HisDarkMaterials.org

A bit dated, but still very interesting. This year's Oxford Literary Festival included a guest appearance by Philip Pullman and advertizes maps of Oxford edited by Philip Pullman with illustrations from over thirty Oxford author's books - including His Dark Materials.

Next year's Literary Festival is to be held the 23rd through the 28th of March and will also feature Philip Pullman as a guest.

Another review about The Amber Spyglass, though quite a critical one:

The task of an author of epic fiction parallels that of his central characters, however many hurdles they pass through, however far along the road they travel, the analogy of Odysseus' return, of Frodo's casting the ring into the fire, can always find a parallel in the author's achievement of a satisfying and truthful culmination.

Yet another His Dark Materials review.

Here´s a review of The Subtle Knife.

Here's another review of The Golden Compass.

Here´s another review of The Amber Spyglass.

The Observer posts an article with interesting quotes from various celebrities including Philip Pullman.

'I crave dullness and routine. That's when I work best. What I would really like is a fairly long period of imprisonment, in a reasonably comfortable prison with a good library.' Best-selling writer Philip Pullman

An article about saturday´s event, the Lyra´s Oxford booksigning in Oxford, to mark the release of Lyra´s Oxford.

Hundreds of fans queued for hours to have copies of a new book by Whitbread Prize winner Philip Pullman signed by the author.

Tragedy! Yesterday to on the BBC Big Read program "To Kill a Mockingbird" was valiantly defended by John Humphrys, and His Dark Materials had to give up it´s 3rd place, and is now 4th. We have to get His Dark Materials back in 3rd place, so vote!

The Republic of Heaven needs you! Vote for His Dark Materials!

The Book of Dust is intended to be a companion to the His Dark Materials trilogy. It will explain Lyra's world and, most importantly, the background histories of secondary characters like Lee Scoresby and Serafina Pekkala.

Rumors about The Book of Dust practically date back to the publication of The Amber Spyglass in 2000, but Philip Pullman has set no possible publication dates and has worked on several separate projects in the interim. The Book of Dust is definitely in the process of being written - the press release of Lyra's Oxford mentions it by name - but there's no way to gauge how near it is to completion or when it will finally be published.

Once upon a time children's non-fiction was dull, poorly written and uninspiring. Not any more, says Nicola Morgan

There is an insidious and discreetly held notion that children's non-fiction is somehow not proper reading, a "lower" form of literature. The £1 promotions on World Book Day were all fiction. In the first nine stages of the Oxford Reading Tree, the successful reading scheme, fiction outnumbers non-fiction by almost 40:1, though this will improve greatly by 2004. Children's non-fiction is rarely reviewed. Its bestseller lists usually give the publisher's name, not the author's. Often an author's name is not even on the cover, as though it wasn't really writing.

A global exclusive: We have images from the rehearsal of The National Theatre's His Dark Materials. The images were taken by Ivan Kyncl.

Click here to view them.

This is an article from the winner of the CBBC Newsround contest. She writes of her meeting with Philip Pullman and their walk around Oxford. There is also a link to watch the report.

Sophie won CBBC Newsround's competion to interview top author Philip Pullman at a special event in Oxford.

Here she reports on how nervous she was - and what secrets he let her in on.

There was a very interesting interview with Philip Pullman on BBC Five Live.

The interview centres on Lyra´s Oxford, The Book of Dust, and The Stageplay.

Click here to listen.

The novelist Philip Pullman, 57, spent much of his childhood on board ships as both his father, who died when he was seven, and his stepfather served in the Royal Air Force overseas. He read English at Oxford University, and for many years was a teacher who wrote novels in the evening. He made his name in children's fiction with the His Dark Materials trilogy, which tells the story of Lyra and Will, a girl and boy who travel through alternative worlds. It is being adapted for the stage at the Royal National Theatre, and is also being made into a film, scripted by Tom Stoppard. Pullman lives with his wife, Jude, near Oxford, and has two sons.

Interesting questions, like: "Did you ever suffer a thwarted passion, like your fictional characters? And what are the defining qualities of a truly great shed?"