HisDarkMaterials.org

The Oxford Mail Reports: An intriguing insight into the evolution from book to film of Oxford author Phillip Pullman's fantasy novel Northern Lights unfolded at the Oxford Literary Festival.  More than 600 people heard from Mr Pullman about his novel - part of his Dark Materials trilogy - and how it was translated into the Hollywood film The Golden Compass.  Sitting alongside the author was the film's producer Deborah Forte and visual effects supervisor Michael Fink.

Mr Pullman told the audience in Oxford Town Hall on Saturday: "I did not expect the book would be so successful and that it would be made into a film.  It was so unlike the previous books and I thought it would sell even less than the others.  When I met the production staff, I received a warm welcome.  Not only that, I was impressed by the fact that they had read the books and knew the stories."

BBC News reports: A private view. An untrodden walk. A secret spot. Many of us want to be the first to stumble across a special place when taking time out from our everyday lives, even if it's just a hop and a skip off the beaten track.  So where might they go? To mark British Tourism Week, the Magazine has asked some household names for their picks of off-beat spots to visit.

Novelist Philip Pullman suggests the canal tow path in Oxford.  "Its winding route takes in the bohemian suburb of Jericho, which featured in my His Dark Material trilogy. The canal tow path is a very attractive walk. You can start in the city and follow it as far as Wolvercote, or go in the other direction down Castle Mill Stream through the city. It takes some really interesting turns and twists until it meets the Thames nearby."

The Oxford Mail reports: Tickets are selling fast for the Oxford Literary Festival which will bring thousands of book lovers to the city later this month.

Highlights this year include an appearance by Oxford author Philip Pullman, who will be talking about how his prize-winning book Northern Lights is being turned into a film starring Nicole Kidman. Organisers are hoping those attending the Northern Lights event will be able to see exclusive preview footage. Some of the scenes were filmed in Christ Church, where the festival is based.

Angie Prysor-Jones, a spokesman for the festival, said: "Tickets are selling very well - we are slightly up on the same point last year and it promises to be a very good year with a very strong programme, covering politics, history, fiction and children's books. There are still tickets available for the Philip Pullman event at the Town Hall and we are hopeful that footage from the new film will be shown."

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London Theatre Guide reports: The National [Theatre] has appointed author Philip Pullman and director of the British Museum Neil MacGregor to the board. Pullman, whose His Dark Materials trilogy was adapted for the National stage in 2003, commented: “I am very happy to have been invited to join the Board of the National Theatre, a place where I have had some of the most profound and the most enjoyable experiences of my theatre-going life. It’s a great privilege to be able to contribute to the working of one of the great national cultural treasures, and I look forward very much to learning more about it.”

The Guardian asked Philip Pullman why he began writing, and why he still does.

What made you want to write when you were starting out?
The desire to have a story in which I liked everything and not just parts of it.

What makes you write now?
Habit.

Oxford Mail reports: A new exhibition highlighting Oxford's literary connections is being staged at the Museum of Oxford.

Children's writer Philip Pullman will open The A-Z of Literary Oxford at 12.30pm on Saturday at the museum in Blue Boar Street.

After the official opening with Lord Mayor Jim Campbell, Mr Pullman will be meeting children and signing books from 1pm to 2pm.

The Guardian reports: The proposed changes to the national curriculum for 11 to 14-year-olds (key stage 3) in England include:

English: Pupils will continue to study Shakespeare plays and sonnets as well as the canon of pre-20th century literary classics, including Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and George Eliot. There will be a suggested list of contemporary authors, such as Benjamin Zephaniah, Philip Pullman, and Bill Bryson.

The Times reports: The Richard Hillary Memorial Fund funds an annual lecture at Trinity College, Oxford, where Hillary had studied. Three winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature have given the lecture and this year the children's author Philip Pullman will speak on "the smallest possible units of narrative".

"It's much the same as scientists researching fundamental particles, something irreducibly small such as the metaphor of a task being a journey," says Pullman, whose own father was a fighter pilot, killed in action in Kenya in 1953. "It's a subject I have become obsessive about."

The lecture - this year at the English Faculty's St Cross Building - is on Friday 9^th February at 5pm.

BBC Oxford's Dominic Cotter spoke to Philip Pullman on the occasion of him receiving the Freedom of the City of Oxford. Philip also talks about how the film adaptation of the first part of his 'His Dark Materials' trilogy is coming along.

Listen to the interview.

Philip Pullman has written his not-so-monthly-message for January on his website. He writes about the difficulty to write regular items for his website, the weather and his plans of adapting to the Mediterranean climate in the UK.

Furthermore, he writes about his public appearances in the coming time and he responds to the Honorary Freedom of the City award that's been offered to him by the Oxford City Council.

Read Philip Pullman's January 2007 message

Oh and, don't skip the last paragraph! ;-)

Canada, the largest source of wood pulp for the UK paper industry, was the first nation to promote large-scale green publishing in 2003, when Rainforest Books in Vancouver printed J K Rowling's Harry Potter titles on 100 per cent recycled paper. Greenpeace is working on a campaign to persuade more publishers to do the same. Two hundred authors worldwide, including Helen Fielding, Philip Pullman and Ian Rankin, have signed up.  UK publishers with green paper initiatives include Random House, HarperCollins and Egmont Books.

LONDON: The British Library has put on display the notebook in which William Blake wrote one of his most famous poems, "The Tyger," to mark the 250th anniversary year of the English poet and artist's birth.

The original notebook is on display at the library in London alongside work of modern writers inspired by his work, including part of Philip Pullman's manuscript for "The Amber Spyglass," whose main character was inspired by Blake's poem "The Little Girl Lost."

Philip Pullman is to be awarded with the rare Freedom of Oxford award.

Philip Pullman said: "I am delighted and honoured to receive the Freedom of Oxford, the city which has been the inspiration for a great deal of my work. Oxford is a city that is steeped in storytelling.

Philip Pullman is just one of five modern-day recipients of the honour.

(12/27/07) Tonight at 8:30 BBC1 will be airing the first adaptation of Philip Pullman's Sally Lockheart series: The Ruby In The Smoke.  Dr. Who star Billie Piper plays the lead role of Sally Lockheart - a young heroine uncovering a mysterious past set against the backdrop of Victorian England.