Home

Biography: Neil Gaiman




Neil Gaiman is not only an immensely popular graphic novelist and comic book writer with a cult following, but also infallibly hits the best seller list when a novel is published. He has also been given the honour of appearing in the Dictionary of Literary Biography’s top ten living post modern writers list.

Biography

Neil Gaiman was born on the 10th of November, 1960, in England. His father worked at a chain of grocery stores originally set up by his Polish/Jewish immigrant parents, and his mother was a pharmacist. His parents discovered Scientology in the early sixties and moved the family to East Grinstead in West Sussex in 1965, where the family lived for many years.

Despite Gaiman’s Jewish heritage, his schooling consisted primarily of Church of England schools, including Fonthill School, Ardingly College, and Whitgift School. Gaiman was a voracious reader as a child, and came to appreciate science fiction and fantasy particularly.

On completing his education, Gaiman began pursuing journalism as a career, conducting interviews, and focusing on book reviews and rock journalism. He wrote for many British magazines, and wrote and published his first book in 1984. Shortly after this he became friends with comic book writer Alan Moore and started writing comics.

Gaiman has struck up several famous friendships, whom he often references in his work and is often returned this compliment. He has won many awards for his work; his novels are eagerly awaited best sellers and he has a legion of loyal fans who follow his graphic novels.

Gaiman currently lives in Minnesota with his wife and three children.

Bibliography

Comics and graphic novels

  • Tharg’s Future Shocks (2000)*
  • Violent Cases (1987)*
  • Black Orchid #1-3 (1988)*
  • The Light Brigade (1988)
  • Redfox #20 (1989)
  • Swamp Thing Annual (1990)
  • The Sandman #1-75 (1989-1996)
  • Miracleman #17-24 (1992)*
  • Books of Magic #1-4 (1991)*
  • Being an Account of the Life and Death of the Emperor Heliogabolus (1991)
  • Signal to Noise (Dark Horse Comics, 1992)*
  • Death: The High Cost of Living #1-3 (1994)*
  • The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch (1994)*
  • The Last Temptation (1994)*
  • Angela #1-3 (1994/1995)
  • Death: The Time of Your Life #1-3 (1997)*
  • Stardust (Being A Romance Within The Realm of Faerie) #1-4 (1997-1998)*
  • Neil Gaiman’s Only The End of the World Again (2000)*
  • Neil Gaiman’s Midnight Days (1999)*
  • Green Lantern/Superman: Legend of the Green Flame (2000)*
  • Harlequin Valentine (2001)*
  • Murder Mysteries (2002)*
  • Marvel 1602 #1-8 (2003)*
  • Endless Nights (2003)*
  • Eternals (2006)

Prose

  • Duran Duran: The Book (1984)*
  • Ghastly Beyond Belief: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Book of Quotations (1985)*
  • Don’t Panic: The Official Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Companion (A guide to Douglas Adams’ trilogy) (1988)
  • Good Omens (1990)*
  • Angels and Visitations (a collection of short stories) (1993)*
  • Now we are Sick (1994)*
  • SimCity 2000 (1995)
  • The Sandman: Book of Dreams (1996)*
  • Neverwhere (1997)
  • On Cats and Dogs: Two Tales (1997)
  • Smoke and Mirrors (1998)
  • The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish (1998)*
  • Stardust (1999)
  • Sandman: The Dream Hunters (1999)*
  • American Gods (2001)
  • Murder Mysteries: A Play for Voices (2001)
  • Little Lit: It Was a Dark and Silly Night (2001)*
  • Adventures in the Dream Trade (2002)
  • Snow, Glass, Apples: A Play for Voices (2002)
  • A Walking Tour of the Shambles (2002)*
  • Coraline (2002)*
  • The Wolves in the Walls (2003)*
  • Melinda (2003/04)*
  • Fragile Things (2006)
  • Anansi Boys (2005)

Film/television

  • Neverwhere (TV series) (1996)*
  • Princess Mononoke (1997)*
  • The episode Day of the Dead from the fifth season of Babylon 5 (1998)
  • A Short Film About John Bolton (2003)
  • MirrorMask (2005)*
  • Stardust (2007)*
  • Beowulf (2007)*

Works followed by and asterisk (*) were all created in conjunction with other people, or are texts that contain a piece of Gaiman’s writing. For further details, please visit Wikipedia.

Genre

Neil Gaiman writes primarily within the fantasy, graphic novel, supernatural fiction, and humour genres.

References