Born on 28 February 1966 inBrighton, Reeve studied illustration, first at Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology (CCAT – nowAnglia Ruskin University), where he contributed a comic strip to the Student Union magazine, and later at Brighton Polytechnic (now theUniversity of Brighton). Before becoming an illustrator he worked at abookshop in Brighton for several years. During his student years and for a few years afterwards he wrote for and performed in comedy sketch shows with a variety of collaborators under various group names, among them The Charles Atlas Sisters. He lives onDartmoor with his wife Sarah and their son Sam.
"Stop! Think before you eat that biscuit! Is it in any way fancy? If so, then you are a criminal! In Post-War London, The Ministry of Biscuits casts its sinister shadow over every tea-time and elevenses in the land. Established to 'control biscuits, and to control the idea of biscuits', it prohibits decadent sweetmeats, such as the Gypsy Cream."[1]
This was performed at the Pavilion Theatre, Brighton, the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford,[1] and the 1999 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It underwent a revival in 2005 at theSallis Benney Theatre, Brighton,[1] and began playing at Brighton's Lantern Theatre in November 2017.[2][3] It has also toured to various other locations throughout the United Kingdom.[4]
Reeve provided cartoons for books, including those in theHorrible Histories andMurderous Maths series. He wrote theBuster Bayliss series of books for young readers, which includesNight of the Living Veg,The Big Freeze,Day of the Hamster, andCustardfinger. He is the author and illustrator of a Dead Famous non-fiction book:Horatio Nelson and His Victory.
Reeve spent more than ten years onMortal Engines, coming up with ideas in 1989 or 1990, leading to publication in 2001. He was working on it part-time between illustration jobs, but as he became sure he could complete such a project, he cut down his illustration work and devoted more time to writing.[9]
TheLarklight trilogy (2006–2008)[5] issteampunk set in outer space. The first bookLarklight was being developed as a film by the Indian directorShekhar Kapur, but he is no longer involved. Reeve professes that when planning out a novel, "I see it as a film that I run in my head, and I just keep running alternative versions of it until I come up with a cut I like.[11] The future of the film is now in the hands of the Swedish directorTomas Alfredson.[12]
Reeve began a series ofMortal Engines prequels withFever Crumb (Scholastic UK, 2009).[5] The first was one of eight finalists for the 2010 Carnegie Medal.[13] In March 2020 Reeve said he did not intend to finish or publish a fourth book in theFever Crumb series, as too much time had passed, thereby forgoing the world ofMortal Engines.[14]
In 2013, Reeve had his first co-authored, highly illustrated book with British-American writer-illustratorSarah McIntyre published by Oxford University Press:Oliver and the Seawigs. This went on to win the UKLA Award.[15] Their third book,Pugs of the Frozen North, won an Independent Bookshop Week children's book award.[16] The pair have a contract with the same publisher for a series of four more books, beginning withThe Legend of Kevin.[17]
In 2018, Reeve praised the2018Mortal Engines film adaptation, saying the director,Christian Rivers, had "done a fantastic job – a huge, visually awesome action movie with perfect pace and a genuine emotional core.... There are many changes to the characters, world, and story, but it's still fundamentally the same thing."[18] In theReevening in March 2020, he acknowledged the film's shortcomings, but thoughts of the filmmakers liking the books led him to welcome the US-New Zealand two-hour film co-production as the best "you could hope for [in your lifetime]". On November 18, 2020, upon asked whetherMortal Engines would be rebooted for the television screens, he responded that, while that would be nice, it seemed unlikely.[19][20]
Reeve claims not to be a methodical writer. He plans nothing at all, usually starting with an opening image, a closing image, and a few vague notions for the things that happen in between. This leads to thousands of words of rough draft material being abandoned – even entire novels, such as withFever Crumb andMortal Engines. However, he takes ideas from these abandoned drafts to build the final version. It usually takes him a year to move a novel from first idea to publication – six months actively writing it, the rest editing and thinking.[9][21]
^Press DeskArchived 2 October 2018 at theWayback Machine (directory). CILIP. Retrieved 8 August 2012. Quote: "media releases relating to the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children's Book Awards in date order." (2002 to 2006 releases concern 2001 to 2005 awards.)
^Reeve, Philip (18 November 2020)."Philip Reeve on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved17 January 2020.I have no idea! It would be nice, but it seems unlikely.
Keazor, Henry (2010). "'Mortal Engines' und 'Infernal Devices': Architektur- und Technologie-Nostalgie bei Philip Reeve". In Böhn, Andreas; Möser, Kurt (eds.).Techniknostalgie und Retrotechnologie. pp. 129–147. Archived fromthe original on 19 July 2011.
