Neil Gaiman wins prestigious John Newbery Medal

Neil Gaiman has received the top prize for children’s literature: The John Newbery Medal.

“I am so wonderfully befuddled,” the best-selling author said Monday after winning the 88th annual Newbery for “The Graveyard Book,” a spooky, but (he says) family friendly story about a boy raised by a vampire, a werewolf and a witch.

“I never really thought of myself as a Newbery winner. It’s such a very establishment kind of award, in the right kind of way, with the world of librarians pointing at the book saying, `This is worthy of the ages.’ And I’m so very used to working in, and enjoying working in, essentially the gutter.”

The Newbery and other awards were announced by the American Library Association, currently meeting in Denver.

Gaiman, known for his “Sandman” comic-book series, had worked on the “Graveyard Book” off and on for more than 20 years, an understandable delay for the author of more than 20 books and the winner of prizes for science fiction, fantasy and horror.

He says “The Graveyard Book” was inspired in part by “The Jungle Book,” Rudyard Kipling’s classic about a boy raised by animals. Gaiman’s book opens with a baby boy escaping an assassin who is massacred by his parents and older sister. The boy totters to a decrepit cemetery, where he’s adopted by ghosts, christened Nobody Owens (Bod for short) and given the Freedom of the Graveyard.

Gaiman said he has been following the debate about the Newbery, never imagining he would become part of it. Beloved by readers and book-sellers, he is certainly far more popular than the past few Newbery winners, and he doesn’t think his novel, beyond a little death and darkness, is upsetting.

“Apart from the first few pages, it doesn’t exist to frighten people or trouble people,” he said. “I’ve written my share of disturbing stuff, but this book is really a way of trying to think about the process of growing up, and, of course, the fundamentally joyous tragedy of being a parent, that if you do your job properly, your kids will grow up and leave you.”

Gaiman, 48, has three children. Two have grown and moved away.

Source: Associated Press

Neil Gaiman is one of the top ten living post-modern writers, and is a prolific creator of works of prose, poetry, film, journalism, comics, song lyrics, and drama.

Neil Gaiman is the co-author, with Terry Pratchett, of Good Omens, a novel about how the world is going to end and how we’re all going to die. Good Omens spent 17 consecutive weeks on the Sunday Times bestseller list in 1990 and has gone on to become an international bestseller.

Neil Gaiman was the creator/writer of monthly cult DC Comics horror-weird series, Sandman, which won nine Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, including the award for best writer four times, and three Harvey Awards. Sandman #19 took the 1991 World Fantasy Award for best short story, making it the first comic ever to be awarded a literary award.

American Gods book review
Neverwhere book review
The Graveyard Book review

Posted: February 1st, 2009
Author: Lee
Categories: Neil Gaiman

Comments

» Neil Jordan to direct and write Gaiman’s Graveyard Book » FantasyBookReview.co.uk blog

[...] was announced yesterday that Gaiman is the 2009 Newbery Medal winner for The Graveyard Book, published by Harper Collins and illustrated by his longtime collaborator [...]

Date: February 7th, 2009

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