Ken Follett facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ken Follett
CBE FRSL
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| Born | Kenneth Martin Follett 5 June 1949 Cardiff, Wales |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Alma mater | University College London |
| Period | 1974–present |
| Genre | Thriller, spy novel, historical fiction |
| Notable works | Eye of the Needle The Key to Rebecca The Pillars of the Earth World Without End Whiteout Century Trilogy |
| Spouse |
Mary Emma Ruth Elson
(m. 1968–1985)Barbara Hubbard
(m. 1985) |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Jann Turner (step-daughter) |
Ken Follett is a very famous author from Wales, born on June 5, 1949. He writes exciting thriller novels and historical novels. So far, he has sold more than 195 million copies of his books!
Ken Follett became well-known with his spy thriller book, Eye of the Needle, published in 1978. After writing many more best-selling thrillers in the 1980s, he started writing historical fiction. His book The Pillars of the Earth (1989) is a huge story set in medieval England. This book became his most famous work. It was also the first book in his popular Kingsbridge series.
He continues to write both thrillers and historical novels. This includes his Century Trilogy, which tells a big story across many years. Many of his books have been at the top of best-seller lists, including the number-one spot on the New York Times Best Seller list.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Ken Follett was born in Cardiff, Wales, on June 5, 1949. He was the first child of Martin and Lavinia Follett. He had two younger siblings, Hannah and James. His parents were very strict and did not let him watch movies or television. Because of this, he started reading a lot from a young age.
He was not a very good student until he became a teenager. When he was ten, his family moved to London. There, he started to work harder in school. He attended Harrow Weald Grammar School and Poole Technical College.
In 1967, he got into University College London. He studied philosophy there and became interested in politics. In 1968, he married Mary, and their son Emanuele was born that same year. After finishing college in 1970, Follett took a short course in journalism. He then started working as a young reporter in Cardiff for the South Wales Echo newspaper. In 1973, his daughter, Marie-Claire, was born.
Ken Follett's Writing Career
After working as a reporter in Cardiff for three years, Ken Follett moved back to London. He became a general news reporter for the Evening News. He found this job boring, so he left journalism to work in publishing. By the late 1970s, he was a manager at a small book publisher called Everest Books.
He started writing his own stories in the evenings and on weekends, just for fun. He once said he began writing books because he needed £200 to fix his car. He learned that another journalist had been paid £200 for a thriller book, so he decided to try writing one too!
Becoming a Best-Selling Author
At first, success came slowly for Ken Follett. But in 1978, he published Eye of the Needle. This book became a huge international best-seller, selling over 10 million copies. It made him very rich and famous around the world.
Every book Ken Follett has written since then has become a best-seller. Many of them have reached high spots on the New York Times Best Seller list. A number of his books have also been made into movies or TV shows. By 2018, he had published 44 books!
His first five best-selling books were spy thrillers:
- Eye of the Needle (1978)
- Triple (1979)
- The Key to Rebecca (1980)
- The Man from St. Petersburg (1982)
- Lie Down with Lions (1986)
On Wings of Eagles (1983) told the true story of how two employees of Ross Perot were rescued from Iran during a revolution in 1979.
His next three novels, Night Over Water (1991), A Dangerous Fortune (1993), and A Place Called Freedom (1995), were more historical stories than thrillers. But he went back to thrillers with The Third Twin (1996). This book was ranked the second best-selling fiction book worldwide in 1997. His next book, The Hammer of Eden (1998), was another modern suspense story. Then came a Cold War thriller, Code to Zero (2000).
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Follett returned to the Second World War era with his next two novels:
- Jackdaws (2001) is a thriller about a group of women sent into France to destroy a phone center. It won the Corine Literature Prize in 2003.
- Hornet Flight (2002) is about a brave young couple from Denmark who escape to Britain. They have important information about German radar.
Whiteout (2004) is a modern thriller about a deadly virus being stolen from a research lab.
The Kingsbridge Series
Ken Follett surprised his readers with his first book that wasn't a spy thriller, The Pillars of the Earth (1989). This novel is about building a huge cathedral in a small English village during a difficult time in the 12th century. The book was very successful and stayed on The New York Times Best Seller list for eighteen weeks. It was also a best-seller in Canada, Britain, and Italy. In Germany, it was on the best-seller list for six years! By 2017, it had sold 26 million copies. A computer game based on The Pillars of the Earth was released in 2017.
The next book in the series, World Without End (2007), takes place 157 years later in Kingsbridge. It follows the lives of the descendants of the characters from Pillars. The story shows how their lives are changed by the Black Death, a terrible plague that spread across Europe in the 1300s.
The third novel in the series is A Column of Fire (2017). It starts in 1558 and tells the love story of Ned Willard and Margery Fitzgerald over fifty years. This is a time when many European countries were against Elizabethan England. Queen Elizabeth I faced many plans to remove her from power.
A fourth novel, The Evening and the Morning (2020), is a prequel to The Pillars of the Earth. It is set around the year 1000 AD, in what is sometimes called the early Middle Ages. The story shows how the town of Kingsbridge slowly began to form. It features many different people, including priests, nobles, farmers, and enslaved people. This book helps readers understand the beginnings of the Kingsbridge series.
A fifth novel, The Armour of Light (2023), is set in 1792. This was around the start of the Industrial Revolution. The book explores the big changes in society after new inventions like the Spinning Jenny came out in 1770. This was the beginning of factories and modern industry. The story takes place during the Napoleonic wars and big economic changes. It follows different characters: a widow whose husband died in a factory accident, a young woman who starts a school for poor children, a man who inherits a failing business, and a rich factory owner who wants to protect his money. The book shows the human cost of progress and how people try to rebuild their lives in a changing world.
People have said that the Kingsbridge series gives a very full picture of how a civilization is built. It shows its laws, buildings, customs, and beliefs.
The Century Trilogy
Ken Follett's novels Fall of Giants, Winter of the World, and Edge of Eternity make up his Century Trilogy.
Fall of Giants (2010) follows five families from different countries: Wales, America, Germany, Russia, and England. Their lives are connected as they live through huge events like the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the fight for women's right to vote. Fall of Giants was published in 14 countries at the same time. It was very popular around the world and topped many best-seller lists.
Winter of the World (2012) continues the story from the first book. The five families enter a time of huge social, political, and economic problems. This includes the rise of Nazi Germany, the Spanish Civil War, and the big events of World War II. It also covers the creation of the American and Soviet atom bombs and the start of the long Cold War.
The last novel in the 'Century' trilogy, Edge of Eternity, was published on September 16, 2014. It follows these families through the second half of the 20th century. Like the other two books, it tells the stories of five families during the Cold War and the civil-rights movements.
A big part of the first two books, Fall of Giants and Winter of the World, is about how the British working class became more involved in politics. It shows the rise of the British Labour Party. For example, the Williams family, who are Welsh coal miners, have several members who become part of the British Parliament. One of them even becomes a government minister after World War II. However, the third book, Edge of Eternity, focuses less on British politics. It mainly looks at the Cold War and the US Civil Rights Movement.
Book and TV Adaptations
Many of Ken Follett's novels have been made into films and television mini-series. Eye of the Needle was made into a well-known film starring Donald Sutherland. Six of his novels have become TV mini-series:
- The Key to Rebecca
- Lie Down with Lions
- On Wings of Eagles (1986)
- The Third Twin (the rights for this were sold for a record price of $1,400,000 to CBS)
- The Pillars of the Earth (2010)
- World Without End (2012)
A video game called Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth was also made. It was developed by a German company called Daedalic Entertainment and released in three parts from 2017 to 2018.
Ken Follett himself has had small acting roles in some of these adaptations. He played a valet in The Third Twin and a merchant in The Pillars of the Earth. In 2016, A Dangerous Fortune was also adapted.
Pillars of the Earth and A Column of Fire have both been turned into musicals in Danish. Pillars of the Earth first opened on October 12, 2016, in Copenhagen. A Column of Fire first opened in 2019. Both musicals were written by Thomas Høg, Lasse Aagaard, and Sune Svanekier.
Public Life and Activities
Ken Follett is part of several groups that help promote reading and writing. He is also very active in different organizations in his hometown of Stevenage.
Here are some of the groups he has been involved with:
- He was the Chair of the National Year of Reading from 1998–99. This was a British government plan to help more people learn to read.
- He became a Fellow of University College, London, in 1994.
- He is a Fellow of Yr Academi Gymreig – the Welsh Academy (since 2011).
- He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
- He was the President of Dyslexia Action from 1998–2009.
- He has been a Patron of Schools Radio since 2007.
- He has been the Chair of the Advisory Committee for Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) UK since 2003.
- He has been a Board Member of the National Academy of Writing since 2003.
- He has been a Trustee of the National Literacy Trust since 1996.
He helps many charities in Stevenage. He was also a governor at Roebuck Primary School for ten years, and for four of those years, he was the Chair of Governors.
On September 15, 2010, Ken Follett and 54 other public figures signed a letter published in The Guardian newspaper. The letter stated their disagreement with Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the UK.
He has also given £25,000 to the campaign of Yvette Cooper in the 2015 Labour Party (UK) leadership election. His wife, Barbara Follett, also donated £25,000.
Ken Follett's old papers, including his notes, early drafts, and original manuscripts, are kept at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan, United States.
Awards and Honors
Ken Follett has received many awards for his writing and his contributions to literature:
- 2019 – He was given an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Warwick.
- 2018 – He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2018 Birthday Honours. This was for his services to literature.
- 2018 – He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL).
- 2013 – He was made a Grand Master at the Edgar Awards in New York.
- 2012 – His book Winter of the World won the Qué Leer Prize for Best Translated Book in Spain.
- 2010 – Fall of Giants won the Libri Golden Book Award for Best Fiction Title in Hungary.
- 2010 – He was made a Grand Master at Thrillerfest V in New York.
- 2008 – He won the Olaguibel Prize for helping to promote and raise awareness of architecture.
- 2008 – He was given an Honorary Doctor of Literature by the University of Exeter.
- 2007 – He was given an Honorary Doctor of Literature by the University of Glamorgan.
- 2007 – He was given an Honorary Doctor of Literature by Saginaw Valley State University.
- 2003 – His book Jackdaws won the Corine Literature Prize in Bavaria.
- 1999 – Hammer of Eden won the Premio Bancarella literary prize in Italy.
- 1979 – Eye of the Needle won the Edgar Best Novel Award from the Mystery Writers of America.
Personal Life
In the late 1970s, Ken Follett became involved with Britain's Labour Party. Through his political activities, he met Barbara Broer, who worked for the Labour Party. She became his second wife in 1984. Barbara was elected as a Member of Parliament in 1997, representing Stevenage. She was re-elected in 2001 and 2005. Ken Follett continues to be a strong supporter and fundraiser for the Labour Party.
When he was at university, Follett decided he did not agree with his parents' very strict religious beliefs. He became an atheist, meaning he does not believe in God. As of 2022, he still considers himself an atheist, but he also feels he has a "spiritual life."
Ken Follett now lives in Hertfordshire, England.
