Terry Pratchett

Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE (born 28 April 1948) is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best-known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels. Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, ...

Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE (born 28 April 1948) is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. 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 was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s, and as of August 2010 had sold over 65 million books worldwide in thirty-seven languages. He is currently the second most-read writer in the UK, and seventh most-read non-US author in the US.

Pratchett was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to literature" in 1998. In addition, he was knighted in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the Carnegie Medal for his young adult novel The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents.

In December 2007, Pratchett publicly announced that he was suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's disease and, subsequently, made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust, and filmed a programme chronicling his experiences with the disease for the BBC.