In 2013 Neil Gaiman performed Charles Dickens "performance text" of A Christmas Carol at the New York Public Library, dressed as Dickens and channeling Dickens' own celebrated public readings. The audio of that event became the most popular and most downloaded event the NYPL has ever had, becoming a Christmas staple.
Ten years later, in a Christmas Miracle, Neil will be putting on a beard and top hat, and impersonating the great novelist once again, as he reads Dickens' unique performance text for two December nights to remember. Neil is renowned as one of the finest of modern readers/performers, as Dickens was in his time. Two glorious Victorian nights at the Town Hall, with carolers, unique gifts for sale, and a tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, of ghosts, and of life.
As at the NYPL in 2013, the event will be introduced by Molly Oldfield. It was while writing her first book, The Secret Museum, that she discovered a very special treasure. A large leather bound book, belonging to Charles Dickens, which he created for his public readings of a Christmas Carol. Wanting to bring the book back to life, Molly enlisted the help of Neil and their friends at the NYPL. The rest is history!
A Christmas Carol: Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in response to British social attitudes towards poverty, particularly child poverty, and wished to use the novella as a means to put forward his arguments against it. A Christmas Carol (1843) enjoyed enormous popularity, running through six editions in five months, and it remains an enduring classic. Dickens chose this work for his first public readings in December 1853 and went on to perform it more than 100 times to huge audiences. A Christmas Carol was Dickens's first public reading - on Tuesday, 27th December 1853, in Birmingham Town Hall. On an earlier visit to the city, Dickens had offered to give his first public reading to help raise funds for the Birmingham and Midland Institute (BMI).
"I make things up and write them down" is the way Neil Gaiman describes his varied art. Today, as one of the most celebrated writers of our time, his popular and critically acclaimed works bend genres while reaching audiences of all ages.
Gaiman's groundbreaking Sandman comics, which received nine Eisner Awards, was described by Stephen King as having turned graphic novels into "art." The Los Angeles Times called it the greatest epic in the history of the form, an issue of Sandman was the first comic book to receive the World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story.
Gaiman is the bestselling author of Neverwhere, Anansi Boys, Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett), Smoke and Mirrors, Fragile Things, Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, The Sleeper & the Spindle, Hansel and Gretel, Norse Mythology, The View from the Cheap Seats (non-fiction essays), and The Neil Gaiman Reader: Selected Fiction (with a forward by Marlon James). He is also the author of American Gods, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, Bram Stoker, and Locus awards and proclaimed one of the 125 most important books of the last 125 years by the New York Public Library.
His works for younger readers include The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, The Wolves in the Walls (made into an opera by the Scottish National Theatre and a puppet show by the Little Angel theatre), Odd and the Frost Giants, The Dangerous Alphabet, Cinnamon, Fortunately the Milk, and Pirate Stew. His young adult story, Coraline, won the Hugo, Nebula, Bram Stoker, and Locus awards and was adapted as a musical by Stephin Merritt in 2009 and into an opera by composer Mark-Anthony Turnage and librettist Rory
Mullarkey in 2018. His children's novel, The Graveyard Book, is the only work to win both the Newbery (US) and Carnegie (UK) Medals. His new children's book will be What You Need to Be Warm (Bloomsbury UK October 26, 2023 and Bloomsbury US October 31, 2023). The book explores flight from conflict by spotlighting the objects and memories that offer hope during trying times.
Much of Gaiman's work has been adapted for visual media including Stardust, Coraline (BAFTA winner for Best Animated Film), Neil Gaiman's Likely Stories, and How to Talk to Girls at Parties (directed by John Cameron Mitchell). The hit series American Gods ran for three seasons on the Starz network. Good Omens, an Amazon Prime series, won the 2019 Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation for the episode "Hard Times," the Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation-Long Form, and has been renewed for a second season. The Sandman was developed as a critically acclaimed live-action TV series for Netflix, Anansi Boys is in development for a six-episode series on Amazon, in addition Gaiman is producing a series based on Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books for Showtime. His novelette turned performance piece "The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains" has been performed widely, including at Carnegie Hall. His novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane was adapted as a critically acclaimed play for a sold-out run at England's National Theatre later transferring to the West End. Gaiman's commencement address "Make Good Art," received 1.5 million views, and was released as a book illustrated and designed by Chip Kidd. He is also the author of Art Matters, illustrated by Chris Riddell. In 2021 he starred in the Audible Original production The Neil Gaiman At The End of The Universe which benefited the mental health non-profit, This Is My Brave. In 2022 he collaborated with FourPlay String Quartet on an album called Signs of Life which debuted in April 2023 at #1 on the Billboard Classical Crossover chart. Their first single was Bloody Sunrise with words and music by Neil Gaiman. He was also cast as Gef, the talking mongoose in the 2023 movie Nandor Fodor and The Talking Mongoose.
A self-described "feral child who was raised in libraries," Gaiman credits librarians with fostering a life-long love of reading. He is a passionate advocate for books and libraries, and a supporter and former board member of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. His blog has more than a million regular readers, and over two million people follow him on Twitter. Born in England, Gaiman lives in the United States and teaches at Bard College.
Neil Gaiman has been honored with 4 Hugos, 2 Nebulas, 1 World Fantasy Award, 4 Bram Stoker Awards, 6 Locus Awards, 2 British SF Awards, 1 British Fantasy Award, 3 Geffens, 1 International Horror Guild Award, 2 Mythopoeic Awards, and 15 Eisner Awards. Other honors include the Shirley Jackson Award, Chicago Tribune Young Adult Literary Prize (for his body of work), Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Defender of Liberty award, 2022 St. Louis Literary Award (for his body of work), an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the Arts, and he is one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2023. In 2017 UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, appointed Neil Gaiman as a global Goodwill Ambassador.
Since the 2013 reading, Molly Oldfield has answered thousands of questions sent to her by children all over the world on her podcast “Everything Under The Sun”, twice nominated for a British Podcast Award, and Neil always answers the ones about Santa at Christmas time. Her most recent book, “Everything Under the Sun: a year of curious questions” is on its 6th reprint, the sequel is being illustrated by 12 artists and she's collecting questions for her third book. Writing and recording from Bali this year, she also pens the weekly kids’ quiz in the Guardian, which has over 50,000 weekly players online and in the magazine.
More at neilgaiman.com and mollyoldfield.com