Neil Gaiman facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Neil Gaiman
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Gaiman in 2013
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| Born | Neil Richard Gaiman 10 November 1960 Portchester, Hampshire, England |
| Occupation | Author, comic book creator, screenwriter, voice actor |
| Genre | Fantasy, horror, science fiction, dark fantasy, comedy |
| Years active | 1984–present |
| Notable works | The Sandman, Neverwhere, American Gods, Stardust, Coraline, The Graveyard Book, Good Omens, The Ocean at the End of the Lane |
| Spouses |
Mary McGrath
(m. 1985; div. 2007)Amanda Palmer
(m. 2011; separated 2022) |
| Children | 4 |
Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (born 10 November 1960) is a famous English author. He writes many kinds of stories, including novels, comic books, and screenplays for movies and TV shows.
Some of his most well-known works are the comic series The Sandman and the novels Good Omens, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. Many of his books have been made into popular TV shows and movies.
Gaiman has won many important awards for his writing. These include the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and Bram Stoker Award. He also won the Newbery Medal and the Carnegie Medal for his book The Graveyard Book. He was the first author to win both of these major awards for the same book!
Contents
Neil Gaiman's Early Life
Neil Gaiman was born in Portchester, England, on 10 November 1960. His family has roots in Eastern Europe. His grandfather moved to the UK and started a chain of grocery stores. Neil's father worked in these stores, and his mother was a pharmacist. Neil has two younger sisters.
When Neil was five years old, his family moved to East Grinstead. His parents studied Dianetics there. Neil has said that he is not a Scientologist himself, but that it is his family's religion, like Judaism.
A Young Reader's Journey
Neil learned to read when he was only four years old. He loved reading so much that he would read his schoolbooks on the first day of class. This meant he always knew what was coming up!
When he was about ten, he enjoyed reading books by Dennis Wheatley. Later, he discovered J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings at his school library. He loved it so much that he kept checking out the first two volumes, even though the library didn't have the third one. He finally got the third book when he won a school English prize.
For his seventh birthday, Neil received C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia. He admired how Lewis would talk directly to the reader in the story. This made him want to do the same when he became an author. Narnia also introduced him to the Carnegie Medal, which he later won himself. He said winning it made his seven-year-old self very happy! He also loved Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and enjoyed Batman comics.
Neil went to several Church of England schools, including Ardingly College and Whitgift School. He lived in East Grinstead for many years. In 1985, he married Mary McGrath, and they had their first child.
Neil Gaiman's Writing Career
Neil Gaiman has been influenced by many writers, including Mary Shelley, Rudyard Kipling, and Ursula K. Le Guin. He is also a big fan of the Monty Python comedy group. When he was a teenager, he loved the amazing artwork in the French comic magazine Metal Hurlant, even though he couldn't understand the words.
In the early 1980s, Neil worked as a journalist. He wrote interviews and book reviews to learn about the world and meet people who could help him get his own stories published. His first short story, "Featherquest," was published in 1984.
Starting with Comics
In 1984, Neil saw a comic book called Swamp Thing by Alan Moore. He was so impressed that he started visiting comic shops regularly. He soon became friends with Alan Moore, who taught him how to write comic scripts.
Neil's first comic strips appeared in 2000 AD in 1986. He also worked with his friend Dave McKean on graphic novels like Violent Cases.
In 1987, DC Comics hired him. They asked him to create a new version of an old character called the Sandman.
The Sandman Series
Neil Gaiman's The Sandman comic series began in 1989 and finished in 1996. It tells the story of Dream, an ancient being who controls dreams. The series became very popular, even more so than Batman and Superman comics at the time.
In The Sandman, Neil and artist Mike Dringenberg introduced Death, Dream's older sister. She became a very popular character. Many people, especially young women in college, started reading comics because of The Sandman.
Neil also wrote The Books of Magic, a four-part comic series about a young English boy who discovers he is meant to be the world's greatest wizard.
Neil loves writing comics because it feels like exploring new territory. He said that with comics, he felt like he could do things nobody had ever done before.
Marvel Comics and Batman
Neil also wrote two series for Marvel Comics: Marvel 1602 (2003–2004) and The Eternals (2006–2007).
In 2009, he wrote a two-part Batman story called "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" He also helped create The Sandman Universe, a new line of comic books based on his original series.
Working with Terry Pratchett
Neil Gaiman's first novel, Good Omens, was published in 1990. He wrote it with the famous author Terry Pratchett, who was known for his Discworld novels. They worked together to create a funny story about the end of the world.
Solo Novels
In 1996, Neil wrote his first solo novel, Neverwhere. It was based on a TV series he had written for the BBC.
His fantasy novel Stardust came out in 1999. It was inspired by Victorian fairy tales.
American Gods, released in 2001, became one of Neil's most successful books. It won many awards. He later wrote Anansi Boys (2005), which features characters from American Gods.
In 2002, Neil wrote his first children's book, the dark fairy tale Coraline. In 2008, he released The Graveyard Book, a young adult novel about a boy raised by ghosts in a graveyard. This book was inspired by Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane (2013) was voted Book of the Year in the British National Book Awards. It tells the story of a man remembering strange events from his childhood.
In 2017, Neil released Norse Mythology, which retells classic Norse myths.
Neil Gaiman's Work in Film and TV
Neil Gaiman has written many screenplays for movies and TV shows. He wrote the 1996 BBC TV series Neverwhere. He also co-wrote the movie MirrorMask with his friend Dave McKean.
He helped write the script for the movie Beowulf (2007). He also wrote an episode for the TV series Babylon 5.
Popular Adaptations
Many of Neil's books have been made into movies. Stardust premiered in 2007, starring Claire Danes and Robert De Niro. A stop-motion animated movie of Coraline was released in 2009.
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His book The Graveyard Book is being made into a movie by director Ron Howard.
Neil wrote two episodes for the popular BBC science fiction series Doctor Who: "The Doctor's Wife" (2011) and "Nightmare in Silver" (2013). "The Doctor's Wife" won a Hugo Award.
In 2015, the TV channel Starz began making a series based on his novel American Gods. Neil also wrote the screenplay for the TV miniseries adaptation of Good Omens, which won a Hugo Award in 2020.
He even appeared as himself on an episode of The Simpsons in 2011!
Radio and Public Appearances
Neil Gaiman's stories have also been adapted for radio. A six-part radio play of Neverwhere was broadcast in 2013 by BBC Radio 4. In 2014, Neil and Terry Pratchett worked with BBC Radio 4 to create the first radio version of Good Omens.
Neil often gives public readings of his stories and poems. He has toured with his wife, musician Amanda Palmer, and sometimes even sings during his performances. In 2015, he gave a long lecture about how stories last in human culture.
In 2018, Neil made a guest appearance on the TV show The Big Bang Theory.
Personal Life
Neil Gaiman moved to Wisconsin in 1992 to be closer to his first wife's family. He has four children. He was very good friends with author Terry Pratchett until Terry's death in 2015.
Neil met musician Amanda Palmer in 2008, and they married in 2011. They have one son together.
Supporting Important Causes
Neil Gaiman supports many good causes. In 2016, he appeared in a video for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to help people understand the challenges faced by refugees around the world.
He is also a supporter of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, an organization that helps protect the rights of comic book creators and readers.
In 2022, during the conflict in Ukraine, Neil announced that he would not renew contracts with Russian publishers to show his support for Ukraine. He also encouraged people to donate to help Ukrainian refugees.
Literary Style
Neil Gaiman's stories often use allusions, which means they refer to other famous books, myths, or historical events. For example, his novel Stardust is full of references to Victorian fairy tales. In The Sandman comics, you can find characters like William Shakespeare and Geoffrey Chaucer, and many ideas from different mythologies.
His book The Graveyard Book uses ideas from Gothic novels, but Neil changes them to focus on positive themes like learning, friendship, and growing up.
Some people think Neil Gaiman's stories follow a pattern called the monomyth, or "hero's journey," which is a common structure found in many myths and stories. However, Neil says he never finished reading about the monomyth because he preferred to create stories naturally, rather than follow a set pattern.
Awards and Honours
Neil Gaiman has won many awards for his writing. Here are some of them:
- Eagle Awards (1988–2008): For his comic books, including Violent Cases and The Sandman.
- Harvey Awards (1991–1993): For Best Writer for The Sandman.
- Locus Awards (1991–2014): For novels like American Gods, Anansi Boys, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and for short stories and collections.
- Eisner Awards (1991–2023): Many awards for his comic books, including Sandman, Books of Magic, and graphic novel adaptations of his short stories. He was also inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2021.
- Inkpot Award (1991): Given at San Diego Comic-Con.
- Bram Stoker Awards (2000–2004): For The Sandman: The Dream Hunters, American Gods, and Coraline.
- Hugo Awards (2002–2020): For novels like American Gods and The Graveyard Book, and for TV episodes like "The Doctor's Wife" and the Good Omens miniseries.
- Nebula Awards (2002–2003): For American Gods and Coraline.
- British Fantasy Awards (2006–2010): For Anansi Boys and Fragile Things.
- Shirley Jackson Awards (2010): For his novelette "The Truth Is A Cave In The Black Mountains".
- World Fantasy Award (1991): For a Sandman issue called "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
- Comics Buyer's Guide Award (1991–1993): For Favorite Writer.
- Mythopoeic Fantasy Award (1999, 2006): For Stardust and Anansi Boys.
- British Science Fiction Association Award (2003): For Coraline.
- Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Scenario (2004): For The Sandman: Season of Mists.
- Quill Book Award for Graphic Novels (2005): For Marvel 1602.
- Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award (2007).
- Comic-Con Icon award (2007).
- Newbery Medal (2009): For The Graveyard Book.
- Audie Award (2009): For the audiobook of The Graveyard Book.
- Booktrust Teenage Prize (2009): For The Graveyard Book.
- Carnegie Medal (2010): For The Graveyard Book.
- Ray Bradbury Award (2011): For The Doctor's Wife.
- Honorary Doctorate of Arts (2012): From the University of the Arts.
- National Book Awards (British) (2013): Book of the Year for The Ocean at the End of the Lane.
- Honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (2016): From the University of St Andrews.
- Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award (2019): For supporting other writers and freedom of expression.
- Children's Literature Lecture Award (2020).
- Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world list (2023).
Works
See also
In Spanish: Neil Gaiman para niños
