The next presentation in this year's University of Chicago Presidential Fellows in the Arts series, scheduled for April 19th and featuring Neil Gaiman, is sold out. There is a possibility that a limited number of tickets may be released for sale on Monday, April 18 after 10AM. Anyone interested in procuring tickets for this event should plan to call the ticket line at 773-702-8080 after 10AM on Monday, April 18.

The University of Chicago Presidential Fellows in the Arts Presents

NEIL GAIMAN
Creator of Sandman and American Gods

In conversation with GRETCHEN HELFRICH
Host of Chicago Public Radio's Odyssey

During the course of twenty years as a writer, Neil Gaiman has been one of the top writers in modern comics. He is also a movie and television screenwriter, a journalist, and now a best-selling novelist. He was the creator and writer of the monthly cult DC Comics horror-weird series, Sandman, which won twelve Eisner Comic Industry Awards and a World Fantasy Award for best short story, making it the first comic ever to receive a literary award. He has a huge Web presence, and his personal Web site, neilgaiman.com, was singled out by CNN for reinventing the marketing of a novel. Forbes magazine described him as "the best-selling author you never heard of."

Norman Mailer called Sandman "a comic strip for intellectuals," and the Los Angeles Times called the series "the greatest epic in the history of comic books." Sandman was introduced in 1988 and ran 75 issues until Gaiman chose to end the story in 1996; at the time it was DC Comics' best-selling monthly at more than a million copies a year. Re-introduced in 2003, the graphic novel Sandman: Endless Nights continues the saga, reaching a wider audience than ever. American Gods, his internationally best-selling novel, which won the 2002 Bram Stoker Award, Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for best novel, is a dark and kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth and across an America that is at once eerily familiar and utterly alien.

Gaiman's work probes the worlds of myth, imagination, and creativity. With a deep understanding of the critical importance of storytelling and myth, he explores the metaphors by which we live our lives. And at a time when creativity is one of the most valuable assets to any business, Gaiman's mastery of myth and legend and their role in the contemporary world make his work as a writer and speaker unique. At the podium, Gaiman shares the stories that have shaped the past.

Gaiman was born in Portchester, England and now lives in the U.S. An avid reader at an early age, he worked his way through the entire children's section at the local library; when he was done with that, he moved on to the adult section. He also loved comics. While working as a journalist in England, Gaiman began writing science fiction stories. Within a few years, he was writing comics on both sides of the Atlantic.

Among Gaiman's other books are Angels and Visitations, Good Omens, Neverwhere (originally a TV series for the BBC), the children's book The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, Stardust, and Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions and The Dream Hunters. His English-language script for the Japanese film Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime) was nominated for a Nebula award. His most recent book, Coraline, won the 2003 Nebula Award. A young adult novel, Coraline debuted on The New York Times bestseller list the week it was released and was named the best novella by The British Science Fiction Association.

Gaiman serves on the Board of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, an organization that works to protect the First Amendment rights of comic book creators, publishers and retailers. Between 1993 and 2000, Gaiman did a series of occasional readings in theaters across America. This tour, known as the "Guardian Angel Tour," raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and gained Gaiman a reputation as a performer and public speaker. The final tour sold out such venues as St. Mark's in New York.

For more information about upcoming speakers, visit http://arts.uchicago.edu

This event has been made possible through the generosity of the Arts Planning Council and the Office of the President, University of Chicago.

Neil Gaiman's residency is presented in collaboration with the Committee on Creative Writing at the University of Chicago.

Persons with disabilities who believe that they may need assistance may call in advance of the event, 773-702-8080.