Peter Dickinson
Encyclopedia
Peter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (born 16 December 1927) is an English author and poet who has written a wide variety of books, notably children's books and detective stories, over a long and distinguished career.

Life and work

Dickinson was born in Livingstone
Livingstone, Zambia
Livingstone or Maramba is a historic colonial city and present capital of the Southern Province of Zambia, a tourism centre for the Victoria Falls lying north of the Zambezi River, and a border town with road and rail connections to Zimbabwe on the other side of the Falls...

, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), but his parents moved back to England so that he and his brothers could attend English schools: Dickinson was at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

 from 1941 to 1946. After completing his National Service (1946–48), he studied at King's College, Cambridge
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....

, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1951. For seventeen years, from 1952–1969, he worked as assistant editor, resident poet and reviewer for Punch
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...

magazine.

Dickinson has written almost fifty books, which fall into three general categories: mysteries for adults (including the James Pibble series), novels for younger readers (many of which have a fantastic or supernatural element), and a few simpler children's books.

Both of Dickinson's first crime novels won the Crime Writers' Association
Crime Writers' Association
The Crime Writers Association is a writers' association in the United Kingdom. Founded by John Creasey in 1953, it is currently chaired by Peter James and claims 450+ members....

's Gold Dagger
Gold Dagger
The Gold Dagger Award was an award given annually by the Crime Writers' Association for the best crime novel of the year.For its first five years, the organization's top honor was known as the Crossed Red Herring Award....

, Skin Deep in 1968 and A Pride of Heroes in 1969. He has been similarly successful with his children's books. He won the Guardian Award
Guardian Award
The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award is a prominent award for works of children's literature by British or Commonwealth authors, published in the United Kingdom during the preceding year. The award has been given annually since 1967, and is decided by a panel of authors and the...

 in 1977 for The Blue Hawk and the Whitbread
1979 Whitbread Awards
-References:*...

 prize for best children's book in 1979 for Tulku. In 1982 he was placed on the International Board of Books for Young People Honor List for Tulku,
and The Iron Lion was selected one of New York Times Notable Books. In 1989 he won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
The Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards were first presented by The Boston Globe and Horn Book Magazine in 1967. They are among the most prestigious honors in the United States in the field of children’s and young adult literature...

 for Eva
Eva (novel)
Eva is a young adult science-fiction novel by Peter Dickinson, published in 1988. One of his best-known books, it received the Phoenix Award in 2008.-Plot introduction:...

. He was also shortlisted for the Whitbread award for his book The Kin.

Dickinson's three early books, The Weathermonger, Heartsease and The Devil's Children, make up the Changes Trilogy, which was adapted (with many alterations) into the BBC TV series The Changes
The Changes (TV series)
The Changes is a British children's science fiction television serial filmed in 1973 and first broadcast in 1975 by the BBC. It was directed by John Prowse...

in 1975. The trilogy was written in reverse order: The Devil's Children is actually the first book in terms of the trilogy's chronology, Heartsease the second, and The Weathermonger the third.

A pair of alternative history novels, King and Joker (1976) and Skeleton-in-Waiting (1989), are based on the premise that Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale was a member of the British Royal Family. He was the eldest son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and Alexandra, Princess of Wales , and the grandson of the reigning monarch, Queen Victoria...

 survives and ultimately reigns as Victor I of England.

A collection of his own previously published and new poetry, The Weir: Poems by Peter Dickinson
The Weir: Poems by Peter Dickinson
A collection of fifty-six poems by internationally celebrated and prizewinning author, Peter Dickinson.- Description :Peter Dickinson has been writing poetry for as long as he can remember. In the 1950s and 60s, he was the resident poet at Punch where he wrote over two hundred poems...

, was published on the occasion of his 80th birthday in 2007, as a gift from his four children.

His latest work is Fire (2009), published by Putnam Books, USA, which he co-wrote with Robin McKinley.

Dickinson married Mary Rose Barnard in 1953; the couple had two sons (one the author, John Dickinson
John Dickinson (author)
John Geoffrey Hyett Dickinson is an English author of young adult novels. His first novel, The Cup of the World, was published in 2004, and his latest novel , The Lightstep, was published in 2008....

) and two daughters. He is now married to the novelist Robin McKinley
Robin McKinley
Robin McKinley is a distinguished author of fantasy and children's books who has written sixteen books to date. Her latest book Pegasus was published in 2010...

.

Dickinson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours.

Motion pictures

In 1982, Rankin/Bass Productions released The Flight of Dragons
The Flight of Dragons
The Flight of Dragons is a 1982 animated movie produced by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr. and loosely combining the speculative natural history book of the same name by Peter Dickinson with the novel The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson. The film centres upon a quest undertaken to...

, an acclaimed made-for-TV animated film, aspects of which were based on Dickinson's novel. For example, the character design in the film bears a resemblance to the illustrations in the book. However, the novel The Dragon and the George
The Dragon and the George
The Dragon and the George is a 1976 fantasy novel by Gordon R. Dickson, the first in his "Dragon Knight" series. A shorter form of the story was previously published as the short story, "St...

by Gordon R. Dickson
Gordon R. Dickson
Gordon Rupert Dickson was an American science fiction author.- Biography :Dickson was born in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1923. After the death of his father, he moved with his mother to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1937...

 was the inspiration for the film's plot. Nevertheless, one of the main characters is Peter Dickinson himself, struggling to complete his text.

James Pibble series

  • The Glass-Sided Ants' Nest (1968); also published as Skin Deep
  • The Old English Peep-Show (1969); also published as A Pride of Heroes
  • The Sinful Stones (1970); also published as The Seals
  • Sleep and His Brother (1971)
  • The Lizard in the Cup (1972)
  • One Foot in the Grave (1979)

Other novels

  • The Green Gene (1973)
  • The Poison Oracle (1974)
  • The Lively Dead (1975)
  • The Blue Hawk (1975)
  • King and Joker (1976)
  • Walking Dead (1977)
  • A Summer in the Twenties (1981)
  • The Last Houseparty (1982)
  • Hindsight (1983)
  • Death of a Unicorn (1984)
  • Tefuga (1985)
  • Skeleton-in-Waiting (1987)
  • Perfect Gallows (1988)
  • Play Dead (1991)
  • The Yellow Room Conspiracy (1992)
  • Some Deaths Before Dying (1999)
  • Kirsten is cool (hard core sins 1994)

The Changes Trilogy

  • The Weathermonger (1968)
  • Heartsease (1969)
  • The Devil's Children (1970)

Other novels

  • Emma Tupper's Diary (1970)
  • The Dancing Bear (1972)
  • The Gift (1973)
  • The Blue Hawk (1975)
  • Annerton Pit (1977)
  • Tulku (1979)
  • The Seventh Raven (1981)
  • Healer (1983)
  • Eva
    Eva (novel)
    Eva is a young adult science-fiction novel by Peter Dickinson, published in 1988. One of his best-known books, it received the Phoenix Award in 2008.-Plot introduction:...

    (1988)
  • AK (1990)
  • A Bone from a Dry Sea (1992)
  • Shadow of a Hero (1993)
  • The Kin (1998) (apa four-volume series: Suth's Story, Noli's Story, Ko's Story, and Mana's Story)
  • Touch and Go (1999)
  • The Lion Tamer's Daughter (1999)
  • The Ropemaker (2001)
  • The Tears of the Salamander (2003)
  • The Gift Boat (2004); US title: Inside Grandad
  • Angel Isle (2006); a sequel to The Ropemaker

Picture books

  • The Iron Lion (1973)
  • Hepzibah (1978)
  • Giant Cold (1984)
  • A Box of Nothing (1985)
  • Mole Hole (1987)
  • Time and the Clock Mice, Etcetera (1993)
  • Chuck and Danielle (1996)

Other books

  • Chance, Luck and Destiny (1975) (nonfiction about probability and coincidence)
  • The Flight of Dragons
    The Flight of Dragons (book)
    The Flight of Dragons is a 1979 speculative natural history book written by Peter Dickinson and illustrated by Wayne Anderson.-Thesis:Dickinson proposes that dragons once existed, citing the diverse cultures who all share stories of a mythical flying creature with fantastic properties and...

    (1979)
  • City of Gold
    City of Gold (novel)
    City of Gold and other stories from the Old Testament retold by Peter Dickinson is a collection of stories for children based on Old Testament narratives. The illustrations, both in colour and black-and-white, are by Michael Foreman...

    (1980)
  • Merlin Dreams (1988)
  • Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits (With Robin McKinley) (apa Elementals: Water) (2002)
  • The Weir: Poems by Peter Dickinson
    The Weir: Poems by Peter Dickinson
    A collection of fifty-six poems by internationally celebrated and prizewinning author, Peter Dickinson.- Description :Peter Dickinson has been writing poetry for as long as he can remember. In the 1950s and 60s, he was the resident poet at Punch where he wrote over two hundred poems...

    (2007) a collection of poetry
  • Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits (With Robin McKinley) (2009)

Secondary Literature

Townsend, John Rowe, "Dickinson, Peter", in Twentieth-Century Children's Writers ed. D. L. Kirkpatrick (London: Macmillan, 1978), 371–4.

Alderson, Brian, "Peter Dickinson and the Hazards of Storytelling" in Books For Keeps issue no.172, September 2008 http://www.booksforkeeps.co.uk/issues/172/28742

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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