Pullman, Philip (1946-…), is a British author who became internationally popular for his fantasy novels for children and young adults. He is best known for the “His Dark Materials” trilogy, an intense and complex fantasy with strong moral and philosophical overtones. The novels take place in multiple worlds and center on a resourceful orphan girl named Lyra Belacqua. The trilogy consists of Northern Lights (1995, published in 1996 in the United States as The Golden Compass), The Subtle Knife (1997), and The Amber Spyglass (2000). A short novel called Once Upon a Time in the North (2008) deals with Lee Scoresby, one of the characters in the trilogy. A television adaptation of “His Dark Materials” premiered in 2019. Pullman began a new trilogy, called “The Book of Dust,” that expands the story of Lyra. The first volume, La Belle Sauvage, was published in 2017, and the second volume, The Secret Commonwealth, in 2019.
Pullman has also written the “Sally Lockhart” trilogy of Victorian-era novels, beginning with The Ruby in the Smoke (1985). The stories are set in England during the 1800’s and follow Sally Lockhart, a courageous 16-year-old orphan, as she moves as a private investigator through various segments of Victorian society.
Pullman’s other fiction includes the modern realistic novel The Broken Bridge (1990), and others in the folk tale tradition, such as Clockwork: or All Wound Up (1998), I Was a Rat (2000), and The Scarecrow and His Servant (2005). He retold the Gospels of the Bible in The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ (2010). He wrote modern versions of a collection of classic fairy tales in Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm (2012). The Adventures of John Blake (2017) is a graphic novel for young readers about a time-traveling ghost ship. Daemon Voices (2018) is a collection of Pullman’s essays on stories and storytelling. Pullman has also written several plays for children.
Pullman was born on Oct. 19, 1946, in Norwich, England, and was raised in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Australia, England, and Wales. He graduated from Oxford University in 1973 with a degree in English. He taught middle school in Oxford from 1972 to 1986 and at Westminster College from 1986 to 1994. Pullman was knighted in 2019 and became Sir Philip Pullman.
