British-born author Neil Gaiman is responsible for the popular Sandman comic book series as well as the novels American Gods, Stardust and The Graveyard Book. He is one of the screenwriters for the film Coraline which will be released in February of 2009.

Gaiman won the Newbery Medal in 2009 for "The Graveyard Book" about an orphan who is raised by ghosts. The Newbery Medal awards American writers of children's literature.Washington Post: Author Neil Gaiman Wins Newbery Medal (January 26, 2009)

• 1989-1996: The Sandman (Collected in 10 Trade Paperbacks)
• 1998: Stardust (Novel)
• 2001: American Gods (Novel)
• 2007: Beowulf (Co-writer of Screenplay)
• 2008: The Graveyard Book (Novel)
• 2009: Coraline (Co-writer of Screenplay)

Gaiman began his writing career as a journalist, but after striking up a friendship with comic book writer Alan Moore, began to write for the comic book medium. His gothic aesthetic reached its pinnacle with the critically-acclaimed Sandman series, the only comic book series to ever make the New York Times Bestseller List.

While much of Gaiman's success has been in the realm of sequential art, he will be directing an upcoming film adaptation of his Sandman spin-off Death: The High Cost of Living. The development of the film has been delayed several times due to the Writers Guild Strike and other complications.

Gaiman has also co-written several screenplays, including for the action movie Beowulf and the animated movie Coraline.

• November 10, 1960: Born in Portchester, England

• 1988: Begins work on influential Sandman comic book series

• 1990: Co-authors Good Omens with Terry Pratchett

• 1996: Adapts miniseries Neverwhere into a novel

• February 1, 1999: Stardust

• June 19, 2001: American Gods

• 2002: Sues Todd McFarlane over original characters created for Spawn comics

• 2002: Coraline

• September, 2005: Anansi Boys

• 2006: Fragile Things

• MySpace: Official Stardust page

• Rotten Tomatoes: Neil Gaiman film reviews and previews

• Note: The majority of the links in this timeline are to IMDb, which has pop-ups.

• 1996: Neverwhere miniseries

• 2005: MirrorMask

• 2007: Stardust

• 2007: Beowulf

• 2008: Coraline