Best-selling author Neil Gaiman is one of the top writers in modern comics while also successfully writing books for readers of varying ages, such as the 2002 Coraline, which has sold over one million copies worldwide. His works also encompass prose, poetry, journalism, song lyrics, drama, and film.
In the latter medium, he has several credits. In 2002, he wrote and directed his first film, A Short Film About John Bolton. He wrote the original screenplay for the fantasy adventure Mirrormask, which was made into a feature by and with his frequent collaborator Dave McKean. With Roger Avary, Mr. Gaiman wrote the screenplay adaptation for Beowulf, the motion-capture feature directed by Robert Zemeckis and released in 3-D; and is writing the screenplay adaptation of the graphic novel Black Hole.
Stardust, his prose novel in four parts, was cited upon its 1999 publication as one of the best books of the year by Publishers Weekly, and was awarded the prestigious Mythopoeic Award as best novel for adults. A feature film version, directed by Matthew Vaughn, was released in 2007.
In feature development is an adaptation of the six-part television series Neverwhere, which aired on the BBC in 1996. Mr. Gaiman's novel of the same name, set in the same strange underground world as the program, was issued in 1997.
He was the creator and writer of the celebrated DC Comics series Sandman, which won nine Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards (including the Eisner for Best Writer four times) and three Harvey Awards. Issue #19 took the 1991 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story, making it the first comic book ever to be honored with a literary award.
Mr. Gaiman revisited Sandman by way of the 1999 prose book The Dream Hunters, with art by Yoshitaka Amano. The new work won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Illustrated Work from the Horror Writers Association, and was nominated for a Hugo Award. In 2003, he came out with the first Sandman graphic novel in seven years, Endless Nights, which was published by DC Comics and became the first graphic novel to make The New York Times best-seller lists.
His first book for children, The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, illustrated by Dave McKean, came out in May 1997 and was cited by Newsweek as one of the best children's books of the year.
Among his novels for grown-ups are Anansi Boys; Interworld, co-authored with Michael Reaves; Odd and the Frost Giants; The Graveyard Book; Good Omens, co-authored with Terry Pratchett; and American Gods, honored with the Hugo, Nebula, Bram Stoker, SFX, and Locus Awards and nominated for the World Fantasy Award and the Minnesota Book Award.
Two Plays For Voices,an audio adaptation of two of Mr. Gaiman's short stories, starring Brian Dennehy and Bebe Neuwirth, received a 2002 Audie Award from the Audio Publishers Association. Angels & Visitations: A Miscellany, a best-selling collection of his short fiction, won the International Horror Guild Award.
In 2003, his book The Wolves in the Walls, illustrated by Dave McKean, was published, and was named by The New York Times as one of the best illustrated books of the year. In 2004, Mr. Gaiman published for Marvel Comics the graphic novel 1602, which was the best-selling comic book of the year. Among his other notable comics and graphic novels are The Books of Magic and Death: The High Cost of Living.
In August 1997 the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a First Amendment organization, awarded him their Defender of Liberty Award.
Born and raised in England, he now lives near Minneapolis.
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