Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman was born in Norwich in 1946, and educated in England, Zimbabwe, and Australia, before his family settled in North Wales. He received his secondary education at Ysgol Ardudwy, Harlech, and then went to Exeter College, Oxford, to read English, though he apparently "never learned to read it very well".

He found his way into the teaching profession at the age of 25, and taught at various Oxford Middle Schools before moving to Westminster College in 1986, where he spent eight years involved in teaching students on the B.Ed. course. This experience has occasionally led him occasionally to make "controversial" remarks alleging that not everything is well in our schools. His main concern is that an over-emphasis on testing and league tables has led to a lack of time and freedom for a true, imaginative and humane engagement with literature.

His most well-known work is the trilogy His Dark Materials, beginning with Northern Lights (The Golden Compass in the USA) in 1995, continuing with The Subtle Knife in 1997, and concluding with The Amber Spyglass in 2000. These books have been honoured by several prizes, including the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Children's Book Award, and (for The Amber Spyglass) the Whitbread Book of the Year Award - the first time in the history of that prize that it was given to a children's book.

When he's not writing books he likes to draw and to make things out of wood. He also like to play the piano. He'd like to play it well, but he can't, so the rest of the family has to put up him my playing it badly. He lives in Oxford.

*This is an edited version of the biography on Philip Pullman's website.

Fact file

Name: Philip Pullman

Date of birth: 1946

Education: Ysgol Ardudwy, Harlech, Exeter College, Oxford

Born: Norwich

Current home: Oxford

Similar authors: JRR Tolkien, JK Rowling, CS Lewis