Philip Pullman (born 1946) is an English writer. He is the best-selling author of His Dark Materials, a trilogy of fantasy novels, and a number of other books.
Life
Pullman was born in Norwich. The family travelled with his RAF pilot father's job, including to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where he spent time at school. His father was killed in a plane crash in 1953 when Pullman was seven. His mother remarried and with a move to Australia came Pullman's discovery of comic books including Superman and Batman. From 1957 he was educated at Ysgol Ardudwy school in Wales and spent time in Norfolk with his grandfather, a clergyman. Around this time Pullman discovered John Milton's Paradise Lost, which would become a major influence for His Dark Materials. From 1963 Pullman attended Exeter College, Oxford, receiving BA in 1968. Pullman married in 1970 and began teaching children.
His first fantasy novel was Galatea in 1978, but it was his school plays which inspired his first children's book, Count Karlstein, in 1982. He stopped teaching around the publication of The Ruby in the Smoke (1986), his second children's book, whose Victorian setting is indicative of Pullman's interest in that era.
Pullman taught part-time at Westminster College, Oxford between 1988 and 1996, continuing to write children's stories. He began His Dark Materials about ... (more)
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Speculative Fiction Novels (13) | |
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2020 Serpentine (His Dark Materials (related works))
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2019 The Secret Commonwealth (The Book of Dust, #2)
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2017 La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust, #1)
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2008 Once Upon a Time in the North (His Dark Materials (related works))
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2004 The Scarecrow and His Servant
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2003 Lyra's Oxford (His Dark Materials (related works))
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2000 The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, #3)
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1999 I Was a Rat! or The Scarlet Slippers
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1998 Clockwork
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1997 The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, #2)
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1995 The Firework-Maker's Daughter
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1995 The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, #1)
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1982 Count Karlstein
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