There is a Polish thread in his biography – part of Neil Gaiman’s family comes from our beautiful country. His parents are Jewish Scientologists, however strange this may sound. Neil was born in 1960 in England. Ever since he learned to read, he had devoured anything with letters, even school textbooks. He was influenced by the occult novels by Dennis Wheatley, JRR Tolkien, especially The Lord of the Rings . He was also impressed by CS Lewis’ novels The Chronicles of Narnia and Alice in Wonderland. As a child, he decided to write similar things himself.
However, he started with journalism, which was for him a way of getting to know the world and the right people. His writing debut was Featherquest (1984), in the same year he published a biography of Duran Duran, and co-wrote the book of quotes Ghastly Beyond Belief. Since then it has already gone … And he quit journalism a few years later, claiming that newspapers were lying …
It would take ages to list all the works by this prolific writer of novels and comics, so I’ll limit myself to the most important ones. Sandman comic book series , Wolves in the Walls , Good Omen novels (with Terry Pratchett) , Nowhere, Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, Anansi’s Boys, The Graveyard Book, The Ocean at the End of the Road, Smoke and Mirrors stories , Fleeting Things, M for Magic these are just some of his works.
As an author, Gaiman is original, very creative and versatile. She likes breaking conventions, playing with conventions, always preparing new surprises and reading gems for fans. His texts engage, entertain and move. Neil Gaiman’s imagination is limitless, and magic is bursting with books by this great writer. It was appreciated by readers and jurors. He is a laureate of awards, incl. Bram Stokera, Hugo, Nebula, or the British National Book Awards.
Gaiman has also collaborated with music and cinema stars. With Tori Amos he created, for example, Dziwneelki, an addition to her album (he also became the godfather of her daughter Tash). Coraline , the children’s favorite horror film, was screened by Henry Selick, Gaiman’s next novel, Stardust had its theatrical premiere in 2007 (starring Claire Danes and Sienna Miller, among others), and he produced it himself.
He wrote the screenplay for Beowulf and adapted Princess Mononoke into English . He also wrote for Doctor Who and Lucifer . It can also be said that he is starting his career as an actor – he appeared as himself in the series The Big Bang Theory and Dobry omen .
As for private life, he has been married twice. He has three children with his first wife, Mary McGrath, a Scientology activist. With the other – performer and singer of The Dresden Dolls, Amanda Palmer, she has another son. The couple broke up in 2020.
What is Neil Gaiman trying to tell us?
I made a list of the things you don’t learn in school. They don’t teach you how to love someone. They don’t teach you how to be famous. They don’t teach you how to be rich or poor. They don’t teach you how to walk away from someone you no longer love. They don’t teach you how to know what’s going on in someone else’s mind. They don’t teach what to say to a dying person. They don’t teach anything worth knowing.
That’s it. Therefore, we thank you for writing Gaiman. You can really learn a lot from them. We wish Neil that he will never lose his vein and that we can continue to learn from his books.