Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman (born October 19, 1946, Norwich, England) is a British author of novels for children and young adults who is best known for the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials (1995–2000).

Early life and career

Pullman was the son of a Royal Air Force officer. His family moved many times during his childhood and settled for some years in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). On the long journeys dictated by his father’s various postings, he regaled his younger brother with his fantasy tales. After his father died in a plane crash, young Philip was sent back to England to live with his grandparents. Following his mother’s remarriage, Pullman joined her and his stepfather in Australia; they all subsequently moved to Harlech, Wales. After studying English at the University of Oxford, Pullman remained resident in Oxford, working as a teacher.

Meanwhile, Pullman began writing novels. His first books—The Haunted Storm (1972) and Galatea (1976)—were oriented toward an adult audience. In the 1980s and ’90s Pullman began writing many novels for children and young adults, beginning with Count Karlstein; or, Ride of the Demon Huntsman (1982). Pullman’s Sally Lockhart detective stories, set in Victorian London, were published between 1985 and 1994.

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His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust series

Pullman then began work on His Dark Materials, which centers on Lyra Belacqua (or Lyra Silvertongue), a young girl who lives in a parallel world ruled by the sinister Church (or Magisterium). Northern Lights (1995; also published as The Golden Compass, 1996), the first volume of the trilogy, won the 1996 Carnegie Medal in Literature and was adapted into a major motion picture (2007). It was followed by The Subtle Knife (1997) and The Amber Spyglass (2000). The latter volume won the Whitbread Book Award in 2001. Each book was subsequently adapted into a BBC radio play, and the entire trilogy was adapted into two stage plays and performed at London’s National Theatre. A TV series based on the books debuted in 2019. In addition, Pullman wrote a series of companion works centering on various characters featured in the series.

Readers and critics alike have considered Pullman a worthy successor to J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, and C.S. Lewis, who wrote The Chronicles of Narnia. However, while Lewis portrayed religion in a positive light, Pullman, who is a vocal atheist, writes of the abuses of organized religion and instead embraces a humanistic morality. The His Dark Materials series has attracted criticism from those who believe it to be an attack on the Roman Catholic Church.

In 2017 Pullman released La Belle Sauvage, the first of three planned installments in his The Book of Dust series. It continues the story of Lyra, chronicling her life both before and after His Dark Materials. However, rather than describing it as a prequel or sequel, Pullman claimed that The Book of Dust trilogy is an “equel.” The second book in the series, The Secret Commonwealth, appeared in 2019.

Other works

Among Pullman’s other works are How to Be Cool (1987), The Broken Bridge (1990), The White Mercedes (1992; reissued and adapted as the film The Butterfly Tattoo [2009]), The Firework-Maker’s Daughter (1995), The Scarecrow and the Servant (2004), and The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ (2010). Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version (2012) collected Pullman’s retellings of the titular German children’s parables. In 2017 he published the graphic novel The Adventures of John Blake: Mystery of the Ghost Ship, which features illustrations by Fred Fordham. Pullman’s works have been translated into many languages, and he was internationally one of the best-known writers for children at the turn of the 21st century.

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In 2018 Pullman published Dæmon Voices: On Stories and Storytelling, in which he discusses his approach to writing as well as his influences.