Philip pullman short biography
Philip Pullman
English author (born 1946)
Sir Philip Nicholas Outram PullmanCBE 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". In a 2004 BBC poll, he was named the eleventh most influential person in British culture. He was knighted in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to literature.
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. 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. 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.
Life and career
Philip Pullman was born in Norwich, England, the son of Audrey Evelyn Pullman (née Merrifield) and Royal Air Force pilot Alfred Outram Pullman. The family travelled with his father's job, including to Southern Rhodesia, though most of his formative years were spent in Llanbedr in Ardudwy, Wales.
In 1954, when Pullman was seven, his father, an RAF pilot, was killed in a plane crash in Kenya, being posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). In an exchange with a journalist in 2008, Pullman said that, as a boy, he saw his father as "a hero, steeped in glamour, killed in action defending his country", and who had been "training pilots". Pullman was then presented with a report from The Lo Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman was born on 19 October 1946, in Norwich, England, the elder of two sons born to Alfred Outram Pullman, a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force, and Audrey Evelyn Pullman (née Merrifield). Pullman, his mother and younger brother Francis followed Alfred to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) but moved back to England to live with Pullman’s grandparents and aunt in Norfolk. His grandfather was the rector of the local church at Drayton, and Pullman has credited his grandfather’s influence as a master storyteller, writing, “When I was young he was the sun at the centre of my life” (Pullman, “I Have a Feeling” 13). In 1953, Alfred Pullman was killed in a plane crash in Africa. Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman was born on 19 October 1946, in Norwich, England,… Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions. 3112 words Citation: Barfield, Steve, Katharine Cox, Chris Willis, Kris Swank. "Philip Pullman". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2002; last revised 14 July 2021. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5064, accessed 21 February 2025.] With the publication of The Ruby in the Smoke in England in 1985 (1987 in the United States), Philip Pullman, a former schoolteacher raised in Rhodesia, Australia, London, and Wales, launched his career as a writer of young adult novels. Set in London during the Victorian era, the novel relates the adventures of Sally Lockhart, an inventive, courageous sixteen-year-old who finds herself caught in dangerous intrigue when she delves into the circumstances surrounding the death of the man she believed was her father. The setting is effectively realized in the engrossing tale, which begins a trilogy that continues with The Shadow in the North (1988), published in Great Britain in 1987 as The Shadow in the Plate, and The Tiger in the Well (1990). Sally’s character develops as she grows older, falls in love, and becomes an unwed mother who runs her own financial consulting business. Over and over she displays her resourcefulness as she meets each new threat head-on. Pullman’s greatest strength is his ability to weave complex and riveting plots that wrap the reader in suspense. In The Shadow in the North, Sally investigates the failure of a shipping business she had recommended to one of her clients as a secure investment and uncovers not only fraud but murder and the invention of a devastating war weapon. The third book depicts Sally’s desperate efforts to find her daughter, who has been kidnapped by a man she has never before met, but who legally claims to be the child’s father. Pullman brings the trilogy to a dose by reintroducing one of the most malevolent villains of the first book. Although the novels contain some adult sexual imagery and disturbing violence, they remain within the limits of good taste. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of The White Mercedes (1992), in which a streetwise, sexually abused runaway is murdered due to an arbitrary s Sir Philip PullmanCBEFRSL (born Norwich, England, 19 October 1946) is an Englishwriter. He is the best-selling author of His Dark Materials, a trilogy of fantasy novels, and a number of other books. In 2008, The Times named Pullman in its list of "The 50 greatest Britishwriters since 1945".One of the greatest books to come around in the 20th century Pullman is a supporter of the British Humanist Association and an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society. New Yorker journalist Laura Miller has described Pullman as one of England's most outspoken atheists, although Pullman describes himself as an agnostic. On 15 September 2010, Pullman along with 54 other public figures signed an open letter, published in The Guardian newspaper, stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI being given "the honour of a state visit" to the UK, arguing that he has led and condoned global abuses of human rights. The letter says "The state of which the pope is head has also resisted signing many major human rights treaties and has formed its own treaties ("concordats") with many states which negatively affect the human rights of citizens of those states". Other signers included Stephen Fry, Professor Richard Dawkins, Terry Pratchett, Jonathan Miller and Ken Follet.Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman Biography
Philip Pullman – British novelist and playwright, b. 1946
Philip Pullman
Perspective on religion
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[change | change source]The New-Cut Gang
[change | change source]Sally Lockhart
[change | change source]His Dark Materials
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