Diana Wynne Jones

9 universes Last reviewed 2026-10-08

Diana Wynne Jones was a British novelist born in London on 16 August 1934 to educators Marjorie Jackson and Richard Aneurin Jones; she had two younger sisters, Isobel, who became a literary critic, and Ursula, an actress and children's writer. She attended Friends' School, Saffron Walden, before studying English at St Anne's College, Oxford, graduating in 1956 after hearing lectures by C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. She married medieval literature scholar John Burrow in 1956, and the couple had three sons, living in Oxford before relocating to Bristol in 1976. She began writing in the mid-1960s, publishing her first novel, the adult work Changeover, in 1970, and remained active until her death in 2011. Her most celebrated works include the Chrestomanci series, the Dalemark Quartet, and Howl's Moving Castle (1986), and she won the Guardian Prize in 1978, Mythopoeic Awards in 1996 and 1999, the Karl Edward Wagner Award in 1999, and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2007. Diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009, she died on 26 March 2011 in Bristol at age 76.

Universe(s)

Books

• Cart and Cwidder (1975) · The Dalemark Quartet Core Canon
• Dogsbody (1975) · Dogsbody Core Canon
• Charmed Life (1977) · Chrestomanci Core Canon
• Drowned Ammet (1977) · The Dalemark Quartet Core Canon
• The Spellcoats (1979) · The Dalemark Quartet Core Canon
• The Magicians of Caprona (1980) · Chrestomanci Core Canon
• Witch Week (1982) · Chrestomanci Core Canon
• Archer's Goon (1984) · Archer's Goon Core Canon
• Fire and Hemlock (1985) · Fire and Hemlock Core Canon
• Howl's Moving Castle (1986) · Howl's Moving Castle Core Canon
• The Lives of Christopher Chant (1988) · Chrestomanci Core Canon
• Castle in the Air (1990) · Howl's Moving Castle Core Canon
• A Sudden Wild Magic (1992) · A Sudden Wild Magic Core Canon
• The Crown of Dalemark (1993) · The Dalemark Quartet Core Canon
• Deep Secret (1997) · Magids Core Canon
• Dark Lord of Derkholm (1998) · The Derkholm Series Core Canon
• Mixed Magics (2000) · Chrestomanci Core Canon
• Year of the Griffin (2000) · The Derkholm Series Core Canon
• The Merlin Conspiracy (2003) · Magids Core Canon
• Conrad's Fate (2005) · Chrestomanci Core Canon
• The Pinhoe Egg (2006) · Chrestomanci Core Canon
• House of Many Ways (2008) · Howl's Moving Castle 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: 22 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 5 (2 nomination, 3 honor mention)

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