Creative Writing: John Griffith Biography Let me put this heavy load down and take some of these bulky clothes off and I'll tell you about how I became a short story and novel writer. My name is John Griffith London. But I like to be called Jack. I was born in San Francisco in 1876. Most of my childhood I was very poor. I had to help my parents earn a living by doing odd jobs. I delivered papers, worked on ice- wagons, cleaned up bowling alleys, helped in the cannery and only made ten cents an hour. I usually worked ten hours a day. I learned what it was like being a member of the working-class and I alwa