Philip Pullman


Philip Pullman

Pullman in April 2005
Pullman in April 2005
Born (1946-10-19) 19 October 1946 (age 77)
Norwich, England
OccupationNovelist
EducationEnglish
Alma materExeter College, Oxford
GenreFantasy
Notable works
Notable awardsCarnegie Medal
1995
Guardian Prize
1996
Astrid Lindgren Award
2005
Spouse
Judith Speller
(m. 1970)
Children2
ParentsAlfred Outram Pullman
Audrey Evelyn Merrifield
RelativesOutram Marshall (great-grandfather)
Signature
Website
philip-pullman.com

Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman[1] CBE FRSL (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. His books include the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials and The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, a fictionalised biography of Jesus. In 2008, The Times named Pullman one of the "50 greatest British writers since 1945".[2] In a 2004 BBC poll, he was named the eleventh most influential person in British culture.[3][4] He was knighted in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to literature.[5]

Northern Lights, the first volume in His Dark Materials, won the 1995 Carnegie Medal of the Library Association as the year's outstanding English-language children's book.[6] For the Carnegie's 70th anniversary, it was named in the top ten by a panel tasked with compiling a shortlist for a public vote for an all-time favourite.[7] It won that public vote and was named all-time "Carnegie of Carnegies" in June 2007. It was filmed under the book's US title, The Golden Compass. In 2003, His Dark Materials trilogy ranked third in the BBC's The Big Read, a poll of 200 top novels voted by the British public.[8]

  1. ^ "Page N1 | Supplement 62507, 29 December 2018 | London Gazette | the Gazette".
  2. ^ "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". The Times. 5 January 2008. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  3. ^ "iPod designer leads culture list". BBC. 17 November 2016.
  4. ^ "iPod designer voted UK's most influential cultural icon". The Register. 17 November 2016.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference knighted was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ (Carnegie Winner 1995) Archived 24 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  7. ^ "70 Years Celebration: Anniversary Top Tens" Archived 27 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine. The CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Children's Book Awards. CILIP. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  8. ^ "BBC – The Big Read". BBC. April 2003. Retrieved 25 July 2019