Neil Gaiman Biography
Neil Gaiman grew up in England and, although Jewish, attended Church of England schools, including Ardingly College, a boarding school in West Sussex (South of England). During the early 1980s he worked as a journalist and book reviewer. His first book was a biography of the band Duran Duran. He moved from England to his wife's hometown in the American midwest several years ago. He and his family now live in a renovated Victorian farmhouse where (he says) his hobbies are writing things down, hiding, and talking about himself in the third person. More about him and his books below.
A professional writer for more than twenty years,
Neil Gaiman has been one of the top writers in modern comics, and
is now a bestselling novelist. His work has appeared in
translation in more than nineteen countries, and nearly all of his
novels, graphic and otherwise, have been optioned for films. He is
listed in the Dictionary of Literary Biography as one of the top
ten living post-modern writers.
Gaiman was the creator/writer of the monthly cult DC Comics
series, "Sandman," which won him nine Will Eisner Comic Industry
Awards, including the award for best writer four times, and three
Harvey Awards. "Sandman #19" took the 1991 World Fantasy Award for
best short story, making it the first comic ever to be awarded a
literary award.
His six-part fantastical TV series for the BBC, "Neverwhere,"
was broadcast in 1996. His novel, also called "Neverwhere," and
set in the same strange underground world as the television
series, was released in 1997; it appeared on a number of
bestseller lists, including those of the Los Angeles Times,
the San Francisco Chronicle, and Locus.
Stardust, an illustrated prose novel in four parts,
began to appear from DC Comics in 1997. In 1999 Avon released the
all-prose unillustrated version, which appeared on a number of
bestseller lists, was selected by Publishers Weekly as one
of the best books of the year, and was awarded the prestigious
Mythopoeic Award as best novel for adults.
American Gods, a novel for adults, was published in 2001
and appeared on many best-of- the-year lists, was a New York
Times bestseller in both hardcover and paperback, and won the
Hugo, Nebula, SFX, Bram Stoker, and Locus Awards.
Coraline (2002), his first novel for children, was a
New York Times and international bestseller, was nominated for
the Prix Tam Tam, and won the Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award, the
BSFA Award, the HUgo, the Nebula and the Bram Stoker Award.
2003 saw the publication of bestseller
The Wolves in the Walls, a children's picture book, illustrated by Gaiman's
longtime collaborator Dave McKean, which the New York Times
named as one of the best illustrated books of the year; and the
first Sandman graphic novel in seven years, Endless Nights,
the first graphic novel to make the New York Times
bestseller list.
In 2004, Gaiman published the a new graphic novel for Marvel
called 1602, which was the best-selling comic of 2004, and
2005 saw the Sundance Film Festival premiere of "MirrorMask," a
Jim Henson Company Production written by Gaiman and directed by
McKean. A lavishly designed book containing the complete script,
black and white storyboards, and full-color art from the film will
be published by William Morrow in early 2005; a picture book for
younger readers, also written by Gaiman and illustrated with art
from the movie, will be published by HarperCollins Children's
Books at a later date.
In Fall 2005, Anansi Boys, the follow-up to American
Gods, was published. This was followed by Interworld (2007) written with Michael Reaves; and The Graveyard Book and Odd and the Frost Giants, both published in 2008.
This biography was last updated on 10/12/2008.
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