Terence David John Pratchett, OBE (born 28 April 1948) is a British fantasy, science fiction, and children's author. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels. Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971, and since his first Discworld novel (The Colour of Magic) was published in 1983, he has written two books a year on average. Pratchett is also known for close collaboration on adaptations of his books but has held back from Discworld feature films so far.

Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s, and as of December 2007 has sold more than 55 million books worldwide, with translations made in 33 languages. He is currently the second most-read writer in the UK, and seventh most-read non-US author in the US In 2001 he won the Carnegie Medal for his children's novel The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents.

Despite his popularity, Pratchett is often described as having a ‘cult following’ - a factor seen as having, in the past, hindered his literary recognition. Pratchett was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire "for services to literature" in 1998.

Terry Pratchett was born in 1948 in Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, England, the only child of David and Eileen Pratchett, of Hay-on-Wye. He passed his eleven plus exam in 1959, earning him a place in a technical school (High Wycombe Technical High School). Pratchett described himself as a "nondescript student", and in his Who's Who entry, credits his education to the Beaconsfield Public Library.

His early interests included astronomy; he collected Brooke Bond tea cards about space, owned a telescope and desired to be an astronomer, but was no good at mathematics. However, this led to an interest in reading British and American science fiction. In turn, this led to attending science fiction conventions from about 1963/4, which stopped when he got his first job. His early reading included the works of H. G. Wells and Arthur Conan Doyle and "every book you really ought to read" which he now regards as "getting an education".

At the age of 13, Pratchett published his first short story The Hades Business in the school magazine. It was published commercially when he was 15. Pratchett earned 5 O-levels and started 3 A-level courses, in Art, English and History. Pratchett's first career choice was journalism and he left school at 17 in 1965 to start working for the Bucks Free Press. However, he finished his A-Level in English, and took a proficiency course for journalists.


Pratchett got his first 'break' in 1968, when working as a journalist. He came to interview Peter Bander van Duren, co-director of a small publishing company. During the meeting, Pratchett mentioned he had written a manuscript, The Carpet People. Bander van Duren and his business partner, Colin Smythe (of Colin Smythe Publishing) published the book in 1971, with illustrations by Pratchett himself. The book received strong, if few reviews. The book was followed by the science fiction novels The Dark Side of the Sun and Strata, published in 1976 and 1981, respectively.

After various positions in journalism, in 1983 Pratchett became Press Officer for the Central Electricity Generating Board in an area which covered three nuclear power stations. He later joked that he had demonstrated "impeccable timing" by making this career change so soon after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania, USA, and said he would "write a book about his experiences, if he thought anyone would believe it".

The first Discworld novel The Colour of Magic was published in 1983 by Colin Smythe in hardback and by New English Library in paperback. The publishing rights for paperback were soon taken by Corgi, an imprint of Transworld, the current publisher. Pratchett received further popularity after the BBC's Woman's Hour broadcast The Light Fantastic as a serial in six parts, after it was published in 1986. Subsequently, rights for hardback were taken by the publishing house Victor Gollancz, which has remained Pratchett's publisher, and Smythe became Pratchett's agent. Pratchett was the first fantasy author published by Gollancz.

Pratchett gave up working for the CEGB in 1987 after finishing the fourth Discworld novel Mort, to fully focus on and make his living through writing. His sales increased quickly and many of his books occupied top places of the best-seller list. According to The Times, Pratchett was the top selling and highest earning UK author in 1996. Some of his books have been published by Doubleday, another Transworld imprint. In the US, Pratchett is published by HarperCollins.

According to the Bookseller's Pocket Yearbook from 2005, in 2003 Pratchett's UK sales amounted to 3.4% of the fiction market by hardback sales and 3.8% by value, putting him in 2nd place behind J. K. Rowling (6% and 5.6% respectively), while in the paperback sales list Pratchett came 5th with 1.2% by sales and 1.3% by value (behind James Patterson (1.9% and 1.7%), Alexander McCall Smith, John Grisham and J. R. R. Tolkien). His sales in the UK alone are more than 2.5 million copies a year.


Terry Pratchett married his wife Lyn in 1968 and they moved to Rowberrow, Somerset in 1970. Their daughter Rhianna Pratchett, who is also a writer, was born there in 1976. In 1993, the family moved south west of Salisbury, Wiltshire, where they currently live. He lists his recreations as "writing, walking, computers, life". He describes himself as a humanist and is a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association.

Pratchett is well known for his penchant for wearing large, black hats, as seen on the inside back covers of most of his books. His style has been described as "more that of urban cowboy than city gent."

Concern for the future of civilisation has prompted him to install five kilowatts of photovoltaic cells (for solar energy) at his house. In addition, his childhood interest in astronomy has led him to build an observatory in his garden.

In August 2007, Pratchett was misdiagnosed as having had a minor stroke in 2004 or 2005, which was believed to have damaged the right side of his brain. While his motor skills had been affected, the observed damage had not impaired his ability to write. On 11 December 2007, Pratchett posted online that he had been newly diagnosed with a very rare form of early-onset Alzheimer's disease, which he said "lay behind this year's phantom 'stroke'." He has a rare form of the disease called posterior cortical atrophy, in which areas at the back of the brain begin to shrink and shrivel. Pratchett appealed to people to "keep things cheerful", and proclaimed that "we are taking it fairly philosophically down here and possibly with a mild optimism." Leading the way, Pratchett stated that he feels he has time for "at least a few more books yet", and added that while he understands the impulse to ask 'is there anything I can do?', in this particular case he will only entertain such offers from "very high-end experts in brain chemistry." Discussing his diagnosis at the Bath Literature Festival, Pratchett revealed that he now found it too difficult to write dedications when signing books.

In March 2008, Pratchett announced he was donating one million US dollars (about £494,000) to the Alzheimer's Research Trust, claiming he had spoken to at least 3 brain tumour (cancer) survivors whilst he had spoken to no survivors of Alzheimer's disease, and that he was shocked "to find out that funding for Alzheimer's research is just 3% of that to find cancer cures." Of his donation Mr. Pratchett said: "I am, along with many others, scrabbling to stay ahead long enough to be there when the Cure comes along.” Pratchett's donation inspired an internet campaign where fans hope to 'Match it for Pratchett', by raising another $1 million.

In April 2008, the BBC began working with Pratchett to make a documentary series based on his illness. He also made an appearance on The One Show on 15 May 2008, talking about his condition. He was the subject and interviewee of the 20 May 2008 edition of On the Ropes (Radio 4), discussing Alzheimer's and how it had affected his life.

On 8 June 2008, news reports indicated that Pratchett had an experience, which he described as: "It is just possible that once you have got past all the gods that we have created with big beards and many human traits, just beyond all that, on the other side of physics, there just may be the ordered structure from which everything flows" and "I don’t actually believe in anyone who could have put that in my head".


Pratchett was the British Book Awards' 'Fantasy and Science Fiction Author of the Year' for 1994.

After being awarded his OBE for 'services to literature' in 1998, Pratchett commented in the Ansible SF/fan newsletter, "I suspect the 'services to literature' consisted of refraining from trying to write any" (suggesting the title was more a recognition of success, than an acknowledgement of the fantasy genre). But then added, "Still, I can't help feeling mightily chuffed about it."

Pratchett has been awarded four honorary Doctorates of Literature; University of Warwick in 1999, the University of Portsmouth in 2001, the University of Bath in 2003 and the University of Bristol in 2004.

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents won the 2001 Carnegie Medal for best children's novel (awarded in 2002).

In 2003 Pratchett firmly reinforced his credentials as one of Britain's most loved authors, by joining Charles Dickens as one of the only two authors with five books in the BBC's Big Read 'Top 100' (four of which were Discworld novels). Pratchett was also the author with the most novels in the 'Top 200' (fifteen).

The first three Discworld novels centring on the Tiffany Aching 'trainee witch' character have each received the Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book (in 2004, 2005 and 2007).

Source: Wikipedia

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