Philip Pullman talks about The Book of Dust

#BookofDust
  / philippullman  

The title of the first volume of Philip Pullman’s highly-anticipated The Book of Dust has been announced today, Friday 26 May, as La Belle Sauvage. The identity of its hero has also been revealed, along with an extract released exclusively via The Guardian. La Belle Sauvage will be published simultaneously on 19 October 2017 by Penguin Random House Children’s and David Fickling Books in the UK, and Random House Children’s Books in the US.

Two decades after Northern Lights (1995) (The Golden Compass in the US) — the first book of Pullman’s world-famous His Dark Materials trilogy, which has sold more than 17.5 million copies in over 40 languages — The Book of Dust (#BookofDust) will return to the parallel world that has enthralled readers young and old. La Belle Sauvage is set 10 years before Northern Lights and centers on the much-beloved Lyra Belacqua. Alethiometers, daemons, and the Magisterium all return to play their part.

Since the ‘equel’ to His Dark Materials was announced, fans around the globe have cheered the return of Lyra Belacqua, heroine of His Dark Materials. In this short film, Pullman revealed the ingredient for success behind His Dark Materials: Lyra’s ordinariness.
He says: “When I wrote the first book of His Dark Materials - sometimes called Northern Lights, sometimes called The Golden Compass - I certainly didn't anticipate that so many people would find Lyra as interesting a character as I did.”
“The thing about Lyra is that she's not a special child. She's not especially gifted or talented - she's a very ordinary child. When I was a teacher, I taught many girls who were like Lyra. They were brave, inquisitive, curious, disobedient: all those interesting things for storytellers. I think the reason that people have read this long and complicated story is because they're with Lyra. She doesn't know the things that are threatening her and she's in the same position as the reader, because the reader shares her sense of danger and excitement and curiosity about what's going to happen next. I hope the same thing will be true of Malcolm in La Belle Sauvage.”

La Belle Sauvage will be published simultaneously on Thursday 19 October 2017 by Penguin Random House and David Fickling in the UK and Random House Children’s in US.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subscribe to the Penguin channel:
http://po.st/SubscribePenguinYouTube

Follow us here:

Twitter |   / penguinukbooks  
Website | http://www.penguin.co.uk
Instagram |   / penguinukbooks  
Facebook |   / penguinbooks