Terry Pratchett: Reaching out to the World

A fantasy and science fiction author, Terry Pratchett has been a bestseller author in Britain in 1990’s. Born on 28th April, 1948, Terry started writing at the age of 13 and published his work first at the age of 15. The Carpet People, published in 1971, was his first book. This legendary writer has sold more than 50 million books worldwide and is a renowned figure in the literary circles of the world.

His works have been translated to more than 33 languages. This can work well as a comment on his international reach and appeal. His ability to appeal to the sensibilities of the masses throughout the world is also evident from the above mentioned fact. Currently, he is the second most read author in UK and is the and seventh most read non-US author in the U.S.

In Terry Pratchett’s own words "it is easier to bend the universe around the story" in fantasy, hence, you would find that most of his work focuses more on fantasy than sci-fi. The influence to his writings are never kept as a secret and he admits to importing numerous characters from ancient history and popular culture. Just like with all the authors, his real life too got reflected in his novels in some way or the other. He was the only child of his parents and the children in his novels normally had no siblings.

Terry Pratchett was the recipient of Fantasy and Science Fiction Author of the Year for 1994. He got appointed as an officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1998 for services to literature. Also, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents won the 2001 Carnegie Medal for best children's novel in 2002. His contributions to literature and his achievemnts in this field cannot be summed up in a haste and ain a crammed up space.

The author is currently staying in south west of Salisbury in Wiltshire with his wife and daughter Rhianna, who is also a writer.