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A bit about Neil…
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Born in Portchester in 1960. Now lives in the USA.
First book – Duran Duran Biography!
“Literary Rock Star”
Nearly 2 Million Followers on Twitter (@neilhimself)
Three Authors in One
1. Children/YA Novelist
2. Novelist for adults
3. Graphic novelist
Also writes short stories and written for TV/film,
including two recent Doctor Who episodes…
Books for the young
“Adults follow paths. Children explore. Adults are content to walk the same way,
hundreds of times, or thousands; perhaps it never occurs to adults to step off the
paths, to creep beneath rhododendrons, to find the spaces between fences.” – The
Ocean at the End of the Lane
• The one with the ‘buttons for
eyes’
• Unknown merges with the
known
• A twisted (but hopeful) fairy
tale – GK Chesterton epigraph
at start of novel
• The Jungle Book as reimagined by Neil Gaiman
• Union of the Natural and the Supernatural – Danse
Macabre
Adult Novels
• His ‘Great American Novel’
• America’s troubled reality
• A plethora of mythologies
• A dark ‘fairy tale for grown ups’
• Uses classic fairy tale tropes
• Victorian setting
Graphic Novels
His Masterpiece*
* - In my opinion
* In my opinion
The Endless
Destiny
Death
Dream
Destruction
Desire
Despair
Delirium (formerly Delight)
Illusion and Allusion
A few examples…
• A Dream of a Thousand Cats –Plato’s
Parable of the Cave
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• The Furies
Neil in a Nutshell
“Neil Gaiman is a star. He constructs stories like some demented cook might make
a wedding cake, building layer upon layer, including all kinds of sweet and sour in
the mix.”
Clive Barker