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Peter Dickinson

ピーター・ディキンソン

Pītā Dikinson

Aliases: Peter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1927-12-16 （Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia）
Died
2015-12-16 （Winchester, Hampshire, England） age 88
Nationality
British
Languages
English
Religion
Unknown
Residence History
Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) → England

Career

Occupations
writer, poet
Active Years
1968-2015
Affiliations
Punch (magazine), Royal Society of Literature, Society of Authors
Memberships
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL), Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
Influenced By
Rudyard Kipling
Influenced
Philippa Dickinson, John Dickinson
Nominations
Hans Christian Andersen Award finalist (2000), nominee (1988)

Education

Eton College
Period: 1941-1946
Year of Graduation: 1946
Country: United Kingdom
Public school
King's College, Cambridge
Degree: Bachelor of Arts
Period: 1948-1951
Year of Graduation: 1951
Country: United Kingdom
After national service

Awards

Gold Dagger
1968
Work: Skin Deep
Category: 犯罪小説
Organization: Crime Writers' Association
Result: winner
Gold Dagger
1969
Work: A Pride of Heroes
Category: 犯罪小説
Organization: Crime Writers' Association
Result: winner
Guardian Prize
1977
Work: The Blue Hawk
Category: 児童文学
Organization: The Guardian
Result: winner
Boston Globe–Horn Book Award
1977
Work: Chance, Luck and Destiny
Category: ノンフィクション
Organization: The Horn Book
Result: winner
Carnegie Medal
1979
Work: Tulku
Category: 児童書
Organization: Library Association (CILIP)
Result: winner
Carnegie Medal
1980
Work: City of Gold
Category: 児童書
Organization: Library Association (CILIP)
Result: winner
Whitbread Children's Book Award
1990
Work: AK
Result: winner
Phoenix Award
2001
Work: The Seventh Raven
Organization: Children's Literature Association
Result: winner
Phoenix Award
2008
Work: Eva
Organization: Children's Literature Association
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Tulku

1979 Children's adventure novel

Thirteen-year-old Theodore escapes to a Buddhist monastery amid rebellion in Tibet. Carnegie Medal winner.

adventurecultural clashreligion

City of Gold

1980 Retold Old Testament stories

Radical retelling of 33 Old Testament stories as oral tradition. Carnegie Medal winner.

mythBibleoral tradition

The Blue Hawk

1976 Children's fantasy

Boy's adventure in an ancient fictional kingdom. Guardian Prize winner.

religionpowercoming-of-age

Eva

1988 Science fiction children's novel

Girl's brain transplanted into chimpanzee body in SF tale. Phoenix Award winner.

identityhumanitybioethics

The Flight of Dragons

1979 Speculative natural history

Speculative study on dragons' existence. Adapted into animated film.

dragonsfantasyscience
Adaptations
  • [animated film] The Flight of Dragons / Arthur Rankin Jr., Jules Bass (1982)

Bibliography

  • The Weathermonger
  • Heartsease
  • The Devil's Children
  • Emma Tupper's Diary
  • Mandog
  • The Dancing Bear
  • The Gift
  • The Blue Hawk
  • Tulku
  • The Seventh Raven
  • Healer
  • A Box of Nothing
  • Eva
  • AK
  • A Bone from a Dry Sea
  • Shadow of a Hero
  • Time and the Clock Mice, Etcetera
  • The Kin
  • The Lion Tamer's Daughter
  • The Ropemaker
  • The Tears of the Salamander
  • The Gift Boat
  • Angel Isle
  • In the Palace of the Khans

Adaptations

  • The Flight of Dragons adapted as 1982 animated TV film

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Genre versatilityPoetic proseIntricate plotting
Recurring Motifs
change and adaptationadventure and explorationsupernatural elements

Legacy

Prominent British children's author, one of only eight to win two Carnegie Medals. Wrote nearly 50 books across crime, SF, fantasy. Hans Christian Andersen finalist.

Academic Societies

  • Royal Society of Literature

Archives

  • Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children's Books

In Popular Culture

  • The Flight of Dragons adapted by Rankin/Bass into made-for-TV animated film

Trivia

  • Strongly influenced by Kipling, whom he read avidly as a child
  • Died on his 88th birthday
  • Married to fantasy author Robin McKinley
  • Daughter Philippa is children's book publisher
  • Son John is an author