Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Sir Terry Pratchett was born in Beaconsfield, England, in 1948. He was a middling student with an interest in astronomy, though he was also an avid reader. As a young man, he worked as a journalist and a press officer for an English electricity board. He published his first novel, The Carpet People, in 1971 and finally quit his job at the electricity board to pursue writing exclusively in 1987. It wasn’t long after this that Good Omens’s co-author, Neil Gaiman, met Pratchett when he was asked to interview him. Gaiman, born in 1960, was also a middling student and a prolific reader who got his start in journalism. At the time that the two collaborated on Good Omens, Gaiman wasn’t yet the household name he is today, though he had already begun writing the Sandman series for DC Comics. Both writers have earned numerous awards and accolades: Pratchett was knighted for services to literature in 2009 and Gaiman’s novel The Graveyard Book won the 2008 Newbery Medal. In December 2007, Pratchett was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. He continued writing until his death in 2015, and he also dedicated his final years to raising awareness and research money for Alzheimer’s disease. Following Pratchett’s final wishes, Gaiman continued to pursue a screen adaptation of Good Omens after Pratchett’s death, which ultimately resulted in a 2019 limited series on Amazon Prime.