Neil Gaiman Trivia | 116 facts about the famous author

Neil Gaiman is an English author of novels, comic books, graphic novels and films. His best known work is “The Sandman”.

So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about his life and career.

His full name is Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman
He was born 10 November 1960
He is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, nonfiction, audio theatre, and films
His works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book
He has won numerous awards
Including the Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker awards
As well as the Newbery and Carnegie medals
He is the first author to win both the Newbery and the Carnegie medals for the same work, The Graveyard Book (2008)
In 2013, The Ocean at the End of the Lane was voted Book of the Year in the British National Book Awards
It was later adapted into a critically acclaimed stage play at the Royal National Theatre in London, England
The Independent called the play “…theater at its best”
Gaiman’s family is of Polish-Jewish and other Eastern European Jewish origins
His great-grandfather emigrated from Antwerp, Belgium, to the UK before 1914
His grandfather eventually settled in the south of England in the Hampshire city of Portsmouth and established a chain of grocery stores
Gaiman’s grandfather changed his original family name of Chaiman to Gaiman
His father, David Bernard Gaiman, worked in the same chain of stores
His mother, Sheila Gaiman (née Goldman), was a pharmacist
He has two younger sisters, Claire and Lizzy
After living for a period in the nearby town of Portchester, Hampshire, where Neil was born in 1960, the Gaimans moved in 1965 to the West Sussex town of East Grinstead
There his parents studied Dianetics at the Scientology centre in the town
One of Gaiman’s sisters works for the Church of Scientology in Los Angeles
Gaiman was able to read at the age of four
When he was about ten years old, he read his way through the works of Dennis Wheatley, where especially The Ka of Gifford Hillary and The Haunting of Toby Jugg made an impact on him
One work that made a particular impression on him was J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings from his school library
Although the library only had the first two of the novel’s three volumes, Gaiman consistently checked them out and read them
He later won the school English prize and the school reading prize, enabling him to finally acquire the third volume
For his seventh birthday, Gaiman received C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia series
Narnia also introduced him to literary awards, specifically the 1956 Carnegie Medal won by the concluding volume
When Gaiman won the 2010 Medal himself
Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was another childhood favourite, and “a favourite forever”
He also enjoyed Batman comics as a child
Gaiman was educated at several Church of England schools, including Fonthill School in East Grinstead, Ardingly College (1970–1974), and Whitgift School in Croydon (1974–1977)
His father’s position as a public relations official of the Church of Scientology was the cause of the seven-year-old Gaiman being forced to withdraw from Fonthill School and remain at the school that he had previously been attending
He lived in East Grinstead for many years, from 1965 to 1980 and again from 1984 to 1987
He met his first wife, Mary McGrath
While she was studying Scientology and living in a house in East Grinstead that was owned by his father
The couple were married in 1985 after having their first child, Michael
Writers that Gaiman has mentioned as significant influences include C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lewis Carroll, Mary Shelley, Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Allan Poe, Michael Moorcock, Dave Sim, Alan Moore, Steve Ditko, Will Eisner, Ursula K. Le Guin, Harlan Ellison, Lord Dunsany, and G. K. Chesterton
A lifetime fan of the Monty Python comedy troupe, as a teenager he owned a copy of Monty Python’s Big Red Book
During a trip to France when he was 13, Gaiman became fascinated with the visually fantastic world in the stories of Metal Hurlant, even though he could not understand the words
When he was 19–20 years old, he contacted his favourite science fiction writer, R. A. Lafferty, whom he discovered when he was nine, and asked for advice on becoming an author along with a Lafferty pastiche he had written
The writer sent Gaiman an encouraging and informative letter back, along with literary advice
Gaiman has said Roger Zelazny was the author who influenced him the most
With this influence particularly seen in Gaiman’s literary style and the topics he writes about
Other authors Gaiman says “furnished the inside of my mind and set me to writing” include Moorcock, Ellison, Samuel R. Delany, Angela Carter, Lafferty, and Le Guin
Neil Gaiman has also taken inspiration from the folk tales tradition, citing Otta F Swire’s book on the legends of the Isle of Skye as his inspiration for The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains
In the early 1980s, Gaiman pursued journalism, conducting interviews and writing book reviews, as a means to learn about the world and to make connections that he hoped would later assist him in getting published
He wrote and reviewed extensively for the British Fantasy Society
His first professional short story publication was “Featherquest”, a fantasy story, in Imagine Magazine in May 1984
When waiting for a train at London’s Victoria Station in 1984, Gaiman noticed a copy of Swamp Thing written by Alan Moore, and carefully read it
Moore’s fresh and vigorous approach to comics had such an impact on Gaiman that he later wrote “that was the final straw, what was left of my resistance crumbled. I proceeded to make regular and frequent visits to London’s Forbidden Planet shop to buy comics”
In 1984, he wrote his first book, a biography of the band Duran Duran, as well as Ghastly Beyond Belief, a book of quotations, with Kim Newman
Even though Gaiman thought he had done a terrible job, the book’s first edition sold out very quickly
When he went to relinquish his rights to the book, he discovered the publisher had gone bankrupt
After this, he was offered a job by Penthouse. He refused the offer
He also wrote interviews and articles for many British magazines, including Knave
During this he sometimes wrote under pseudonyms, including Gerry Musgrave, Richard Grey, and “a couple of house names”
Gaiman has said he ended his journalism career in 1987 because British newspapers regularly publish untruths as fact
In the late 1980s, he wrote Don’t Panic: The Official Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Companion in what he calls a “classic English humour” style
Following this, he wrote the opening of what became his collaboration with fellow English author Terry Pratchett on the comic novel Good Omens about the impending apocalypse
After forming a friendship with comic-book writer Alan Moore, Gaiman started writing comic books, picking up Miracleman after Moore finished his run on the series
Gaiman and artist Mark Buckingham collaborated on several issues of the series before its publisher, Eclipse Comics, collapsed, leaving the series unfinished
His first published comic strips were four short Future Shocks for 2000 AD in 1986–87
He wrote three graphic novels with his favourite collaborator and long-time friend Dave McKean: Violent Cases, Signal to Noise, and The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch
Impressed with his work, DC Comics hired him in February 1987, and he wrote the limited series Black Orchid
Karen Berger, who later became head of DC Comics’s Vertigo, read Black Orchid and offered Gaiman a job
She offered him to re-write an old character, The Sandman, but to put his own spin on him
The series began in January 1989 and concluded in March 1996
In the eighth issue of The Sandman, Gaiman and artist Mike Dringenberg introduced Death, the older sister of Dream, who became as popular as the series’ title character
The limited series Death: The High Cost of Living launched DC’s Vertigo line in 1993
The 75 issues of the regular series, along with an illustrated prose text and a special containing seven short stories, have been collected into 12 volumes that remain in print, 14 if the Death: The High Cost of Living and Death: The Time of Your Life spin-offs are included
Artists include Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Jill Thompson, Shawn McManus, Marc Hempel and Michael Zulli, lettering by Todd Klein, colours by Daniel Vozzo, and covers by Dave McKean
The series became one of DC’s top selling titles, eclipsing even Batman and Superman
Comics historian Les Daniels called Gaiman’s work “astonishing” and noted that The Sandman was “a mixture of fantasy, horror, and ironic humor such as comic books had never seen before”
Gaiman and Jamie Delano were to become co-writers of the Swamp Thing series following Rick Veitch
An editorial decision by DC to censor Veitch’s final storyline caused both Gaiman and Delano to withdraw from the title
Gaiman produced two stories for DC’s Secret Origins series in 1989
A Poison Ivy tale drawn by Mark Buckingham and a Riddler story illustrated by Bernie Mireault and Matt Wagner
A story that Gaiman originally wrote for Action Comics Weekly in 1989 was shelved due to editorial concerns but it was finally published in 2000 as Green Lantern/Superman: Legend of the Green Flame
In 1990, Gaiman wrote The Books of Magic, a four-part mini-series that provided a tour of the mythological and magical parts of the DC Universe through a frame story about an English teenager who discovers that he is destined to be the world’s greatest wizard
The miniseries was popular, and sired an ongoing series written by John Ney Rieber
Gaiman’s adaptation of Sweeney Todd, illustrated by Michael Zulli for Stephen R. Bissette’s publication Taboo, was stopped when the anthology itself was discontinued
In the mid-1990s, he also created a number of new characters and a setting that was to be featured in a title published by Tekno Comix
The concepts were then altered and split between three titles set in the same continuity: Lady Justice, Mr. Hero the Newmatic Man, and Teknophage, and tie-ins
Although Gaiman’s name appeared prominently as creator of the characters, he was not involved in writing any of the above-mentioned books
Gaiman wrote two series for Marvel Comics
Marvel 1602 was an eight-issue limited series published from November 2003 to June 2004 with art by Andy Kubert and Richard Isanove
The Eternals was a seven-issue limited series drawn by John Romita Jr., which was published from August 2006 to March 2007
In 2009, Gaiman wrote a two-part Batman story for DC Comics to follow Batman R.I.P. titled “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?” a play-off of the classic Superman story “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” by Alan Moore
He contributed a twelve-part Metamorpho serial drawn by Mike Allred for Wednesday Comics, a weekly newspaper-style series
Gaiman and Paul Cornell co-wrote Action Comics #894 (December 2010), which featured an appearance by Death
In October 2013, DC Comics released The Sandman: Overture with art by J. H. Williams III
Gaiman’s Angela character was introduced into the Marvel Universe in the last issue of the Age of Ultron miniseries in 2013
Gaiman oversaw The Sandman Universe, a line of comic books published by Vertigo
The four series — House of Whispers, Lucifer, The Books of Magic, and The Dreaming — were written by new creative teams
The line launched on 8 August 2018
Gaiman has lived near Menomonie, Wisconsin, since 1992. Gaiman moved there to be close to the family of his then-wife, Mary McGrath, with whom he has three children
As of 2013, Gaiman also resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts
In 2014, he took up a five-year appointment as professor in the arts at Bard College, in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
Gaiman is married to songwriter and performer Amanda Palmer, with whom he has an open marriage
The couple announced that they were dating in June 2009
They announced their engagement on Twitter on 1 January 2010
On 16 November 2010, Palmer hosted a non-legally-binding flash mob wedding for Gaiman’s birthday in New Orleans
They were legally married on 2 January 2011
The wedding took place in the parlour of writers Ayelet Waldman and Michael Chabon
On marrying Palmer, he took her middle name, MacKinnon, as one of his names
In September 2015, they had a son
In March 2020, Gaiman, Palmer, and their son were in Havelock North, Hawke’s Bay, when New Zealand’s government announced that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the whole country would move to COVID-19 Alert Level 4: complete lockdown and quarantining of people within their own homes
In May 2020, Gaiman travelled from New Zealand to his holiday home on the Isle of Skye, breaking the lockdown rules
Ross, Skye and Lochaber MP Ian Blackford described his behaviour as unacceptable and dangerous
Gaiman published an apology on his website, saying he had endangered the local community
After Gaiman’s departure, Palmer announced on her Patreon that she and Gaiman had separated and requested privacy
Gaiman stated in a blog post that their split was “my fault, I’m afraid” and also requesting privacy
The couple later released a joint statement clarifying that they were not, however, getting divorced
They reconciled in 2021