Born in 1960 in Portchester, England, Neil Gaiman has written quite a lot of material.

His longest work to date is the ten volumes that comprise Sandman, which has won major awards in Austria, Brazil, England, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain and the United States and probably some other places he can't think of offhand.

His novels include Neverwhere (which began life as a TV series, and is soon to be a major motion picture), and Stardust (which won the Mythopoeic Award as best fantasy novel of 1999, and is available in illustrated and un-illustrated versions)

Many of his short stories have been collected in Smoke and Mirrors: Short Stories and Illusions. Of his shorter comics works, he is proudest of Mister Punch. He is writing a new novel at present. It's called American Gods.

He has been awarded the World Fantasy Award, the World Horror Guild Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and many Eisner and Harvey Awards; most recently Stardust was awarded the ALEX award from the American Library Association, and Neverwhere won the Julia Verlanger award for best fantasy novel published in France.

He was co-author with Terry Pratchett, of Good Omens, a funny novel about how the world is going to end and we're all going to die, which spent 17 consecutive weeks on the Sunday Times bestseller lists, and which has gone on to sell over a quarter of a million copies in the UK alone. Terry Gilliam (of Monty Python fame) has recently announced that he will direct the film of the book.

He has exactly three children, approximately seven cats, and a house that wants to be Gormenghast when it grows up.

He tends to need a haircut. Currently he needs a shave as well.

He lived in Harwoods Lane, East Grinstead from 1965 to 1980, and from 1984-1987 and bought all of his books from Wilmington Bookshop in the High Street. He still has many friends and family in the town. He was educated at Fonthill School (East Grinstead) Ardingly College (Ardingly) and at Whitgift College (Croydon).

2003 sees the publication of several works by Gaiman: a new children's picture book, The Wolves in the Walls, illustrated by his longtime collaborator Dave McKean; a serialised story for Marvel called 1602; and the first Sandman graphic novel in seven years, Endless Nights.

2004 will see the release of Mirror Mask, a film written by Neil Gaiman and directed by Dave McKean for the Jim Henson company and Columbia Tristar.