Neil Gaiman Biography

Neil Gaiman (Full name: Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman) is a best-selling English author best known for his fantasy novel (American Gods) and graphic novel series (The Sandman) and young adult novel (Coraline).

His body of work spans several media including novels, comics, graphic novels, non-fiction, TV and films.

Neil Gaiman was born on 10th November 1960 in Hampshire, England. He currently resides in the US, having moved there in 1992. He began his writing career in journalism in the 1980s but he quit journalism in 1987 to concentrate on writing. He wrote his first book, a Duran Duran biography, in 1984. His breakthrough, however, came when he started writing comic books, specifically the Sandman, a graphic novel series.

He has won numerous awards for his books including four Hugo and two Nebula awards. Some of the most awarded books include The Graveyard Book (Newberry and Carnegie Medals, Hugo and Locus Awards), Coraline (Hugo, Nebula and Bram Stoker Awards) and American Gods (Nebula, Hugo, Locus and Bram Stoker Awards)

Gaiman has also written or co-written screen plays for several popular movies (Coraline, Beowulf, Mirrormask) and TV series (American Gods, Good Omens, Beowulf, Babylon 5, Doctor Who).

Coraline, an animated feature film based on his book, was nominated for numerous awards including the Academy Awards, Golden Globe and BAFTA awards. It grossed over $124 million worldwide to make it the third highest-grossing stop-motion film of all time.

Neil Gaiman is also a prolific blogger. He established his blog in 2001 which now receives over a million regular readers. You can read his blog at his official website.


If you want to learn how to write from Neil Gaiman, check out his writing course on MasterClass. Learn more about MasterClass courses here.

Further Reading

Check out the articles below for quotes by Neil Gaiman and other accomplished writers.

You may also enjoy biographies about Stephen King, R.L Stine, Ray Bradbury and Margaret Atwood among many more. See more interesting biographies here.

  • Sources Cited for Neil Gaiman’s biography

Neil Gaiman Official Website Biography

Wikipedia Niel Gaiman Page