He began writing the trilogy, His Dark Materials in 1993. Novelist Philip Pullman says he's 'surprised' to receive knighthoodĭuring the period 19, Pullman taught part-time at Westminster College, Oxford. His other books of the period include Galatea (1978) and Count Karlstein (1982). The book brought him a join-win of the New English Library's Young Writer's Award in 1972.

The Haunted Storm was his first published work. In 1970, Pullman married Judith Speller and began teaching children and writing school plays. 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.Īround 1970 he discovered William Blake's illustrations that would greatly influence him in future years.

As regards receiving a Third Class, he once stated : From 1963 Pullman attended Exeter College, Oxford, receiving a Third class BA in 1968. He discovered Milton's Paradise Lost around this time - the book became a major influence for His Dark Materials. From 1957 onwards, he was educated at Ysgol Ardudwy School in Harlech (Gwynedd), and spent time in Norfolk with his grandfather, a clergyman. His mother's remarriage brought him to Australia where he discovered the world of comic books, a medium which he liked. When Pullman was hardly seven, his father was killed in an accident in 1953. With Alfred's transferable job, the family moved from place to place including to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Philip Pullman was born 19 October, 1946 in Norwich (Norfolk, England) to Alfred Outram (an RAF pilot) and Audrey Evelyn Merrifield.

3.4 Selected nonfiction: books, essays, and articles.

3.3 Interviews and debates with Pullman (text transcripts).

3.2 Some of Pullman's other book recommendations.

3.1 Full texts of major influences on His Dark Materials.

Philip pullman book of dust volume 3