Philip Pullman
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Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. He is best known for the
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
trilogy ''
His Dark Materials ''His Dark Materials'' is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of '' Northern Lights'' (1995; published as ''The Golden Compass'' in North America), '' The Subtle Knife'' (1997), and '' The Amber Spyglass'' (2000). It follo ...
''. The first volume, ''Northern Lights'' (1995), won the Carnegie Medal(Carnegie Winner 1995)
. Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners.
CILIP The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP, pronounced ) is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge management, knowledge managers in the United Kingdom. It was established in 20 ...
. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
and later the " Carnegie of Carnegies"."70 Years Celebration: Anniversary Top Tens"
. The CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Children's Book Awards.
CILIP The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP, pronounced ) is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge management, knowledge managers in the United Kingdom. It was established in 20 ...
. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
The third volume, '' The Amber Spyglass'' (2000), won the Whitbread Award. In 2003, ''His Dark Materials'' ranked third in the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
's The Big Read, a poll of 200 top novels voted by the British public. In 2017, he started a companion trilogy, '' The Book of Dust''. In 2008, ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' named Pullman one of the "50 greatest British writers since 1945". In a 2004 BBC poll, he was named the eleventh most influential person in British culture. He was knighted in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to literature. Michael Morpurgo said: “The range and depth of his imagination and of his learning certainly make him the Tolkien of our day.”


Early life and education

Philip Pullman was born in
Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...
, England, the son of Audrey Evelyn Pullman (née Merrifield) and
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
pilot Alfred Outram Pullman. The family travelled with his father's job, including to
Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...
, though most of his formative years were spent in
Llanbedr Llanbedr () is a village and Community (Wales), community south of Harlech. Administratively, it lies in the Ardudwy area, formerly Meirionnydd, of the county of Gwynedd, Wales. In 2011 the community had a population of 645. History Ancient ...
in Ardudwy,
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
. In 1954, when Pullman was seven, his father, an RAF pilot, was killed in a plane crash in
Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
, being posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). In an exchange with a journalist in 2008, Pullman said that, as a boy, he saw his father as "a hero, steeped in glamour, killed in action defending his country", and who had been "training pilots". Pullman was then presented with a report from ''
The London Gazette ''The London Gazette'', known generally as ''The Gazette'', is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, i ...
'' of 1954 "which carried the official RAF news of the day ndsaid that the medal was given for 'gallant and distinguished service' during the
Mau Mau uprising The Mau Mau rebellion (1952–1960), also known as the Mau Mau uprising, Mau Mau revolt, or Kenya Emergency, was a war in the British Kenya Colony (1920–1963) between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as the Mau Mau, and the ...
." Responding to that new information, Pullman wrote: "My father probably doesn't come out of this with very much credit, judged by the standards of modern liberal progressive thought", and he accepted the revelation as "a serious challenge to his childhood memory." His mother remarried the following year and they moved to
North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...
. He remembers her reading him '' Just So Stories'': " Kipling’s rhythms must have got into my memory". His favorite childhood book was
Erich Kästner Emil Erich Kästner (; 23 February 1899 – 29 July 1974) was a German writer, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known primarily for his humorous, socially astute poems and for children's books including ''Emil and the Detectives'' and '' Lisa an ...
’s ''Emil and the Three Twins'', "which was the sequel to his great ''
Emil and the Detectives ''Emil and the Detectives'' () is a 1929 novel set mainly in Berlin, by the German writer Erich Kästner and illustrated by Walter Trier. It was Kästner's first major success and the only one of his pre-1945 works to escape Nazi censorship. The ...
''. It was only much later that I realised why that book had such a deep effect on me: like mine, Emil’s mother had been widowed, and he didn’t want her to marry again. I had no idea of the parallel then." Pullman discovered
comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...
, including
Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
and
Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...
, and continues to enjoy the medium, citing
Hergé Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé ( ; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian comic strip artist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of T ...
's '' Adventures of Tintin'' as an influence. He attended Taverham Hall School and Eaton House and, from 1957, was educated at Ysgol Ardudwy in Harlech,
Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...
, spending time in
Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
with his grandfather, a clergyman. When he was "twelve or thirteen" he heard older students reciting T. S. Eliot's " Journey of the Magi": "It intoxicated me. That was one of the moments I realized
poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
was going to be very important to me. It had a physical effect on me." Poetry taught him that words have "weight and colour and taste and shape as well as meaning." A few years later, Pullman discovered
John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...
's ''
Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an Epic poetry, epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The poem concerns the Bible, biblical story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their ex ...
'', which would become a major influence on ''
His Dark Materials ''His Dark Materials'' is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of '' Northern Lights'' (1995; published as ''The Golden Compass'' in North America), '' The Subtle Knife'' (1997), and '' The Amber Spyglass'' (2000). It follo ...
'': "I found, in that classroom so long ago, that it had the power to stir a physical response: my heart beat faster, the hair on my head stirred, my skin bristled. Ever since then, that has been my test for poetry, just as it was for A. E. Housman, who dared not think of a line of poetry while he was shaving, in case he cut himself."Pullman, Philip. Introduction. ''
Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an Epic poetry, epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The poem concerns the Bible, biblical story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their ex ...
'',
John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...
,
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2005
Other influences include
Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...
,
Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...
and
Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...
. As a teenager, he discovered Donald Allen’s '' The New American Poetry 1945-1960'': "This 1960 anthology burst into my life when I was 16 and changed the course of everything for me. Allen Ginsberg's 'Howl' was part of it; I had no idea poetry could do anything like that." Ginsberg led him to
William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...
: "My mind and my body reacted to certain lines from the '' Songs of Innocence and of Experience'', from '' The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'', from ' Auguries of Innocence', from ''Europe'', from ''America'' with the joyful immediacy of a flame leaping to meet a gas jet. What these things meant I didn’t quite know then, and I’m not sure I fully know now. There was no sober period of reflection, consideration, comparison, analysis: I didn’t have to work anything out. I knew they were true in the way I knew that I was alive." Influenced by
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
, he wrote poems and songs ("Thank God none of them were recorded.") From 1965, Pullman attended Exeter College, Oxford, receiving a Third Class BA in 1968. In an interview with '' The Oxford Student'', he noted that he "did not really enjoy the English course", and that "I thought I was doing quite well until I came out with my third class degree and then I realised that I wasn't – it was the year they stopped giving fourth class degrees otherwise I'd have got one of those". Pullman married Judith Speller in 1970 and they have two sons. At the time of his marriage he began teaching children aged 9 to 13 at Bishop Kirk Middle School in Summertown, North Oxford, where he also wrote school plays. He recalls retelling classics for his students: "My real purpose in telling them stories was to practice telling stories. And I practiced on the greatest model of storytelling we’ve got, which is '' The Iliad'' and ''
The Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...
''.


Writing

His
debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...
, '' The Haunted Storm'' (1972) was joint-winner of the New English Library's Young Writer's Award, but he refuses to discuss it. He followed it with ''Galatea'', (1978) an adult fantasy. ''
Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...
'' wrote: "Pullman is not without ideas or talent; both shine often enough through this grandiose muddle to make one wonder what he'll do next." His school plays inspired his first children's book, '' Count Karlstein'' (1982). He stopped teaching shortly after the publication of '' The Ruby in the Smoke'' (1985), a Victorian mystery and the first book in the Sally Lockhart quartet, followed by '' The Shadow in the North'' (1986), '' The Tiger in the Well'' (1990) and '' The Tin Princess'' (1994). He collaborated with David Mostyn on ''Spring-Heeled Jack'' (1989), a combination of
graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...
and text based on a
penny dreadful Penny dreadfuls were cheap popular Serial (literature), serial literature produced during the 19th century in the United Kingdom. The pejorative term is roughly interchangeable with penny horrible, penny awful, and penny blood. The term typical ...
character. ''
Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' wrote: "this waggish, innovative story of a courageous trio is sure to engage even the most reluctant reader." He wrote the realist novel '' The Broken Bridge'' (1990), "a love letter to that landscape of North Wales." Between 1988 and 1996, Pullman taught part-time at Westminster College, Oxford, continuing to write children's stories. He began ''His Dark Materials'' in about 1993. The first book, '' Northern Lights'', was published in 1995 (as ''The Golden Compass'' in the U.S. in 1996). While working on the trilogy, he wrote '' The Firework-Maker's Daughter'' (1995), '' Clockwork, or All Wound Up'' (1996) and '' I Was a Rat! or, The Scarlet Slippers'' (1999), which he called
fairy tales A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the Folklore, folklore genre. Such stories typically feature Magic (supernatural), magic, Incantation, e ...
. ''The Firework-Maker's Daughter'' won the Gold Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. The trilogy continued with '' The Subtle Knife'' (1997) and '' The Amber Spyglass'' (2000). Pullman has been writing full-time since 1996. He continues to deliver talks and writes occasionally for ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', including writing and lecturing about education, in which he is often critical of unimaginative education policies. He was awarded a CBE in the New Year's Honours list in 2004. That year, he was elected President of the Blake Society and guest-edited '' The Mays Literary Anthology'', a collection of new writing from students at the Universities of Oxford and
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
. He returned to fairy tales with '' The Scarecrow and His Servant'' (2004), which won the Silver Smarties Prize. In 2008, he started working on '' The Book of Dust'', a companion trilogy to ''His Dark Materials'', and "The Adventures of John Blake", a story for the British children's comic '' The DFC'', with artist John Aggs. In 2012, during a break from writing ''The Book of Dust'', Pullman was asked by
Penguin Classics Penguin Classics is an imprint (trade name), imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English language, English, Spanish language, Spanish, Portuguese language, Portuguese, and Korean language, Korean amon ...
to curate 50 of Grimms' classic fairytales, from their compendium of over 200 stories. "They are not all of the same quality", said Pullman. "Some are easily much better than others. And some are obvious classics. You can't do a selected Grimms' without
Rumpelstiltskin "Rumpelstiltskin" ( ; ) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in the 1812 edition of ''Children's and Household Tales''. The story is about an imp who spins straw into gold in exchange for a woman's firstborn child. Plot I ...
,
Cinderella "Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...
and so on." In 2017, a collection of his lectures and essays were published as ''Daemon Voices: On Stories and Storytelling''.


''His Dark Materials''

''His Dark Materials'' is a trilogy consisting of '' Northern Lights'' (titled ''The Golden Compass'' in North America), '' The Subtle Knife'' and '' The Amber Spyglass''. The trilogy's title comes from Book II of ''
Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an Epic poetry, epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The poem concerns the Bible, biblical story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their ex ...
''. ''Northern Lights'' takes place in a parallel universe where peoples' souls are embodied in animals called '' dæmons''. Pullman was influenced by
Socrates Socrates (; ; – 399 BC) was a Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher from Classical Athens, Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and as among the first moral philosophers of the Ethics, ethical tradition ...
's
daimon The daimon (), also spelled daemon (meaning "god", "godlike", "power", "fate"), denotes an "unknown superfactor", which can be either good or hostile. In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology a daimon was imagined to be a lesser ...
, described in
Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born  BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
's '' Apology of Socrates''. The trilogy centres around Lyra Belacqua, a girl initially growing up in Jordan College, Oxford. ''Northern Lights'' won both the annual Carnegie Medal and the
Guardian Children's Fiction Prize The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annually recognised one fiction book written for Children's literature, children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It was conf ...
, a similar award that authors may not win twice."Guardian children's fiction prize relaunched: Entry details and list of past winners"
''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' 12 March 2001. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
''The Subtle Knife'' introduces Will Parry, a boy from our universe. ''The Amber Spyglass'' moves across several universes. It was awarded both 2001
Whitbread Prize The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in United Kingdom, UK and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first ...
for best children's book and the Whitbread Book of the Year prize in January 2002, the first children's book so honoured. In 2003, it placed third in the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
's Big Read poll. Pullman has written three companion pieces to the trilogy: '' Lyra's Oxford'' (2003), '' Once Upon a Time in the North'' (2008) and ''Serpentine'' (2020). He refers to another, which will expand the character Will Parry, as the "green book". Pullman has narrated unabridged audiobooks of the three novels in the ''His Dark Materials'' trilogy; with a full cast.


''The Book of Dust''

'' The Book of Dust'' includes characters and events from ''His Dark Materials''. Pullman has said that the new series is neither sequel, nor prequel, but an "equel". '' La Belle Sauvage'', the first volume of ''The Book of Dust'', was published by Penguin Random House Children's and David Fickling in the UK and by Random House Children's in the US in 2017. A sequel, '' The Secret Commonwealth'', was published in October 2019. It includes a character named after Nur Huda el-Wahabi, a 16-year-old victim of London's Grenfell Tower fire. As part of the charity auction Authors for Grenfell Tower, Pullman offered the highest bidder a chance to name a character in the upcoming trilogy. Ultimately, he raised £32,400. The third and final book in the trilogy, '' The Rose Field'', is due to be released on 23 October 2025.


Style, themes and influences

In an epigraph to '' The Amber Spyglass'', Pullman wrote that: "My principle when researching a novel is 'Read like a butterfly, write like a bee', and if this story contains any honey, it is entirely because of the quality of the nectar that I found in the work of better writers. But there are three debts that need to be acknowledged above the rest. One is to the essay 'On the Marionette Theatre' by Heinrich von Kleist, which I first read in translation by Idris Parry in the '' Times Literary Supplement'' in 1978. The other is to
John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...
's ''
Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an Epic poetry, epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The poem concerns the Bible, biblical story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their ex ...
''. The third is to the works of
William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...
." He credits his teacher Enid Jones with "showing him that responsibility and delight can coexist." Christina Patterson writes that "'' The Firework-Maker's Daughter'' is both an adventure story and an extended metaphor for the making of art. '' Clockwork'' is a gothic fantasy with a sinister twist, which draws heavily on
German Romanticism German Romanticism () was the dominant intellectual movement of German-speaking countries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, influencing philosophy, aesthetics, literature, and criticism. Compared to English Romanticism, the German vari ...
. It's also a philosophical parable, playing with notions of
free will Free will is generally understood as the capacity or ability of people to (a) choice, choose between different possible courses of Action (philosophy), action, (b) exercise control over their actions in a way that is necessary for moral respon ...
, cause and effect. '' I Was a Rat!'' is a rollicking romp about Roger the rat-boy, but - as the title implies - it's also a brilliant parody of the sleazier reaches of journalism." Pullman says "What I hope is that the stories I write will entertain both the young readers and the older ones. What I don't want to do is to write the sort of book that has silly slapstick for children and clever stuff for the grown-ups. I want them all to enjoy the same bits for the same reason - but maybe see different things in it. He has incorporated science into his writing. ''His Dark Materials'' draws on the many worlds interpretation of quantum theory and the concept of
dark matter In astronomy, dark matter is an invisible and hypothetical form of matter that does not interact with light or other electromagnetic radiation. Dark matter is implied by gravity, gravitational effects that cannot be explained by general relat ...
. "I found dark matter a very helpful metaphor, and I had my fingers crossed since 1993 that they wouldn't discover what it was before I finished. And they still haven't." Another theme is the nature of
consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...
. He says that "Science is clearly a field where the imagination can be triumphant" but that there are things that lie beyond it: "I think a lot of the things that science is either dubious about or skeptical about or refuses to have anything to do with are these qualities which are so well expressed in literature or music or poetry or the visual arts. The sort of gung-ho triumphalist proponents of science will say 'That's because we haven't got there yet. We'll measure it, we'll do it one day. ... I'd point out, we've got there already. You read it in Shelley and Keats and
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
, you hear it in Stravinsky and
Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...
."


Campaigns and views

Pullman has been a vocal campaigner on a number of issues related to books and politics.


Views on fantasy

In a lecture at the Sea of Faith conference, Pullman said that "the writers we call the greatest of all – Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Proust, George Eliot herself, are those who have created the most lifelike simulacra of real human beings in real human situations. In fact the more profound and powerful the imagination, the closer to reality are the forms it dreams up." He said he wanted to write fantasy realistically, or write fantastic characters with psychological depth: "Because when I thought about it, there was no reason why fantasy shouldn't be realistic, in a psychological sense – and it was the lack of that sort of realism that I objected to in the work of the big Tolkien and all the little Tolkiens." He says David Lindsay's '' A Voyage to Arcturus'' "shows that fantasy is capable of saying big and important things." He concludes that fantasy is "a great vehicle when it serves the purposes of realism, and a lot of old cobblers when it doesn't." Pullman says that he sees ''His Dark Materials'' as "stark realism", not fantasy. He has praised fantasy authors like Alan Garner.


Views on children's literature

Pullman believes that children deserve quality literature, and that there isn't a clear demarcation between children's and adult literature. In a talk at the
Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...
, he quoted
C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...
in "On Three Ways of Writing for Children": "I now like hock, which I am sure I should not have liked as a child. But I still like lemon-squash. I call this growth or development because I have been enriched: where I formerly had only one pleasure, I now have two." Pullman said that: "It would be nice to think that normal human curiosity would let us open our minds to experience from every quarter, to listen to every storyteller in the marketplace. It would be nice too, occasionally, to read a review of an adult book that said, 'This book is so interesting, and so clearly and beautifully written, that children would enjoy it as well.'" He is an admirer of Philippa Pearce; when Pullman's ''Northern Lights'' won the Carnegie of Carnegies, Pearce's '' Tom's Midnight Garden'' was the runner-up. Pullman said: "Personally, I feel they got the initials right but not the name. I don't know if the result would be the same in a hundred years' time; maybe Philippa Pearce would win then." In 2011, Pullman gave the Philippa Pearce Lecture. He is also an admirer of Leon Garfield, "someone who put the best of his imagination into everything he wrote", particularly praising ''The Pleasure Garden''. In a lecture, he said that "one of the things we need to do for children is introduce them to the pleasures of the subtle and complex. One way to do that, of course, is to let them see us enjoying it, and then forbid them to touch it, on the grounds that it's too grown-up for them, their minds aren't ready to cope with it, it's too strong, it'll drive them mad with strange and uncontrollable desires. If that doesn't make them want to try it, nothing will."


Views on poetry

He writes: “The experience of reading poetry aloud when you don’t fully understand it is a curious and complicated one. It’s like suddenly discovering that you can play the organ. Rolling swells and peals of sound, powerful rhythms and rich harmonies are at your command; and as you utter them you begin to realise that the sound you’re releasing from the words as you speak is part of the reason they’re there. The sound is part of the meaning and that part only comes alive when you speak it. ... We need to remind ourselves of this, especially if we have anything to do with education. I have come across teachers and student teachers whose job was to teach poetry, but who thought that poetry was only a fancy way of dressing up simple statements to make them look complicated, and that their task was to help their pupils translate the stuff into ordinary English. ... No one had told such people that poetry is in fact enchantment; that it has the form it does because that very form casts a spell; and that when they thought they were bothered and bewildered, they were in fact being bewitched, and if they let themselves accept the enchantment and enjoy it, they would eventually understand much more about the poem.”Pullman, Philip. Introduction. ''
Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an Epic poetry, epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The poem concerns the Bible, biblical story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their ex ...
'',
John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...
,
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2005
Of Elizabeth Bishop he writes: ”How simple some great poetry can seem - as simple as water, and as necessary.”


Views on fairy tales

He disagrees with
Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author. He is an Oxford fellow, emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Simonyi Professor for the Publ ...
that fairy tales would lead children to believe in magic. Citing evidence by Gordon Wells, he writes of the importance of reading to children: “My guess is that the kind of stories children are offered has far less effect on their development than whether they are given stories at all; and that children whose parents take the trouble to sit and read with them – and talk about the stories, not in a lecturing sort of way but genuinely conversing, in the way that Wells describes –will grow up to be much more fluent and confident not only with language but with pretty well any kind of intellectual activity, including science. And children who are deprived of this contact, this interaction, the world of stories, are not likely to flourish at all. What sort of evidence that is, I don’t know, but I believe it.”


Views on monarchy

In 2002, to coincide with the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, Pullman was interviewed for a feature in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' on notable republicans. According to Pullman, "The present system is unsustainable, because it is cruel. No individual and no family should be subject to the pressures of publicity and expectation that have beset the Windsors." Expressing sympathy for the young Prince William, Pullman added, "we can't have a quiet, sensible, unobtrusive sort of monarchy because of the mistakes the Windsors have made, and because of the disgusting and unredeemable nature of the tabloid press; so we shall have to have a republic. The one thing to avoid is a political president. Let's have a well-respected figure from some other walk of life, and leave politics to the prime minister and parliament." In 2010, ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...
'' described Pullman's Jesus in '' The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ'' as "a proper republican in the Pullman sense of the word: instinctively fraternal and anti-institutional, spreading his rough-and-ready enlightenments across the horizontal axis."


Age and gender labelling of books

In 2008, Pullman led a campaign against the introduction of age bands on the covers of children's books, saying: "It's based on a one-dimensional view of growth, which regards growing older as moving along a line like a monkey climbing a stick: now you're seven, so you read these books; and now you're nine so you read these." More than 1,200 authors, booksellers, illustrators, librarians and teachers joined the campaign; Pullman's own publisher, Scholastic, agreed to his request not to put the age bands on his book covers. Joel Rickett, deputy editor of ''
The Bookseller ''The Bookseller'' is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. Philip Jones is editor-in-chief of the weekly print edition of the magazine and the website. The magazine is home to the ''Bookseller''/Diagram Prize for Oddes ...
'', said: "The steps taken by Mr Pullman and other authors have taken the industry by surprise and I think these proposals are now in the balance." In 2014, Pullman supported the Let Books Be Books campaign to stop children's books being labelled as "for girls" or "for boys", saying: "I'm against anything, from age-ranging to pinking and blueing, whose effect is to shut the door in the face of children who might enjoy coming in. No publisher should announce on the cover of any book the sort of readers the book would prefer. Let the readers decide for themselves."


Civil liberties

Pullman has a strong commitment to traditional British civil liberties and is noted for his criticism of growing state authority and government encroachment into everyday life. In February 2009, he was the keynote speaker at the Convention on Modern Liberty in London and wrote an extended piece in ''The Times'' condemning the Labour government for its attacks on basic civil rights. Later, he and other authors threatened to stop visiting schools in protest at new laws requiring them to be vetted to work with youngsters—though officials claimed that the laws had been misinterpreted.


Public jury

In July 2011, Pullman was one of the lead campaigners signing a declaration that called for a 1,000-strong "public jury", selected at random, to draw up a "public interest first" test to ensure that power was taken away from "remote interest groups". The declaration was also signed by 56 academics, writers, trade unionists and politicians from the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party.


Library closures

In October 2011, Pullman backed a campaign to stop 600 library closures in England, calling it a "war against stupidity".
London Borough of Brent Brent () is a London boroughs, borough in north-west London, England. It is known for landmarks such as Wembley Stadium, the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London, Swaminarayan Temple and the Kiln Theatre. It also contains the Brent Reservoir, W ...
claimed that it was closing half of its libraries to fulfil its "exciting plans" to improve its library service. Pullman said: "All the time, you see, the council had been longing to improve the library service, and the only thing standing in the way was – the libraries." Speaking at a conference organised by The Library Campaign and Voices for the Library, he added:
The book is second only to the wheel as the best piece of technology human beings have ever invented. A book symbolises the whole intellectual history of mankind; it's the greatest weapon ever devised in the war against stupidity. Beware of anyone who tries to make books harder to get at. And that is exactly what these closures are going to do – oh, not intentionally, except in a few cases; very few people are stupid intentionally; but that will be the effect. Books will be harder to get at. Stupidity will gain a little ground.


Ebook library loans

In advance of becoming president of the
Society of Authors The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to protect the rights and further the interests of authors. Membership of the society is open to "anyon ...
in August 2013, Pullman led a call for authors to be fairly paid for
ebook An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...
library loans. Under arrangements in force at the time, authors were paid 6p per library loan by the government for physical books, but nothing for ebook loans. In addition, the Society found that publishers had possibly been inadvertently underpaying authors for ebook loans. Altogether, this may have resulted in authors losing up to two-thirds of the income they would have received on the sale and loan of a physical book. Addressing this issue, Pullman said:
New media and new forms of buying and lending are all very interesting, for all kinds of reasons, but one principle remains unchanged: authors must be paid fairly for their work. Any arrangement that doesn't acknowledge that principle is a bad one, and needs to be changed. That is our whole argument.


William Blake's cottage and memorial stone

As a long-time enthusiast of
William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...
, and president of the Blake Society, Pullman led a campaign in 2014 to buy the Sussex cottage where the poet lived between 1800 and 1803, saying:
Surely it isn't beyond the resources of a nation that can spend enormous amounts of money on acts of folly and unnecessary warfare, a nation that likes to boast about its literary heritage, to find the money to pay for a proper memorial and a centre for the study of this great poet and artist. Not least because this is the place where he wrote the words now often sung as an alternative (and better) national anthem, the poem known as
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
: "And did those feet in ancient time". Blake's feet walked in Felpham. Let's not let this opportunity pass by.
As president of the Blake Society, on 11 August 2018, Pullman inaugurated Blake's new memorial gravestone on the site of his grave in Bunhill Fields, following a long campaign by the society.


Boycott of Brexit 50p coin

In January 2020, Pullman called for literate people to boycott the newly minted
Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...
50p coin due to the omission of the Oxford comma in its slogan "Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations". The viewpoint was supported by some, while
lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries. * The ...
Susie Dent indicated it was optional and Baroness Bakewell said she had been "taught that it was wrong to use the comma in such circumstances".


Presidency of the Society of Authors

In 2013, Pullman was elected President of the
Society of Authors The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to protect the rights and further the interests of authors. Membership of the society is open to "anyon ...
– the "ultimate honour" awarded by the British writers' body, and a position first held by
Alfred, Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of ...
. In January 2016, Pullman resigned as patron of the Oxford Literary Festival in support of the Society of Authors' campaign for writers to be paid fees at festivals and drew attention to the poor remuneration of writers. On 10 August 2021, Pullman tweeted a response to what he wrongly thought was criticism of Kate Clanchy's teaching memoir ''Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me''. His tweet said that those who condemn a book without reading it would be at home with "Boko Haram and the Taliban." Pullman later deleted the tweet and apologised. On the 11th of August The Society of Authors put out a statement and an interview with Chair of Management Committee Joanne Harris which were described by ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' as the society "distancing" itself from Pullman. Pullman resigned his presidency, later stating that the management committee urging him to apologise for something he hadn’t done had been a factor in his decision to stand down. He later criticised Harris for her "facetious and flippant" public comments and stated that the Society of Authors had become a "vehicle for gesture politics" and called for external review and reform of the organisation.


Perspective on religion

Pullman speaks of replacing The Kingdom of Heaven with “The Republic of Heaven”:
We have to realize that our human nature demands meaning and joy just as Jane Eyre demanded love and kindness (“You think we can live without them, but we cannot live so“); to accept that this meaning and joy will involve a passionate love of the physical world, ''this'' world, of food and drink and sex and music and laughter, and not a suspicion and hatred of it; to understand that it will both grow out of and add to the achievements of the human mind such as
science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
and
art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...
. ... In the republic, we’re connected in a moral way to one another, to other human beings. We have responsibilities to them, and they to us. We’re not isolated units of self-interest in a world where there is no such thing as society; we cannot live so.”
He writes of a myth for the republic:
“Of course, there are two kinds of ''why'', and our story must deal with both. There’s the one that asks ''What brought us here?'' and the other that asks ''What are we here for?'' One looks back, and the other looks forward, perhaps. And in offering an answer to the first why, a republican myth must accept the overwhelmingly powerful evidence for
evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
by natural selection. The neo-Darwinians tell us that the processes of life are blind and automatic; there has been no purpose in our coming here. Well, I think a republican response to that would be: ''there is now.'' We are conscious, and conscious of our own
consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...
. We might have arrived at this point by a series of accidents, but from now on we have to take charge of our fate. Now we are here, now we are conscious, we make a difference. Our presence changes everything. So a myth of the republic of Heaven would explain what our true purpose is. Our purpose is to understand and to help others to understand, to explore, to speculate, to imagine. And that purpose has a moral force.”
In ''
The Chronicles of Narnia ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven portal fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, the series is set in the fictional realm of Narnia (wor ...
'', he objects to Susan's exclusion from Narnia because of her interest in "lipstick and nylons and invitations.": “In other words, normal human development, which includes a growing awareness of your body and its effect on the opposite sex, is something from which Lewis’s narrative, and what he would like us to think is the Kingdom of Heaven, turns with horror. The ending of '' The Last Battle'' makes this position even clearer. 'The term is over: the holidays have begun,' says Aslan to the children, having just let them know that 'there ''was'' a real railway accident....Your father and mother and all of you are — as you used to call it in the Shadowlands — dead.' Using Narnia as our moral compass, we can take it as axiomatic that in the republic of Heaven, people do not regard life in this world as so worthless and contemptible that they leave it with pleasure and relief, and a railway accident is not an end-of-term treat.” He adds, “It's not the presence of Christian doctrine I object to so much as the absence of Christian virtue. The highest virtue - we have on the authority of the New Testament itself - is love, and yet you find not a trace of that in the books.” Although Pullman has stated he is "a
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, and a 1662 ''Book of Common Prayer'' atheist, because that's the tradition I was brought up in", he has also said he is technically an agnostic. He has singled out elements of Christianity for criticism: "if there is a God, and he is as the Christians describe him, then he deserves to be put down and rebelled against." He has also acknowledged that the same could be said of all religions. Pullman has also referred to himself as knowingly "of the Devil's party", a reference to William Blake's revisionist view of Milton in '' The Marriage of Heaven and Hell''. Pullman is a supporter of
Humanists UK Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent Irreligion in the United Kingdom, non-religious people in the UK throug ...
and an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society. In 2011, he was given a services to Humanism award by the British Humanist Association for his contribution as a longstanding supporter. On 15 September 2010, Pullman, along with 54 other public figures (including
Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...
, Professor
Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author. He is an Oxford fellow, emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Simonyi Professor for the Publ ...
,
Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...
,
Jonathan Miller Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE (21 July 1934 – 27 November 2019) was an English theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, comedian and physician. After training in medicine and specialising in neurology in the late 19 ...
and Ken Follett), signed an open letter published in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' stating their opposition to
Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...
being given "the honour of a state visit" to the UK; the letter argued that the Pope had led and condoned global abuses of human rights, leading a state which has "resisted signing many major human rights treaties and has formed its own treaties ("
concordat A concordat () is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both,René Metz, ''What is Canon Law?'' (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1960 Laura Miller described Pullman as one of England's most outspoken Laura Miller (writer)">Laura Miller described Pullman as one of England's most outspoken atheists. He has characterised atheist totalitarian regimes as religions. Alan Jacobs (of Wheaton College) said that in ''His Dark Materials'' Pullman replaced the Wheaton College (Illinois)">Wheaton College) said that in ''His Dark Materials'' Pullman replaced the theist world-view of
John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...
's ''
Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an Epic poetry, epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The poem concerns the Bible, biblical story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their ex ...
'' with a Jean-Jacques Rousseau">Rousseauist one. The books in the series have been criticised for their attitude to religion, especially Catholicism, by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and Focus on the Family. Writing in the ''Catholic Herald'' in 1999, Leonie Caldecott cited Pullman's work as an example of fiction "far more worthy of the bonfire than Harry [Potter]" on the grounds that
" yco-opting Catholic terminology and playing with Judaeo-Christian theological concepts, Pullman is effectively removing, among a mass audience of a highly impressionable age, some of the building blocks for future evangelisation".
Pullman was flattered and asked his publisher to include quotes from Caldecott's article in his next book. In 2002, the ''Catholic Herald'' published an article by Sarah Johnson that compared Pullman to a "playground bully" whose work "attacks a religious minority". The following year, after Benedict Allen's reference to the criticism during the BBC TV series '' The Big Read'', the ''Catholic Herald'' republished both articles and Caldecott claimed her "bonfire" comment was a joke and accused Pullman and his supporters of quoting her out of context. In a longer article for '' Touchstone'' magazine earlier in 2003, Caldecott had also described Pullman's work as "axe-grinding" and "a kind of Luciferian enterprise". Columnist
Peter Hitchens Peter Jonathan Hitchens (born 1951) is an English Conservatism in the United Kingdom, conservative author, broadcaster, journalist, and commentator. He writes for ''The Mail on Sunday'' and was a Foreign correspondent (journalism), foreign cor ...
, in a 2002 article for ''
The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. Founded in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first published i ...
'', accused Pullman of "killing god" and described him as "the most dangerous author in Britain" because he said in an interview: "I'm trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief." Pullman responded by posting Hitchens' article on his study wall. In that interview, which was for a February 2001 article in ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', Pullman acknowledged that a controversy would be likely to boost sales, but continued: "I'm not in the business of offending people. I find the books upholding certain values that I think are important, such as life is immensely valuable and this world is an extraordinarily beautiful place. We should do what we can to increase the amount of wisdom in the world." Hitchens also views the ''His Dark Materials'' series as a direct rebuttal of
C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...
's ''The Chronicles of Narnia''; Hitchens' brother
Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British and American author and journalist. He was the author of Christopher Hitchens bibliography, 18 books on faith, religion, culture, politics, and literature. He was born ...
, author of '' God Is Not Great'', praised ''His Dark Materials'' as a fresh alternative to Lewis,
J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...
and J. K. Rowling, describing the author as one "whose books have begun to dissolve the frontier between adult and juvenile fiction". However, he was more critical of '' The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ'', accusing Pullman of being a "Protestant atheist" for supporting the teachings of Christ but being critical of organised religion. Pullman has found support from some Christians, most notably Rowan Williams, the former
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
, who argued that Pullman's attacks focus on the constraints and dangers of
dogma Dogma, in its broadest sense, is any belief held definitively and without the possibility of reform. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, or Islam ...
tism and the use of religion to oppress, not on Christianity itself. Williams recommended ''His Dark Materials'' for discussion in
religious education In secular usage, religious education is the teaching of a particular religion (although in the United Kingdom the term ''religious instruction'' would refer to the teaching of a particular religion, with ''religious education'' referring to t ...
classes, and said that "to see large school-parties in the audience of the Pullman plays at the National Theatre is vastly encouraging". Pullman and Williams took part in a National Theatre platform debate a few days later to discuss myth, religious experience and its representation in the arts. Donna Freitas, professor of religion at
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...
, argued that challenges to traditional images of God should be welcomed as part of a "lively dialogue about faith". The Christian writers Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware "also uncover spiritual themes within the books". Pullman's contribution to the ''Canongate Myth'' series, ''The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ'', was described by Mike Collett-White as "a far more direct exploration of the foundations of Christianity and the church as well as an examination of the fascination and power of storytelling". In a 2017 interview with ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'', Pullman said: "The place religion has in our lives is a permanent one." He concluded that there was "no point in condemning eligion, and mused that it is part of the human mind to ask philosophical questions such as the purpose of life. He reiterated that it was useless to "become censorious about eligion to say there is no God". He also mentioned that '' The Book of Dust'' is based on the "extreme danger of putting power into the hands of those who believe in some absolute creed, whether that is Christianity or Islam or Marxism". He says " The Bible is the most wonderful book – I wouldn’t be without it. It’s a library of all kinds of stories: poetry, history, mythology, crazy ravings. It’s got it all. Not much humour in it, though."


Personal life

In October 2009, he became a patron of the Palestine Festival of Literature. He is also a patron of the Shakespeare Schools Festival, a charity that enables school children across the UK to perform
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
in professional theatres. A lifelong fan of Norwich City, Pullman penned the foreword to the club's official history, published in 2020. He is an admirer of MacDonald Harris, "someone who attends to every aspect of the words they're using, not least their weight, their rhythm and their colour."Pullman, Philip. Introduction. ''The Ballonist'' (1976), MacDonald Harris, Overlook Press, 2012 He is a fan of
Norman Lindsay Norman Alfred William Lindsay (22 February 1879 – 21 November 1969) was an Australian artist, etcher, sculptor, writer, art critic, novelist, cartoonist and amateur boxing, boxer. One of the most prolific and popular Australian artists of hi ...
's ''
The Magic Pudding ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
'', which he calls "the funniest children's book ever written". He says his favorite book is probably Robert Burton's '' The Anatomy of Melancholy'', describing it as "a funny book about depression written in a very prolix, ornate style." Among contemporary authors, he admires John le Carré: "compared to him, I’m just a ''child.''”


Awards and honours

He was a joint-winner of the New English Library's Young Writer's Award in 1972. In 2005, Pullman won the annual
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award () is an international children's literary award established by the Swedish government in 2002 to honour the Swedish children's author Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002). The prize is five million SEK, making it ...
from the Swedish Arts Council, recognising his career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense". According to the presentation, "Pullman radically injects new life into fantasy by introducing a variety of alternative worlds and by allowing good and evil to become ambiguous." In every genre, "he combines storytelling and psychological insight of the highest order.""2005: Philip Pullman: Maintaining an Optimistic Belief in the Child"
. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
In 2006, he was one of five finalists for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Medal, and he was the British nominee again in 2012. On 23 November 2007, Pullman was made an honorary professor at Bangor University. On 24 June 2009, Pullman was awarded the degree of D.Litt. (Doctor of Letters), ''honoris causa'', by the University of Oxford at the Encænia ceremony in the Sheldonian Theatre. Pullman was named a
Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...
in the 2019 New Year's Honours list. In March 2019, the charity Action for Children's Art presented Pullman with their annual
J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...
Award to mark a "lifetime's achievement in delighting children". ''Northern Lights'', was published in 1995 (entitled ''The Golden Compass'' in the U.S., 1996). Pullman won both the annual Carnegie Medal and the
Guardian Children's Fiction Prize The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annually recognised one fiction book written for Children's literature, children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It was conf ...
, a similar award that authors may not win twice. He was awarded a CBE in the New Year's Honours list in 2004. In 2004, he was elected President of the Blake Society. In 2013, he was awarded a Honorary Doctorate by the
University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...
.


Bibliography


Young adult novels


''His Dark Materials'' trilogy

# '' Northern Lights'' (retitled ''The Golden Compass'' in the US) (1995) # '' The Subtle Knife'' (1997) # '' The Amber Spyglass'' (2000)


''The Book of Dust'' trilogy

# '' La Belle Sauvage'' (2017) # '' The Secret Commonwealth'' (2019) # '' The Rose Field'' (publication date 23 October 2025)


Companion books

* '' Lyra's Oxford'' (2003), novella, set after ''The Amber Spyglass'' * '' Once Upon a Time in the North'' (2008), novella, prequel to ''Northern Lights'' * ''The Collectors'' (2014), short story, set between ''La Belle Sauvage'' and ''Northern Lights'', first published as an audiobook and on Kindle, then hardcover (2022) * '' Serpentine'' (2020), novella, set after ''The Amber Spyglass'' * ''The Imagination Chamber'' (2022), companion, scenes from the ''His Dark Materials'' trilogy


''Sally Lockhart'' series

# '' The Ruby in the Smoke'' (1985) # '' The Shadow in the North'', first published as ''The Shadow in the Plate'' (1986) # '' The Tiger in the Well'' (1990) # '' The Tin Princess'' (1994)


Stand-alones

* '' How to Be Cool'' (1987) * '' The Broken Bridge'' (1990) * '' The White Mercedes'' (1992), re-issued as '' The Butterfly Tattoo'' (1998)


Children's novels


''The New-Cut Gang'' series

# ''Thunderbolt's Waxwork'' (1994) # ''The Gas-Fitters' Ball'' (1995)


Stand-alones

* '' Count Karlstein'' (1982) * '' Spring-Heeled Jack'' (1989) * '' I was a Rat! or The Scarlet Slippers'' (1999) * '' The Scarecrow and his Servant'' (2004)


Other novels

* '' The Haunted Storm'' (1972) * ''Galatea'' (1976) * '' The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ'' (2010), novella, part of the ''Canongate Myth'' series


Children's short stories

Novellas: * '' The Firework-Maker's Daughter'' (1995) * '' Clockwork, or All Wound Up'' (1996) Collections: * ''Fairy Tales From The Brothers Grimm'' (2012), collection of 50 short stories


Picture books

* ''The Wonderful Story of Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp'' (1993) * '' Mossycoat'' (1998) * ''Puss in Boots: The Adventures of That Most Enterprising Feline'' (2000)


Comics

* ''The Adventures of John Blake'' (2008), in '' The DFC'' and '' The Phoenix'' Mystery of the Ghost Ship storyline collected by David Fickling Books and in hardcover by Scholastic Inc.


Plays

* ''Frankenstein'' (1990) * ''Sherlock Holmes and the Limehouse Horror'' (1992)


Non-fiction

* ''Ancient Civilizations'' (1978), history * ''Using the Oxford Junior Dictionary'' (1978), guide * ''Daemon Voices: Essays on Storytelling'' (2017), essays


Adaptations


Screen adaptations

* '' How To Be Cool'' was adapted for television in the United Kingdom by Granada Television for ITV, and starred Roger Daltrey and Freddie Jones. Three 50-minute episodes were broadcast between 3–17 December 1988. * A TV mini-series, '' I Was a Rat'', was produced by the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
and aired in three one-hour instalments in 2001. * A film adaptation of '' The Butterfly Tattoo'' finished principal photography on 30 September 2007. ''The Butterfly Tattoo'' is a project, supported by Philip Pullman, to allow young artists a chance to gain experience in the film industry. The film is produced by the Dutch production company Dynamic Entertainment. * A co-produced
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
and WGBH Boston television adaptation of '' The Ruby in the Smoke'', starring Billie Piper and Julie Walters, was shown in the UK on BBC One on 27 December 2006, and broadcast on PBS Masterpiece Theatre in America on 4 February 2007. The television adaptation of the second book in the series, '' The Shadow in the North'', was shown on the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
on 26 December 2007. The
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
and WGBH announced plans to adapt the next two Sally Lockhart novels, '' The Tiger in the Well'' and '' The Tin Princess'', for television as well; however, since ''The Shadow in the North'' was shown in 2007, no information has been released regarding an adaptation of ''The Tiger in the Well''. * A film adaptation of '' Northern Lights'', titled '' The Golden Compass'', was released in December 2007 by
New Line Cinema New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...
, starring Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra, along with Daniel Craig,
Nicole Kidman Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian and American actress and producer. Known for Nicole Kidman on screen and stage, her work in film and television productions across many genres, she has consistently ranked among the world ...
, Eva Green, Sam Elliott and Ian McKellen. * ''
His Dark Materials ''His Dark Materials'' is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of '' Northern Lights'' (1995; published as ''The Golden Compass'' in North America), '' The Subtle Knife'' (1997), and '' The Amber Spyglass'' (2000). It follo ...
'' TV series was produced by the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
and
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
, broadcast began on
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...
on 3 November 2019.


Stage adaptations

* London's
Royal National Theatre The National Theatre (NT), officially the Royal National Theatre and sometimes referred to in international contexts as the National Theatre of Great Britain, is a performing arts venue and associated theatre company located in London, England, ...
staged a two-part theatrical version of ''His Dark Materials'' in December 2003. The same adaptation has since been staged by several other theatres in the UK and elsewhere. *''His Dark Materials'' has also been adapted for radio, CD and unabridged audiobook; the unabridged audiobooks were narrated by the author. * ''The Ruby In The Smoke'' was adapted for the stage by Reprint (now Escapade) Productions. The adaptation was written and directed by Madeleine Perham, and toured the UK in 2016, including a run at the Edinburgh Festival, finishing at the Brighton Fringe in 2017. *''The Firework-Maker's Daughter'' was adapted into an opera, with music by David Bruce and a
libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...
by Glyn Maxwell. The production was premiered by the Opera Group in the UK in 2013. Pullman wrote of the opera that it was "one of the best treatments a story of is hadever received."


Notes


References


Further reading

* Robert Darby: ''Intercision-Circumcision: His Dark Materials, a disturbing allegory of genital mutilation'
History of Circumcision
* * Gerald O'Collins S.J., ''Philip Pullman's Jesus'' (London, Darton, Longman and Todd, 2010). * Hugh Rayment-Pickard, ''The Devil's Account: Philip Pullman and Christianity'' (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 2004). * Wheat, Leonard F. ''Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials – A Multiple Allegory: Attacking Religious Superstition in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Paradise Lost''.


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pullman, Philip 1946 births 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists Academics of Oxford Brookes University Academics of Westminster College, Oxford Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winners Audiobook narrators British atheism activists British Book Award winners British critics of religions Carnegie Medal in Literature winners Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Critics of the Catholic Church English agnostics English atheists English children's writers English fantasy writers English humanists English male novelists Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Guardian Children's Fiction Prize winners Knights Bachelor Living people People associated with Bangor University Writers from Norwich Writers from Oxford Presidents of the Society of Authors English republicans People from Llanbedr