Philip Pullman Biography

A part-time lecturer on literature, Philip Pullman wrote the children’s books The Ruby in the Smoke (1988) and The Firework-Maker’s Daughters (1996), but is more widely known for the His Dark Materials trilogy of novels. Although they are frequently called fantasy books, Pullman has described his William Blake-inspired epic tale of innocence and experience as one of "stark reality." The books in the trilogy are Northern Lights (1995, also called The Golden Compass), The Subtle Knife (1997) and The Amber Spyglass (2000).