Is never growing up the secret to great storytelling? With Philip Pullman

What was the inspiration behind Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights series ? How does he want readers to feel on Lyra’s final adventure in The Rose Field ? Has his demon changed now that he has got to the end of this writing journey, and how do you say goodbye to characters you love? In this special edition of Ask Penguin , host Rhianna Dhillon visits Philip Pullman at his Oxford home, surrounded by books (and barking cockapoos), to mark thirty years since the world met Lyra Belacqua in Northern Lights . The two reflects on a lifetime of storytelling and returning to Lyra’s world one final time in the conclusion of The Book of Dust series, The Rose Field . Discover all the books mentioned in this episode here: here To put a question to future podcast guests, and for exclusive content and book giveaways, join our Broadcast channel on Instagram: @PenguinUKBooks Philip Pullman is one of the most highly respected children's authors writing today. Winner of many prestigious awards, including the Carnegie of Carnegies and the Whitbread Award, Pullman’s epic fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials has been acclaimed as a modern classic. It has sold 17.5 million copies worldwide and been translated into 40 languages. In 2005 he was awarded the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. He lives in Oxford. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can listen to Is never growing up the secret to great storytelling? With Philip Pullman online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Is never growing up the secret to great storytelling? With Philip Pullman is an episode from The Penguin Podcast by Penguin Books UK.

This episode is 42:11 long.

This episode was published on Oct 30, 2025.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The Penguin Podcast when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.