Neil Gaiman

While living in East Grinstead, he met his first wife, Mary McGrath, who was studying Scientology. They had their first child, Michael, in 1983.

In 1985, they got married and were blessed with a girl, Holly, in the same year and another girl, Madeleine, some years later.

The couple grew apart from each other in the later years of their marriage and eventually got divorced in 2008 after a long separation.

He was born on November 10, 1960 in Port Chester, England, to David Bernard Gaiman, a businessman and Sheila Gaiman, a pharmacist. He has two younger sisters, Claire and Lizzy.

His family moved to Sussex town of East Grinstead in 1965 where his parents studied ‘Dianetics’ in the Scientology centre of the town.

He became an avid reader at the age of four. He also got the school English prize and school reading prize for his devoted interest in reading.

In his childhood, he was truly inspired by some of the fantasy novels such as J. R. R. Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’, C. S. Lewis’s ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ and Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’.

He attended several schools in his childhood such as Fonthill School in East Grinstead, Ardingly College and completed high school from Whitgift School in Croydon in 1977.

In the early 1980s he became a journalist and started conducting interviews and writing book reviews extensively for British Fantasy Society. His first professional short story, ’Featherquest’, was published in 1984.

In 1984, he wrote a book of quotations with Kim Newman, ‘Ghastly Beyond Belief’, which proved to be quite successful. He ended his career as a journalist in 1987.

In 1987, he started his career in writing comic books and collaborated with his friend Dave McKean for his graphic novels such as ‘Violent Cases’, ‘Signal to Noise’ and ‘The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch’.

Impressed by his work, DC Comics hired him to write a three-part series called ‘Black Orchid’ which was appreciated by its fans. His next big venture included another comic character ‘Sandman’ and proved to be an immediate hit.

His first novel ‘Good Omens’ was published in collaboration with Terry Pratchett in 1990. He also published novels such as ‘Neverwhere’ and ‘Stardust’ in the 1990s and ‘American Gods’ in 2001.

One of his finest works, acclaimed critically and commercially, was his fantasy novel ‘American Gods’ in 2001 which became the best seller upon its release and won him many awards. It depicts a struggle between the European gods of ancient origin and the newer, more arrogant American gods.

In 2008, he wrote another novella ‘The Graveyard Book’, which follows the adventures of a boy named Bod after his family is murdered and he is left to be brought up by the ghosts in a graveyard. It is a masterpiece and was awarded two of the most prominent medals of the literary world.