Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is a English author of novels, comic books, and a television producer. His most well-known writings have been the comic book series The Sandman, the novels Coraline, American Gods and The Graveyard Book. American Gods has been turned into a TV series, and Coraline and Stardust have been adapted into movies.

Born on November 10, 1960 in Portchester, Hampshire, England, Neil’s zodiac sign is Scorpio. His middle name is Richard.

Neil Gaiman – His Politics

Neil’s complex stories have included sensitive topics like sexuality, power, life after death and human rights. Because of his storylines, Gaiman has been asked if his work is influenced by her personal politics.

“I still don’t think of myself as a hugely political writer,” he answered. “In British terms, I am somewhere in the fuzzy middle, of ‘why can’t we all be nice to each other?’, and ‘I really don’t like people exploiting other people.That puts me so far to the left of any political party that my politics out there are considered irrelevant.” (1)

Neil Gaiman – His Religion

The author doesn’t like to mix his personal beliefs of faith with his writings, or comment to reporters about what that faith might be. Perhaps he’s dodging a direct answer so as to not offend any of his fans.

We know that Gaiman grew up in a Scientology household. Both of his parents were Scientologists. Gaiman and his sisters were raised practicing in the Jewish faith along with the traditions and observations of holiday (Gaiman’s father was Jewish.) (2)

Gaiman has said that he is no longer a Scientologist. (2)

With his knowledge of various faiths, and his comments that religion is personal to one’s upbringing and culture, perhaps today Neil Gaiman is a skeptic of religion and might be an atheist.

Here’s a quote from him that might provide some insight into what Neil Gaiman personally believes: “I think that one of the biggest problems that faces us is that people don’t understand each other’s belief systems — political, religious, or even recreational. The extreme end of that is war, of course. And it’s a lot harder to demonize people if you know what they think or believe or dream.” (3)

Another interesting moment concerning Gaiman and the subject of religion comes in the form of this exchange between Neil and scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson. The two debate the concept of religion and God:

Neil Gaiman – His Relationships

Gaiman has been married twice. Currently and as of 2011 he is married to Amanda Palmer, a singer and musician. They have an open marriage, meaning that they have both agreed to each other being sexual with others outside of their relationship. On September 16, 2015 they welcomed the arrival of a son, Michael.

When Neil married Amanda, he also took on one of his new wife’s middle names, MacKinnon. (4)

Gaiman’s first marriage was with Mary McGrath, and which lasted from 1985 to 2007. Together they had three children: Michael, Holly and Madeleine.

Neil Gaiman Quotes

“We definitely are living in interesting times. I think the role of the artist is always twofold. One is reacting to your time and the other is chronicling your time. And sometimes you’re doing it an unaware sort of way.” (5)

Sources:

1: The Guardian

2: Book Browse

3: Politics Prose

4: Wicked Local

5: San Diego City Beat

Photo by Kyle Cassidy. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 International License.

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