/ Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is an English creator of prose, poetry, film, journalism, comics, song lyrics and drama. He is considered one of the top writers in modern comics, and is listed in the Dictionary of Literary Biography as one of the top ten living post-modern writers. Gaiman co-authored Good Omens, a comic novel about the Apocalypse, adapted the BBC miniseries Neverwhere about the dark underworld beneath the streets of London into hardcover. Also, inspired by his young daughter, put a horrifying spin on C.S. Lewis' wardrobe doors for Coraline, a children's book about a passageway into a magical, malevolent land.

The Sandman, though, is Gaiman's most famous work. After the publication of his first graphic novel, Violent Cases, in the UK in 1987, Gaiman was discovered by DC Comics. Soon The Sandman was born, or rather re-born. The comic debuted back in 1939 with a everyman crime fighter in the lead role. In Gaiman's hands, however, the tale took on a more otherworldly spin, slowly introducing readers to the seven siblings Endless: Dream, Death, Desire, Destiny, Destruction, Despair, and Delirium, all of whom have their roles in shaping human lives. Norman Mailer said, "Along with all else, Sandman is a comic strip for intellectuals, and I say it's about time."

In 1995, Gaiman ended The Sandman and spent more time on his non-graphic fiction, including a couple of short-story collections. His six-part fantastical TV series for the BBC, Neverwhere, aired in 1996, and his novel, by the same title and set in the same underground world as the television series, was released in 1997. Gaiman's first novel for children, The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish, came out in 1997, and was listed by Newsweek as one of the best children's books of the year. That year, Stardust, a prose novel in four parts and a fairy story for adults was issued by DC Comics. The 1998 publication of his collection of short fiction, Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions, earned him a nomination for a MacMillan Silver Pen award as the best short story collection of the year.

His 2001 New York Times bestselling novel for adults, American Gods, was awarded the Hugo, Nebula, Bram Stoker, SFX and Locus awards. Coraline, his children's novel published in 2002, was also a New York Times and international bestseller, earning Gaiman many more awards. His eagerly awaited next adult novel, Anansi Boys, debuted on the New York Bestseller list in September 2005.

Neil Gaiman is a man of many talents. He is also a man who "shuttled back and forth between comics and classic in his formative years, and can pepper his writing with references to Norse mythology as well as the vaudevillian rock group Queen." His potential for even further success is great.

Biographical detail