Philip Reeve

Areas of Interest

Arts, Literature

Honorary Award

Honorary Doctor of Letters, 2013

Biography

Anglia Ruskin alumnus Philip Reeve is one of the leading writers for children and young adults and an important writer of junior science fiction, with each book gathering glowing reviews, award nominations and significant sales.

He became a freelance illustrator in the early 1990s when he drew the illustrations for several books in the Horrible Histories, Murderous Maths and Dead Famous series, all much loved by children and adults alike!

Philip's first novel, Mortal Engines, was published in 2001 and it turned out to be an instant hit, winning the Smarties Gold Award, the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award and the Blue Peter Book I Couldn't Put Down Award. Mortal Engines was followed by four sequels; the last one, A Darkling Plain, won both the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. There has also been a trilogy of steampunk Victorian space adventures, Larklight, Starcross and Mothstorm.

Philip's novel Here Lies Arthur, set in Dark-Age Britain, was chosen by British librarians for the Carnegie Medal 2008, which recognises the year's best children's book published in the UK. It was also shortlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Award and the Nestle Children's Book Prize.

A new quartet, including Fever Crumb, A Web of Air, Scrivener's Moon and a final novel still in progress, tells the story of the Traction Era. A further fantasy world, the Westlands, was introduced in Goblins last year and followed this year by the sequel Goblins vs Dwarves. Typically prolific, Philip is also working on a series of shorter books with illustrator Sarah McIntyre; the first, Oliver and the Seawigs, will be published this year.

Citation

Vice Chancellor, it is my pleasure to read the citation for Philip Reeve for the award of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa.

Anglia Ruskin alumnus Philip Reeve is one of the leading writers for children and young adults and an important writer of junior science fiction, with each book gathering glowing reviews, award nominations and significant sales.

Philip was born in Brighton and wasted no time in penning his first story at the age of five, about a spaceman called Spike and his dog, Spook. He attended secondary school in Brighton, which he says was "next door to, and largely indistinguishable from, Brighton's municipal tip". It was here that he became interested in illustration, Arthurian legend and making ultra-low-budget films on Super-8mm cine film - more of which to come.

Art college came in the form of a foundation course at Brighton Polytechnic which is now the University of Brighton. This was followed by a two-year diploma at Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology, our former CCAT, where he regularly contributed a comic strip to the Students' Union magazine. During his time as a student with us, and for a few years afterwards, Philip wrote for and performed in comedy sketch shows, with a variety of collaborators, under various names including The Charles Atlas Sisters.

After graduating, Philip returned to Brighton and worked in a small independent bookshop while writing, producing and directing no-budget film and comedy projects in his spare time. He became a freelance illustrator in the early 1990s when he drew the illustrations for several books in the Horrible Histories, Murderous Maths and Dead Famous series, all much loved by children and adults alike!

Philip's first novel, Mortal Engines, was published in 2001 and is about a far-future world in which cities become mobile and hunt resources - and other cities - across the old North Sea. It took ten years to write, with Philip working on it part-time between illustration jobs, but turned out to be an instant hit, winning the Smarties Gold Award, the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award and the Blue Peter Book I Couldn't Put Down Award. Mortal Engines was followed by four sequels; the last one, A Darkling Plain, won both the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. There has also been a trilogy of steampunk Victorian space adventures, Larklight, Starcross and Mothstorm.

Philip's novel Here Lies Arthur, set in Dark-Age Britain, was chosen by British librarians for the Carnegie Medal 2008, which recognises the year's best children's book published in the UK. It was also shortlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Award and the Nestle Children's Book Prize.

A new quartet, including Fever Crumb, A Web of Air, Scrivener's Moon and a final novel still in progress, tells the story of the Traction Era. A further fantasy world, the Westlands, was introduced in Goblins last year and followed this year by the sequel Goblins vs Dwarves. Typically prolific, Philip is also working on a series of shorter books with illustrator Sarah McIntyre; the first, Oliver and the Seawigs, will be published this year.

Philip and his wife Sarah now live on Dartmoor with their son Sam. Unsurprisingly on every count, his hobbies include walking, drawing, writing and reading, and he also works hard to visit schools and engage children with reading.

For his contributions to children's literature and to literacy, Vice Chancellor, it is my pleasure to present Philip Reeve for the award of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa.