrage. Doctors told him if he didn't quit drinking he'd be dead in a month. Bukowski checked himself out of the hospital and, on the way home, stopped at a liquor store for a fifth and a six-pack of beer. He died from leukemia in San Pedro, 34 years later.