Clive Barker

2 universes Last reviewed 2026-10-08

Clive Barker is a British writer, filmmaker, and visual artist born October 5, 1952, in Liverpool, England, to a painter and school welfare officer mother and a personnel-director father. He attended Dovedale Primary School and Quarry Bank High School before studying English and philosophy at the University of Liverpool. Barker has been professionally active since 1970 and rose to prominence in the 1980s with the Books of Blood short story collections, which established him as a major figure in horror fiction. His novels include Weaveworld (1987), The Great and Secret Show (1989), and Imajica (1991), as well as the best-selling Abarat series for younger readers. Barker is equally known as a filmmaker, having directed Hellraiser (1987), Nightbreed (1990), and Lord of Illusions (1995), adapting his own fiction for the screen. His honors include the 1985 World Fantasy Award for Books of Blood, the 1995 World Horror Convention Grand Master Award, the 2013 Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award, and a 2026 World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement. In 2024 he announced he was focusing exclusively on writing projects, and by 2026 he had launched Library of the Dead, an anthology series positioned as a spiritual successor to Books of Blood, funded through a Kickstarter campaign.

Universe(s)

Books

• Weaveworld (1987) · Weaveworld Core Canon
• Abarat (2002) · Abarat Core Canon
• Days of Magic, Nights of War (2004) · Abarat Core Canon
• Absolute Midnight (2011) · Abarat Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

These are separate, unrelated universes; the totals below are plain sums of already-published per-universe facts, never a blended or averaged score across them. See each universe's own figures above.

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 4 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 3 (1 won, 2 nomination)

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