Terry Pratchett

English fantasy author (1948–2015)

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Lived 1948–2015, aged 67United Kingdom

United Kingdom WritersWriter / Author

Wikipedia
77 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1948–2015
Aged 67
Known for
The Amazing Maurice
2022

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

He built a flat world on the backs of four elephants standing on a giant turtle, then spent three decades spinning it into 41 novels that sold over 100 million copies and made him the UK's bestselling author of the 1990s.

Biography

About

Terry Pratchett published his first novel, The Carpet People, in 1971, but the turn came in 1983 with The Colour of Magic — the opening salvo of Discworld, a comic fantasy series he'd sustain at a pace of roughly two books a year for the rest of his life. The flat world and its cast of witches, watchmen, and footnotes became a genre juggernaut: 100 million copies in 43 languages, an OBE in 1998, a knighthood in 2009, and in 2001 the Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, the first Discworld entry aimed at children. He also co-wrote Good Omens with Neil Gaiman in 1990,…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett

said2008

Life doesn't happen in chapters — at least, not regular ones. Nor do movies. Homer didn't write in chapters.

— On the lack of chapters in Discworld books, in an interview by Gavin J. Grant at Booksource.com (2008)

Terry Pratchett

said17 Feb 2007

Wikipedia, eh? Must be accurate then!

— The age interview (17 Feb 2007)

Terry Pratchett

said2007

In ancient times cats were worshiped as gods; they have not forgotten this.

— Pratchett is credited as author of this, as quoted in Ghost Cats : Human Encounters with Feline Spirits (2007) by Dusty Rainbolt, p. 7, and

Terry Pratchett

saidMay 2006

No, I happen to be one of those people whose memory shuts down under pressure. The answers would come to me in the middle of the night in my sleep! Besides, I am a millionaire.

— Response to a question asking if he would appear on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. ALCS News (May 2006)

Terry Pratchett

said18 Jan 2005

As they say in Discworld, we are trying to unravel the Mighty Infinite using a language which was designed to tell one another where the fresh fruit was.

— Relatively Einstein episode 3, "Fantasy Physics" (18 January 2005); the Discworld version of this statement appears in Night Watch (2002)

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