Philip Pullman tires of 'daft' celebrity memoirs

Philip Pullman despairs of publishers commissioning celebrity books while talented authors are 'sidelined'.
By Tim Walker , The Telegraph, Published: 19 Oct 2010

Philip Pullman is adapting the classic fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. Photo: EPA/ Daniel Deme With a biography of even 11-year-old Brooklyn Beckham now published, Philip Pullman, the bestselling author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, has called a halt to what he regards as the publishing world's increasingly unhealthy obsession with celebrity.


"It's daft," the award-winning writer told me at the J M Barrie Award ceremony in St James's. "I'm not against anyone writing a book.

Anthony Blunt: confessions of spy who passed secrets to Russia during the war"If they write a good book and people like it, then that's wonderful. Unfortunately, the chances are with books of this kind is that it won't be good, and even if it says on the front that a celebrity has written it, the chances are that they haven't actually written it.

"The pity is that publishers throw so much money at books of this kind, and serious writers, who depend on the publishers to make their living and who have real talent, are getting sidelined."

Pullman is currently at work adapting the classic fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm.
He says that a lot of their stories "could be improved with a twist here and there."
He adds: "I'm putting my spin on the stories. I'm interested to see what I can do with them."