Terry Pratchett (1948 – 2015)

As of his death in 2015, he had more than 85 million of his books sold worldwide in 37 languages.

Terry Pratchett was born in 1948 to David and Eileen Pratchett, of Hay-on-Wye. He credits his education to High Wycombe Technical High School and Beaconsfield Public Library.

His first published work was the short story "The Hades Business", which appeared in his school magazine when he was 13 and was subsequently reprinted in Science Fantasy magazine in 1963, for which he was paid £14. His second published work was "Night Dweller", which appeared in New Worlds magazine, issue 156 in November 1965.

Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown, was published posthumously in August 2015.

Sir Terry co-wrote Good Omens with Neil Gaiman, which was a best-selling novel and was made into an acclaimed series in 2019.