Peter Dickinson

Peter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson (born 16 December 1927) is an English author and poet who has written a wide variety of books, notably children's books and detective stories, over a long and distinguished career.

Life and Work

Dickinson was born in Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), but his parents moved back to England so that he and his brothers could attend English schools: Dickinson was at Eton College from 1941-1946. After completing his National Service (1946-1948), he studied at King's College, Cambridge, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1951. For seventeen years, from 1952-1969, he worked assistant editor, resident poet and reviewer for Punch Magazine. [Townsend (1978), 371.]

Dickinson has written almost fifty books, which fall into three general categories: mysteries for adults (including the James Pibble series); novels for younger readers (many of which have a fantastic or supernatural element); and a few simpler children's books.

Both of Dickinson's first crime novels won the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger, "Skin Deep" in 1968 and "A Pride of Heroes" in 1969. He has been similarly successful with his children's books. He won the Guardian Award in 1977 for "The Blue Hawk" and the Whitbread prize for best children's book in 1979 for "Tulku". In 1982 he was placed on 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. In 1989 he won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for "Eva". He was also shortlisted for the Whitbread award for his book "The Kin".

Dickinson's three early books, "The Weathermonger", "Heartsease" and "The Devil's Children" make up the Changes Trilogy, which was adapted (with many alterations) into the BBC TV series "The Changes" in 1975. 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.

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.

His latest work is a collection of his own previously published and new poetry, "" which was published on the occasion of his 80th birthday in 2007, as a gift from his four children.

Dickinson married Mary Rose Barnard in 1953; the couple had two sons and two daughters. [Townsend (1978), 371.] He is now married to the novelist Robin McKinley.

Bibliography

*"The Glass-Sided Ants' Nest" (apa "Skin Deep") (1968) #
*"The Weathermonger" (1968)
*"The Old English Peep-Show" (apa "A Pride of Heroes") (1969) #
*"Heartsease" (1969)
*"The Sinful Stones" (apa "The Seals") (1970) #
*"The Devil's Children" (1970)
*"Emma Tupper's Diary" (1970)
*"Sleep and His Brother" (1971) #
*"The Lizard in the Cup" (1972) #
*"The Dancing Bear" (1972)
*"The Green Gene" (1973)
*"The Gift" (1973)
*"The Iron Lion" (1973)
*"The Poison Oracle" (1974)
*"The Lively Dead" (1975)
*"Chance, Luck and Destiny" (1975) (nonfiction about probability and coincidence)
*"The Blue Hawk" (1975)
*"King and Joker" (1976)
*"Walking Dead" (1977)
*"Annerton Pit" (1977)
*"Hepzibah" (1978)
*"One Foot in the Grave" (1979) #
*"The Flight of Dragons" (1979)
*"Tulku" (1979)
*"City of Gold" (1980)
*"A Summer in the Twenties" (1981)
*"The Seventh Raven" (1981)
*"The Last House party" (1982)
*"Hind sight" (1983)
*"Healer" (1983)
*"Death of a Unicorn" (1984)
*"Giant Cold" (1984)
*"Tefuga" (1985)
*"A Box of Nothing" (1985)
*"Perfect Gallows" (1987)
*"Mole Hole" (1987)
*"Eva" (1988)
*"Merlin Dreams" (1988)
*"Skeleton-in-Waiting" (1989)
*"AK" (1990)
*"Play Dead" (1992)
*"A Bone from a Dry Sea" (1992)
*"Shadow of a Hero" (1993)
*"Time and the Clock Mice, Etcetera" (1993)
*"The Yellow Room Conspiracy" (1994)
*"Chuck and Danielle" (1996)
*"The Kin" (1998) (apa four-volume series: "Suth's Story", "Noli's Story", "Po's Story", and "Mana's Story")
*"Some Deaths Before Dying" (1999)
*"Touch and Go" (1999)
*"The Lion Tamer's Daughter" (1999)
*"The Ropemaker" (2001)
*"Water: Tales of the Elemental Spirits" (With Robin McKinley) (apa "Elementals: Water") (2002)
*"The Tears of the Salamander" (2003)
*"Inside Grandad" (2004) (apa "The Gift Boat")
*"Angel Isle", a sequel to "The Ropemaker" (2006)
*"" (2007) a collection of poetry

# James Pibble series

econdary Literature

Townsend, John Rowe, "Dickinson, Peter", in "Twentieth-Century Children's Writers" ed. D. L. Kirkpatrick (London: Macmillan, 1978), 371-4.
Alderson, Brian, "Peter Dickinson and the Hazards of Storytelling" in "Books For Keeps" issue no.172, September 2008 [http://www.booksforkeeps.co.uk/issues/172/28742]

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.peterdickinson.com/Index.html Peter Dickinson's Website]