Daemon Voices: On Stories and Storytelling

Description

Inspired meditations on storytelling from one of the world's finest, most accomplished and adored writers. Pullman is a master of fiction and shares his thoughts on the origin of his own stories, the craft of writing and the storytellers who have meant the most to him. The art of storytelling is everywhere present in the essays themselves, in the instantly engaging tone, the vivid imagery and striking phrases, the resonant anecdotes, the humour and learnedness. Together, they are greater than the sum of their parts: a single, sustained engagement with story and storytelling. Essential reading for anybody with a hunger and a heart for truly great stories.

Philip Pullman was born in Norwich, England in 1946 and grew up in Zimbabwe and Wales. He has won awards including the Carnegie Medal, Guardian Children's Book Award, Astrid Lindgreen Memorial Award, Whitbread Book of the Year, Bookseller Association's Author of the Year and a CBE. His acclaimed fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials has been published in 39 languages, and a BBC drama series based on the novels began airing in autumn 2019.

Pullman is eloquent on the craft and power of storytelling * Observer * As if I'm sneaking into a year of lectures and classes with one of the masters of this art . . . Pullman shares advice, secrets, thoughts in such a down-to-earth, friendly manner, it almost makes me want to weep * Guardian Best Books of 2017 * Luminously written * The Times Literary Supplement * A gold mine . . . So much richness is to be found in this collection . . . Humane, wise and immensely readable, Daemon Voices is a fascinating tour of Pullman's teeming imagination and an inestimable illumination of the writing life * Financial Times * [Pullman's] reflections on how to nourish the imagination of children in an age of screens are excellent * Spectator * Daemon Voices casts an entrancing spell . . . To read [these essays] is to be invigorated by the company of a joyfully wide-ranging, endlessly curious and imaginative mind * New York Times * A compelling, convincing, eminently readable treatise on the importance of imagination and telling tales, Daemon Voices is a powerful insight into the mind of the greatest storyteller of our time * Kiran Millwood Hargrave * Pullman is as fine a thinker as he is a storyteller . . . abundant wisdom, provocative notions, and illuminating insights * Kirkus starred review (US) * This very impressive collection of essays, lectures and reviews . . . distils the thoughts on storytelling of one of our great storytellers * Children's Books History Society *