Philip Kerr

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This article is about the British novelist. For the British politician and diplomat, see Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian.

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Philip Ballantyne Kerr (born 1956 in Edinburgh) is a British author. Kerr has published eleven novels under his full name and a children's series, Children of the Lamp, under the name P.B. Kerr. He is married to novelist Jane Thynne, and has three children.

He was trained at Birmingham as a lawyer. But, realising law wasn’t for him, he set out a career in advertising before finally becoming a journalist and novelist. Children of the Lamp was Kerr's first book for children.

Despite always wanting to write for children, Philip regarded the process as much more challenging than writing for adults. He was finally spurred in to writing Children of the Lamp, when his eldest son, William, shunned reading for video games and the television. In order to wean William off Playstation 2, Philip decided to write a book specifically for his children.

Hence when he first started working on Children of the Lamp, he thought he was only writing for an audience of three. By the time he had finished the book, it was still his intention to have it privately printed and commissioned an illustrator to brighten up the pages for his children.

In passing, he mentioned the book to his agent in Los Angeles who also had a son the same age as William. Before he knew it, DreamWorks had bought the film rights and Scholastic were not only publishing Children of the Lamp but had commissioned two more.

In his spare time, Philip enjoys reading Graham Swift, listening to Led Zeppelin, eating violet creams and watching Arsenal.

1 Bibliography
- 1.1 Novels
- 1.2 Children's Fiction
2 External links

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Novels

Berlin Noir trilogy
- March Violets. London: Viking, 1989. ISBN 0-670-82431-3
- The Pale Criminal. London: Viking, 1990. ISBN 0-670-82433-X
- A German Requiem. London: Viking, 1991. ISBN 0-670-83516-1
A Philosophical Investigation. London: Chatto & Windus, 1992. ISBN 0-7011-4553-6
Dead Meat. London: Chatto & Windus, 1993. ISBN 0-7011-4703-2
Gridiron (vt US The Grid ). London: Chatto & Windus, 1995. ISBN 0-7011-6248-1
Esau. London: Chatto & Windus, 1996. ISBN 0-7011-6281-3
A Five Year Plan. London: Hutchinson, 1997. ISBN 0-09-180165-6
The Second Angel. London: Orion, 1998. ISBN 0-7528-1443-5
The Shot. London: Orion, 1999. ISBN 0-7528-1444-3
Dark Matter: The Private Life of Sir Isaac Newton. New York: Crown, 2002. ISBN 0-609-60981-5
Hitler's Peace. New York: Marian Wood, 2005. ISBN 0-399-15269-5
The One From the Other. New York: Marian Wood, 2006. ISBN 0-399-15299-7