Neil Gaiman: Biography, Career, and Personal Life

The writer’s childhood and adolescence

Neil’s biography begins in Portsmouth, United Kingdom, where he was born into a Jewish family comprised of devoted scientists on November 10, 1960. The future famous writer graduated from high school in 1977 in West Sussex, where his family had moved slightly earlier to be closer to the Scientology center (where his sister Neela works to this day). His father, David, owned a chain of grocery stores, and his mother was a pharmacist.

The boy read a lot. Naturally, among his favorite authors were Ron Hubbard, the creator of Scientology, as well as the Strugatskys, Bulgakov, Tolkien, Carroll, King. After school, Neil refused to pursue higher education, something his parents insisted upon, in order to do what he had been striving for since childhood – journalism.

He got a job as a reporter for a local publication and worked extensively, preparing materials for various English magazines. But it took a few more years for Neil Gaiman to achieve his first success in this field. In 1984, two of his works were published simultaneously: a detailed interview with Silverberg and his first story, ‘Featherquest

Neil Gaiman’s Writing Career.

In 1985, Neil met Alan Moore, a comic book legend, and decided to try his luck in creating graphic novels. At the same time, he produced two outstanding research works: one about the band Duran Duran and the renowned book “Don’t Panic” about Douglas Adams.

The comic book hero The Sandman is a creation of Neil Gaiman. He is a co-author of the collection Spawn and worked extensively with other comic book authors, collaborating with DC Comics. At this time, he impressed Terry Pratchett with his impeccable imagination, and in 1990, their joint novel ‘Good Omens’ was published.

This book was the first, followed by Gaiman’s independently written works, having decided to leave comics and turn to literary works, such as ‘Back Door’ and ‘Stardust.’ And, finally, in 2001, he released the most famous, award-winning, wonderful fantasy novel ‘American Gods,’ where ancient myths and modern idols are worshipped by people and intertwined with each other, making them gods capable of fighting on par with Odin himself.

In 2017, a multi-part film based on this book was released, and Gaiman himself wrote the screenplay. But even before this adaptation, Neil had become a screenwriter for some films and individual episodes in television series. The sequel to The Gods, The Children of Anansi, is soon to be released.

Private Life

Neil’s first marriage was not very successful, and the writer parted ways with his first wife, Mary McGrath. However, Neil did not forget his three children from his first marriage.

The second wife of the British science fiction writer in 2011 was a singer named Amanda Palmer, who gave birth to his son in 2015.