Terry Pratchett, Knight of the Realm

Good news for fantasy writer Terry Pratchett, who was named in the New Year Honours list and will shortly be knighted for his services to literature. Pratchett, whose books have sold more than 60 million copies worldwide, is best known for the Discworld series, set on a world shaped like a disc, which rests on the backs of four gigantic elephants, who stand on the back of a galactic sized turtle, who swims very slowly through the magical depths of space…. In an interview with Katie Coyne of the Bookseller, he said: “I’m very grateful and pleased on behalf of the genre because the fantasy genre lags behind the crime genre in, shall we say, appreciation.” The knighthood will be doubly welcomed for the extra publicity it engenders for the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, for which organisation he has been campaigning ferociously since being diagnosed with the disease last year.