Peter Dickinson

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For other uses, see Peter Dickinson (disambiguation).
Peter Dickinson
Born Peter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson
(1927-12-16) 16 December 1927 (age 85)
Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia
Occupation Writer, poet
Nationality British
Education Eton College (1941–46)
Alma mater King's College, Cambridge (1948–51)
Period 1968–present
Genres Crime fiction, children's novels and picture books
Notable work(s)
Notable award(s) Horn Book Award
1977
Guardian Prize
1977
Carnegie Medal
1979, 1980
Phoenix Award
2001, 2008
Spouse(s)
Children 4
www.peterdickinson.com

Peter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson OBE FRSL (born 16 December 1927) is a prolific English author and poet, best known for children's books and detective stories.

Dickinson won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association for both Tulku (1979) and City of Gold (1980), recognising each as the year's outstanding children's book by a British subject.[1][2] Through 2012 he is one of seven writers to win two Carnegies; no one has won three. He was also a highly commended runner up[a] for Eva (1988) and four times a commended runner up.[3][b]

Contents

Life [edit]

Dickinson was born in Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), the second of four sons to a man in the colonial service and a farmer's daughter. He loved stories about knights in armour and explorers, such as Ivanhoe and King Solomon's Mines, and read "anything by Kipling", who influenced his writing greatly.

His parents moved to England so that he and his brothers could attend English schools. His father died suddenly but Peter entered Saint Ronan's prep school in 1936 with support from the family. The novel Hindsight is based on the period in Devon after the school was evacuated from Kent during the war. He entered Eton College in 1941.

Dickinson was at from 1941 to 1946. After completing his National Service (1946–48), he studied at King's College, Cambridge, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1951. For seventeen years he worked as assistant editor, resident poet and reviewer for Punch magazine.[4] His first two books were published in 1968 and very well received, one mystery for adults and one science fiction for children. He completed sequels to both debut novels and left Punch to be a full-time author next year. He continued to write poetry for entertainment and occasionally on commission.

Dickinson married Mary Rose Barnard in 1953; the couple had two daughters and two sons including the author John Dickinson.[4] Mary Rose died in 1988, the same year that the first two grandchildren were born. As of 2009 there are six grandchildren.[5]

In 1983, Dickinson had met Robin McKinley, an American author of fantasy, some written for children. They became friends and, years later in 1991, they married. She concedes (2009) that she cannot judge the literary work of people she likes personally. "Fortunately I had been passionately devoted to his books years before I met him so I can merely go on thinking they're wonderful and he's brilliant now."[5]

Dickinson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1999 and appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours.[6]

He has been chairman of the Society of Authors and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

For years he listed manual labour as one pastime; at 85 he lists only bridge and gardening.[7] He no longer visits schools or delivers talks.

Author [edit]

Dickinson has written almost fifty books, which fall into three general categories: crime fiction for adults (including the James Pibble series), speculative and supernatural fiction for older children, and simpler children's books. One of his few other books was the collection Chance, Luck and Destiny (1975), which he calls "prose and verse, fact and fiction, on the themes of the title".[7] It won the second annual Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for children's nonfiction in 1977.[8]

The "Changes" trilogy comprises three early books for children, The Weathermonger, Heartsease and The Devil's Children (1968 to 1970).[9] It was heavily adapted in 1975 as a BBC TV series, The Changes. 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.

Dickinson's first two mysteries both won the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger, Skin Deep in 1968 and A Pride of Heroes in 1969.[10] He has been at least as successful with his children's books. He won the 1977 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for The Blue Hawk, an award judged by British children's writers, which no author may win twice.[11] For Tulku (1979) he won both the Whitbread Children's Book Award and finally the Carnegie Medal[1] after being a commended runner up three times.[3][b] He won the Carnegie again next year for City of Gold.[2] In 1982 he was named to 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. Eva (1988) was a runner up for both the Carnegie (highly commended)[3] and the U.S. Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. In 2008 it won the Phoenix Award from the Children's Literature Association as the best English-language children's book that did not a major award when it was originally published twenty years earlier. Dickinson and The Seventh Raven (1981) had won the same award in 2001.[12][13][14][15] The Kin (1998) made the Whitbread Award shortlist.[7][16]

City of Gold and other stories from the Old Testament (Gollancz, 1980), illustrated by Michael Foreman, was a "radical" retelling of 33 stories, according to the retrospective online Carnegie Medal citation. "It is set in a time before the Bible was written down, when its stories where handed from generation to generation by the spoken word."[2] Illustrator Foreman was highly commended runner up for the Library Association's companion Kate Greenaway Medal.

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

His latest works are Earth and Air (Small Beer Press, 2012), and In the Palace of the Khans (Peter Dickinson Books, 2012). The former continues the "Tales of Elemental Spirits" whose first two volumes Water and Fire comprise stories by both Dickinson and Robin McKinley.[7]

Dickinson's literary archive is one of those in the Seven Stories National Centre for Children's Books.[17]

Motion pictures [edit]

In 1982, Rankin/Bass Productions released The Flight of Dragons, a made-for-TV animated film, aspects of which were based on Dickinson's novel. The character design in the film bears a resemblance to the illustrations in the book. However, the novel The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson was the inspiration for the film's plot. One of the main characters is Peter Dickinson, the book's author himself struggling to complete his text.

Works [edit]

Novels for children and young adults [edit]

Changes trilogy
  • The Weathermonger (1968)
  • Heartsease (1969)
  • The Devil's Children (Gollancz, 1970), illus. Robert Hales[b]
Other novels
  • Emma Tupper's Diary (1970)
  • The Dancing Bear (Gollancz, 1972), illus. David Smee[b]
  • The Gift (1973)
  • The Blue Hawk (Gollancz, 1976), illus. David Smee[b] —winner of the 1977 Guardian Prize[11]
  • Annerton Pit (1977)
  • Tulku (1979) —winner of the 1979 Carnegie Medal[1]
  • The Seventh Raven (1981) —winner of the 2001 Phoenix Award[12][14]
  • Healer (1983)
  • Eva (1988) —highly commended for the Carnegie Medal[a] and winner of the 2008 Phoenix Award[12][15]
  • AK (1990)
  • A Bone from a Dry Sea (1992)[b]
  • Shadow of a Hero (1993)
  • Time and the Clock Mice, Etcetera (1993), illus. Jane Chichester Clark
  • The Kin (1998)[7][16]
    • Suth's Story
    • Noli's Story
    • Ko's Story
    • Mana's Story
  • The Lion Tamer's Daughter (1999), U.K.[c]
  • The Ropemaker (2001)
  • The Tears of the Salamander (2003)
  • The Gift Boat (2004); US title: Inside Granddad
  • Angel Isle (2006); a sequel to The Ropemaker
  • In the Palace of the Khans (2012)

Mystery fiction for adults [edit]

James Pibble series
  • Skin Deep (1968); US: The Glass-Sided Ants' Nest
  • A Pride of Heroes (1969); US: The Old English Peep-Show
  • The Seals (1970); US: The Sinful Stones
  • 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)
  • 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)

Poetry [edit]

Children's picture books [edit]

  • The Iron Lion (1973), illus. Marc Brown, later Pauline Baynes
  • Hepzibah (1978), illustrated by Sue Porter
  • Giant Cold (1984), illus. Alan Cober
  • A Box of Nothing (1985)
  • Mole Hole (1987)
  • Chuck and Danielle (1996)

Short stories [edit]

  • Merlin Dreams (1988)
  • Touch and Go (1999), U.K.[c]
  • Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits (2002), by Dickinson and Robin McKinley; later, Elementals: Water
  • Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits (2009), by Dickinson and Robin McKinley
  • Earth and Air: Tales of Elemental Creatures (2012), by Dickinson alone

Other books [edit]

See also [edit]

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ a b Today there are usually eight books on the Carnegie shortlist. According to CCSU some runners up through 2002 were Commended (from 1954) or Highly Commended (from 1966). The latter distinction became approximately annual in 1979; there were 29 highly commended books in 24 years including Dickinson and two others in 1988.
  2. ^ a b c d e f The Devil's Children (1970), The Dancing Bear (1972), Blue Hawk (1976), and A Bone From a Dry Sea (1992) were "Commended" runners up for the Carnegie Medal. CCSU lists about 135 such distinctions from 1954 to 2002.
  3. ^ a b Touch and Go (1999) is a collection of "three short stories with 'fear' as a theme", named for the longest of them a novella (ISFDB; 17,500 to 40,000 words). The Lion Tamer's Daughter (1999) is a novel (ISFDB; more than 40,000 words). They had been published in the U.S. as a collection of four stories named for the longest, The Lion Tamer's Daughter and other stories (Delacorte, 1997). Here they are listed only separately. See Dickinson and ISFDB.
    According to the U.S. Library of Congress summary all four concern "a twin, ghostly double of a live person, or a secret self."[1]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c (Carnegie Winner 1979). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d (Carnegie Winner 1980). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  3. ^ a b c "Carnegie Medal Award". 2007(?). Curriculum Lab. Elihu Burritt Library. Central Connecticut State University (CCSU). Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  4. ^ a b Townsend (1978), 371.
  5. ^ a b McKinley, Robin (2009). "Are you married? Do you have any children?". Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  6. ^ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 59090. p. 10. 13 June 2009.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Children's Books". Peter Dickinson (peterdickinson.com). Retrieved 19 December 2012. This is now a directory, a complete set of cover images linked to pages on the particular books.
  8. ^ a b "Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards: Winners and Honor Books 1967 to present". The Horn Book. Retrieved 21 November 2012.. 
  9. ^ Changes series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB). Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  10. ^ "The CWA Gold and Silver Dagger Awards for Fiction". The Crime Writers Association. Retrieved 29 December 2011. 
  11. ^ a b "Guardian children's fiction prize relaunched: Entry details and list of past winners". theguardian 12 March 2001. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  12. ^ a b c Alderson, Brian, "Peter Dickinson and the Hazards of Storytelling", Books For Keeps 172 (September 2008). Online reprint retrieved 21 November 2012.
  13. ^ "Phoenix Award Brochure 2012". Children's Literature Association. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
    See also the current homepage, "Phoenix Award".
  14. ^ a b "Going Round by the Byways" (Acceptance Speech for the Phoenix Award, Buffalo New York, June 8, 2001). Peter Dickinson. Children's Literature Association. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
    • First published: Children's Literature Association Quarterly 26.3 (2001): 117–20.
  15. ^ a b "The Money Spider" (2008 Phoenix Award Recipient speech). Peter Dickinson. Children's Literature Association. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  16. ^ a b Kin series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Kin series listing at ISFDB. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  17. ^ "Collection authors & illustrators". Seven Stories: National Centre for Children's Books. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
Citations
  • Townsend, John Rowe, "Dickinson, Peter", Twentieth-Century Children's Writers, ed. D. L. Kirkpatrick (London: Macmillan, 1978), pp. 371–74.

External links [edit]

Authority control
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