Peter Dickinson

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-10-26

Peter Dickinson (1927-2015) was an English author and poet, widely respected for his children's fiction and his detective novels. Born in Zambia, he spent his childhood in Gloucestershire and was educated at Eton and Cambridge, where he read English. Before writing full-time he worked on Punch magazine, where he reviewed detective novels; his own first two detective novels, Skin Deep and A Pride of Heroes, won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger in successive years. He wrote more than fifty novels for adults and young readers, among them The Weathermonger, Heartsease and The Devil's Children, Eva, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor book, and The Ropemaker, his first high fantasy, a Printz Honor book and Mythopoeic Award winner. He also received the Guardian Award and the Whitbread Prize and was appointed OBE. He lived in Hampshire with his second wife, the novelist Robin McKinley, with whom he wrote the collection Fire.

Universe(s)

Books

• The Ropemaker (2001) · The Ropemaker Core Canon
• Angel Isle (2006) · The Ropemaker Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 2 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 2 (1 won, 1 honor mention)

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