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.