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75-777: HowTheLightGetsIn Festival is a philosophy and music festival, hosted by the Institute of Art and Ideas . It aims "to get philosophy out of the academy and into people's lives" by bringing together philosophers, writers, academics, comedians and musicians for a festival of debate, talks, music, workshops, and late night parties. Speakers at the festival have included Noam Chomsky , Brian Eno , Ed Miliband , Kimberlé Crenshaw , Philip Pullman , Diane Abbott , Robert Skidelsky , Stanley Fish , Steven Pinker and Laurie Penny , among others. Music headliners have included Clean Bandit , Hot Chip , and Donovan . Comedians have included James Acaster , Sarah Pascoe , and Phil Wang . HowTheLightGetsIn

150-688: A humanist . He was a Distinguished Supporter of Humanists UK (formerly known as the British Humanist Association) and an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society . Pratchett wrote that he read the Old Testament as a child and "was horrified", but liked the New Testament and thought that Jesus "had a lot of good things to say ... But I could never see the two testaments as one coherent narrative". He then read On

225-692: A knighthood for "services to literature" in the 2009 UK New Year Honours list. He was previously appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire , also for "services to literature", in 1998. He formally received the accolade at Buckingham Palace on 18 February 2009. Pratchett commented in the Ansible science fiction/fan newsletter, "I suspect the 'services to literature' consisted of refraining from trying to write any", but added, "Still, I cannot help feeling mightily chuffed about it." On 31 December 2008, it

300-428: A telegraph ) are programmed to repeat the name of its creator's deceased son; the sentiment in the novel is that no one is ever forgotten as long as their name is still spoken. A June 2015 web server survey reported that approximately 84,000 websites had been configured with the header. Pratchett's humanist funeral service was held on 25 March 2015. In 2015, Pratchett's estate announced an endowment in perpetuity to

375-719: A BBC television documentary, Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die , about assisted suicide. It won the Best Documentary award at the Scottish BAFTAs in November 2011. In September 2012, Pratchett told an interviewer: "I have to tell you that I thought I'd be a lot worse than this by now, and so did my specialist." In the same interview he said that the cognitive part of his mind was "untouched" and his symptoms were physical (normal for PCA). However, in July 2014 he cancelled his appearance at

450-449: A bank of six monitors to ease writing. When he travelled, he always took a portable computer, originally a 1992 Olivetti Quaderno , with him to write. In a 1995 interview with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates , Pratchett expressed concern about the potential spread of misinformation online. He felt that there was a "kind of parity of esteem of information" on the internet, and gave the example of Holocaust denial being presented on

525-525: A book about his experiences if he thought anyone would actually believe them". The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic , was published in hardback by Colin Smythe Ltd in 1983. Pratchett gave up working for the CEGB to make his living through writing in 1987, after finishing the fourth Discworld novel, Mort . His sales increased quickly and many of his books occupied top places on bestseller lists; he

600-566: A fallow year in 2017, the 2018 May festival took place from 25 to 28 May 2018. Speakers included political theorist Noam Chomsky , psychiatrist and former Government Drugs Adviser David Nutt , linguist John McWhorter , Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott , former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams , economist Deirdre McCloskey . The music line-up featured Scissor Sisters ' Ana Matronic , Hot Chip , The Correspondents , Nerina Pallot and Laura Wright . From 22 to 23 September 2018, HowTheLightGetsIn hosted its first ever London festival on

675-609: A few more books yet", and added that while he understood the impulse to ask "is there anything I can do?", in this case he would only entertain such offers from "very high-end experts in brain chemistry". Discussing his diagnosis at the Bath Literature Festival in early 2008, Pratchett revealed that by then he found it too difficult to write dedications when signing books. In his later years Pratchett wrote by dictating to his assistant, Rob Wilkins, or by using speech recognition software. In March 2008, Pratchett announced he

750-794: A number of game adaptations of his books. He favoured games that are "intelligent and have some depth", citing Half-Life 2 (2004) and fan missions for Thief as examples. The red army in Interesting Times prompted comparisons to the 1991 puzzle game Lemmings . When asked about this connection, Pratchett said: "Merely because the red army can fight, dig, march and climb and is controlled by little icons? Can't imagine how anyone thought that ... Not only did I wipe Lemmings from my hard disk, I overwrote it so I couldn't get it back." He described The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006) as his favourite video game, saying that he used many of its non-combat-oriented fan-made mods , and contributed to

825-1020: A part of the Nebula Award ceremony. In 2016 the SFWA named Pratchett the recipient of Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award , given for "significant impact on the science fiction or fantasy landscape". He received the NESFA Skylark Award in 2009 and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010. In 2011 he won Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association , a lifetime honour for "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". The librarians cited nine Discworld novels published from 1983 to 2004 and observed that "Pratchett's tales of Discworld have won over generations of teen readers with intelligence, heart, and undeniable wit. Comic adventures that fondly mock

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900-716: A regional newspaper under the pseudonym Patrick Kearns. After various positions in journalism, in 1979 Pratchett became press officer for the South West Region of the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) in an area that covered three nuclear power stations . He later joked that he had demonstrated "impeccable timing" by making this career change so soon after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania , US, and said he would "write

975-504: A serious and ultimately fatal illness to choose to die peacefully with medical help, rather than suffer". Pratchett was selected to give the 2010 BBC Richard Dimbleby Lecture , Shaking Hands With Death , broadcast on 1 February 2010. Pratchett introduced his lecture on the topic of assisted death (he preferred this to the term "assisted suicide"), but the main text was read by his friend Tony Robinson because his condition made it difficult for him to read. In June 2011, Pratchett presented

1050-453: A small publishing company, Colin Smythe Ltd. Pratchett mentioned that he had written a manuscript, The Carpet People . Colin Smythe Ltd published the book in 1971, with illustrations by Pratchett. It received strong, although few, reviews and was followed by the science fiction novels The Dark Side of the Sun (1976) and Strata (1981). In the 1970s and 1980s, Pratchett published stories in

1125-534: A style described as "more that of urban cowboy than city gent". Concern for the future of civilisation prompted him to install five kilowatts of photovoltaic cells (for solar energy ) at his house in 2007. Pratchett had an observatory built in his back garden and was a keen astronomer from childhood. He made a 2005 appearance on the BBC programme The Sky at Night . Pratchett started to use computers for writing as soon as they were available to him. His first computer

1200-511: A two-part documentary series about his illness, Terry Pratchett: Living With Alzheimer's . The first part was broadcast on BBC Two on 4 February 2009, drawing 2.6 million viewers and a 10.4% audience share. The second, broadcast on 11 February 2009, drew 1.72 million viewers and a 6.8% audience share. The documentary won a BAFTA award in the Factual Series category. On 26 November 2008, Pratchett met Gordon Brown , then Prime Minister of

1275-469: A writer, was born there in 1976. In 1993 the family moved to Broad Chalke , a village west of Salisbury , Wiltshire. Pratchett was the patron of the Friends of High Wycombe Library. In 2013 he gave a talk at Beaconsfield Library, which he had visited as a child, and donated the income from the event to it. He also visited his former school to speak to the students. Pratchett often wore large black hats, in

1350-581: A year. His 2011 Discworld novel Snuff became the third-fastest-selling hardback adult-readership novel since records began in the UK, selling 55,000 copies in the first three days. As of 2023, Pratchett's works have sold more than 100 million copies in 43 languages. Pratchett married Lyn Purves at the Congregational Church, Gerrards Cross , on 5 October 1968. They moved to Rowberrow , Somerset, in 1970. Their daughter Rhianna Pratchett , also

1425-477: A year. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown , was published in August 2015, five months after his death. With more than 100 million books sold worldwide in 43 languages, Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours . In 2001, he won

1500-747: Is an educational platform of online courses in philosophy, politics, art and science. Beginning in September 2016, the IAI has published its weekly podcast, Philosophy for our Times , featuring IAI debates and talks from the HowTheLightGetsIn festival. In 2021 the podcast was ranked as the Best UK Philosophy Podcast by FeedSpot, based on traffic, social media followers, domain authority and freshness. Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett OBE (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015)

1575-592: Is an online magazine of ideas. It publishes philosophical articles on science, politics, and the arts along with core philosophy themes such as metaphysics and language. The IAI website states that the aim of its content is to rescue "philosophy from technical debates about the meaning of words [by] returning them to big ideas and putting them at the centre of culture." Contributors have included Martha Nussbaum , Homi Bhabha , Massimo Pigliucci , Kimberlé Crenshaw , Catherine Hakim , Hew Strachan , Phillip Goff , Huw Davies, and many hundreds of others. IAI Academy

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1650-702: Is an online platform publishing articles, videos and courses. It includes three sources of content: IAI Player, IAI News and IAI Academy. IAI Player is an online channel where the debates and talks curated by the IAI and hosted at the HowTheLightGetsIn Festival are released and made available online. Speakers include Nobel Prize winners Paul Krugman , Gerard 't Hooft and Roger Penrose , public intellectuals Noam Chomsky , Kimberlé Crenshaw , Daniel Kahneman , Steven Pinker , and Simon Armitage , and political figures and journalists Owen Jones , Helen Lewis , Diane Abbott and Liz Truss . IAI News

1725-652: Is now hosted twice a year. In May, the festival is normally held in Hay-on-Wye , Powys , Wales at the same time as the Hay Festival , HowTheLightGetsIn attracts a footfall of over 30,000 each year to its setting by the banks of the River Wye . The September festival has been held at Kenwood House in London, and has been running since 2018. In May 2020, HowTheLightGetsIn launched its first fully online festival. In September 2020,

1800-513: The Daily Mail in which he denied that he had found God, and clarified that he believed the voice had come from a memory of his father and a sense of personal elation. In August 2007, Pratchett was misdiagnosed as having had a minor stroke a few years before, which doctors believed had damaged the right side of his brain. In December 2007, he announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease , which had been responsible for

1875-523: The Bookseller's Pocket Yearbook (2005), in 2003 Pratchett's UK sales amounted to 3.4% of the fiction market by hardback sales and 3.8% by value, putting him in second place behind J. K. Rowling (6% and 5.6%, respectively), while in the paperback sales list Pratchett came 5th with 1.2% and 1.3% by value (behind James Patterson (1.9% and 1.7%), Alexander McCall Smith , John Grisham and J. R. R. Tolkien ). He has UK sales of more than 2.5 million copies

1950-602: The University of South Australia . The Sir Terry Pratchett Memorial Scholarship supports a Masters scholarship at the university's Hawke Research Institute. In 2023, several stories published in a regional newspaper in the 1970s and 1980s under the pen name Patrick Kearns were discovered to have been authored by Pratchett. They were published as A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories in October 2023. Pratchett received

2025-498: The University of Warwick in 1999, the University of Portsmouth in 2001, the University of Bath in 2003, the University of Bristol in 2004, Buckinghamshire New University in 2008, the University of Dublin in 2008, Bradford University in 2009, University of Winchester in 2009, The Open University in 2013 for his contribution to Public Service and his last, from the University of South Australia , in May 2014. Pratchett

2100-463: The right to die public debate and his Humanist values. Pratchett's Discworld novels have led to dedicated conventions, the first in Manchester in 1996, then worldwide, often with the author as guest of honour. Publication of a new novel was sometimes accompanied by an international book signing tour; queues were known to stretch outside the bookshop as the author continued to sign books well after

2175-692: The "Top 200". Pratchett's highest-ranking novel was Mort , number 65, but he and Charles Dickens were the only authors with five in the Top 100 (four of his were from the Discworld series). He also led all authors with fifteen novels in the Top 200. An asteroid ( 127005 Pratchett ) is named after Pratchett. In 2013, Pratchett was named Humanist of the Year by the British Humanist Association for his campaign to fund research into Alzheimers, his contribution to

2250-432: The "stroke". He had a rare form of posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), a disease in which areas at the back of the brain begin to shrink and shrivel. Describing the diagnosis as an "embuggerance" in a radio interview, Pratchett appealed to people to "keep things cheerful" and proclaimed that "we are taking it fairly philosophically down here and possibly with a mild optimism". He stated he felt he had time for "at least

2325-501: The 2001 Carnegie Medal from the British librarians , which recognised The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents as the year's best children's book published in the UK. Night Watch won the 2003 Prometheus Award for best libertarian novel. Four of the five Discworld novels that centre on the trainee witch Tiffany Aching won the annual Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2016. In 2005, Going Postal

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2400-576: The Discworld Conventions have adopted Orangutan Foundation as their nominated charity, which has been acknowledged by the foundation. One of Pratchett's most popular fictional characters, the Librarian , is a wizard who was transformed into an orangutan in a magical accident and decides to remain in that condition as it is so convenient for his work. Pratchett, who was brought up in a Church of England family, described himself as an atheist and

2475-728: The Great , and Jeffrey Lewis and the Junkyard, as well as a twelve-hour painting marathon from artist Stella Vine to accompany a performance by alternative rock band The Chapman Family . London's Open Gallery, an institution dedicated to the medium of video painting , also staged a series works by filmmaker Roz Mortimer entitled, ‘Sites of Memory’. The 2013 festival took place from 23 May to 2 June 2013. It featured talks from Terry Pratchett , John Searle , Angie Hobbs , Nassim Nicholas Taleb , and Michael McIntyre among others. The music line-up included Sam Lee , King Charles , and Moulettes , while

2550-659: The High Wycombe Technical School's magazine in 1962. It is the tale of a man named Crucible who finds the Devil in his flat in a cloud of sulphurous smoke. "The Hades Business" was published in the school magazine when he was 13, and published commercially when he was 15. Pratchett earned five O-levels and started A-level courses in Art, English and History. His initial career choice was journalism and he left school at 17, in 1965, to start an apprenticeship with Arthur Church,

2625-522: The Origin of Species , which "all made perfect sense ... Evolution was far more thrilling to me than the biblical account." He said that he had never disliked religion and thought it had a purpose in human evolution . In an interview Pratchett cites a quotation from the protagonist in his novel Nation , "It is better to build a seismograph than to worship the volcano", a statement Pratchett said he agreed with. Pratchett told The Times in 2008: "I believe in

2700-493: The UK, and asked for an increase in dementia research funding. Pratchett tested a prototype device to address his condition. The ability of the device to alter the course of the illness has been met with skepticism from Alzheimer's researchers. In an article published in 2009 Pratchett stated that he wished to die by assisted suicide (a term he disliked) before his disease progressed to a critical point. He later said that he felt "it should be possible for someone stricken with

2775-493: The Womp , while comedians included Tony Law , Olga Koch , and Sophie Duker . The 2020 May festival was HowTheLightGetsIn's first fully online festival. Speakers include Paul Krugman , Daniel Kahneman , Patricia Churchland , Steven Pinker , Jess Phillips , Will Self , Sally Phillips , Shami Chakrabarti , and many more. The Online Festival had over 200 events, on 7 stages, over 4 days. It contained multiple live events streamed at

2850-542: The annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents , the first Discworld book marketed for children. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010. In December 2007 Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease . He later made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust (now Alzheimer's Research UK , ARUK), filmed three television programmes chronicling his experiences with

2925-445: The biennial International Discworld Convention , citing his condition and "other age-related ailments". Pratchett died at his home from complications of Alzheimer's disease on the morning of 12 March 2015. He was 66 years old. The Telegraph reported an unidentified source as saying that, despite his previous discussion of assisted suicide, his death had been natural. After Pratchett's death, his assistant, Rob Wilkins, wrote from

3000-711: The comedy line-up featured acts from Tom Rosenthal and Phil Wang . HowTheLightGetsIn 2014 attracted a footfall of over 35,000 across 450 events. Speakers and performers included Roger Penrose , Brooke Magnanti , Bruce Parry , Doon Mackichan , Cory Doctorow , Owen Jones , David Nutt , Molotov Jukebox , Moulettes , Natalie Bennett and Mr Scruff . The festival for 2015 took place from 21 to 31 May 2015 and included performances and talks from Simon Blackburn , Mike Skinner , George Galloway , Natalie Bennett , Lawrence Krauss , Michael Howard , Lianne La Havas , Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Rae Morris among others. As part of

3075-693: The comedy line-up was led by Lou Sanders and Phil Wang . HowTheLightGetsIn returned to the grounds of Kenwood House on the weekend of 21–22 September 2019. Topics of discussion included fake news, the problematic sex appeal of the archetypal "bad boy", space exploration in the 21st century, gene editing, population control, and big data. Speakers included Slavoj Zizek , politicians Natalie Bennett and Rory Stewart , theorist of surveillance capitalism Shoshana Zuboff , clinical psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen , and economist and policy advisor Mariana Mazzucato . The music line-up included singer-songwriter Nerina Pallot , DJ Don Letts , and electroswing duo Sam and

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3150-420: The comedy programme. HowTheLightGetsIn returned to Hay for its tenth anniversary year from 24 to 27 May. Speakers included philosopher of language Saul Kripke , Change UK MP Anna Soubry , cognitive psychologist Donald D. Hoffman , novelist Janne Teller , economist and writer Linda Yueh , and Momentum founder Jon Lansman . Donovan , Anna Calvi , and British Sea Power headlined the music programme, while

3225-557: The condition for the BBC , and became a patron of ARUK. Pratchett died on 12 March 2015, at the age of 66. Pratchett was born on 28 April 1948 in Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire , England, the only child of David (1921–2006), a mechanic, and Eileen Pratchett (1922–2010), a secretary, of Hay-on-Wye . His maternal grandparents came from Ireland. Pratchett attended Holtspur School, where he

3300-451: The development of at least one popular fan-made mod. Pratchett had a fascination with natural history that he referred to many times, and he owned a greenhouse full of carnivorous plants . He described them in the biographical notes on the dust jackets of some of his books, and elsewhere, as "not as interesting as people think". By Carpe Jugulum the account had become that "he used to grow carnivorous plants, but now they've taken over

3375-772: The editor of the Bucks Free Press . In this position he wrote, among other things, more than 80 stories for the Children's Circle section under the name Uncle Jim. Two of the stories contain characters found in his novel The Carpet People (1971). While on day release from his apprenticeship, Pratchett finished his A-Level in English and took the National Council for the Training of Journalists proficiency course. In 1968 Pratchett interviewed Peter Bander van Duren , co-director of

3450-458: The fantasy genre, the Discworld novels expose the hypocrisies of contemporary society in an intricate, ever-expanding universe. With satisfyingly multilayered plots, Pratchett's humor honors the intelligence of the reader. Teens eagerly lose themselves in a universe with no maps." In 2003, BBC conducted The Big Read to identify the "Nation's Best-loved Novel" and finally published a ranked list of

3525-624: The festival global reach and making it accessible from all time zones. The events streamed on seven stages, with a line up of speakers, bands and comedy acts. In addition there were social spaces to meet other festival goers, chat to speakers and artists and enjoy live-streamed music. Speakers attending included Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz , director of the Tate Modern , Frances Morris , ecofeminist Vandana Shiva , cognitive scientist and philosopher Daniel Dennett , and theoretical physicist Claudia de Rham . The theme for

3600-547: The festival held its next event: HowTheLightGetsIn Global 2020: Delhi, London, New York. This online festival included 200 events on eight stages, live streamed from Delhi, London and New York, with the aim of giving the festival global reach and making it accessible from all time zones. The 2010 festival had author of Politics of Fear Frank Furedi , filmmaker David Bond , author Philip Pullman and Labour politician Jon Cruddas , amongst others. The Wellcome Trust Identity Project presented an exhibition and two days of events on

3675-598: The festival was belief, hypocrisy and reason. HowTheLightGetsIn Hay 2023 ran from 26 to 29 May 2023 in Hay on Wye. Institute of Art and Ideas The IAI is a not-for-profit organisation with the stated aim of "rescuing philosophy from technical debates about the meaning of words and returning it to big ideas and putting them at the centre of culture." As such, the Institute runs a website, IAI.tv, which provides articles, courses and podcasts by various scholars and intellectuals on

3750-673: The festival, the New College of the Humanities presented the IAI School. Aimed at 16- to 18-year-olds, the IAI School explored topics such as Free Will and Politics, Sex Ethics and Morality. The 2016 festival took place from 26 May to 5 June. Speakers were to include Natalie Bennett , Owen Jones , Ken Livingstone , Bernard Carr , Kwasi Kwarteng and Roger Scruton . The music lineup featured Ghostpoet , Fairport Convention , Gilles Peterson , C Duncan , Eska , and Tom Robinson . After taking

3825-528: The greenhouse and he avoids going in". In 1995, a fossil of a sea-turtle from the Eocene epoch of New Zealand was named Psephophorus terrypratchetti in his honour by the palaeontologist Richard Köhler. In 2016, Pratchett fans unsuccessfully petitioned the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) to name chemical element 117, temporarily called ununseptium , as octarine with

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3900-491: The grounds of Kenwood House in Hampstead Heath. Speakers included neuroscientist Steven Pinker , philosopher and author Rebecca Goldstein , Banksy's former agent Steve Lazarides , novelist Deborah Levy , Turner Prize architect Paloma Strelitz , and long-time Hawking collaborator Roger Penrose . The music line-up included pop duo Bloom Twins and singer-songwriter Rae Morris , while Ahir Shah and Olga Koch headlined

3975-533: The intended finishing time. His fans were not restricted by age or gender, and he received a large amount of fan mail from them. Pratchett enjoyed meeting fans and hearing what they think about his books, saying that since he was well paid for his novels, his fans were "everything" to him. In March 2017, Beaconsfield Town Council commissioned a commemorative plaque dedicated to Pratchett for Beaconsfield Library. Pratchett said that to write, you must read extensively, both inside and outside your chosen genre and to

4050-484: The necessary mathematical skills. He developed an interest in science fiction and attended science fiction conventions from about 1963–1964, but stopped a few years later when he got his first job as a trainee journalist at the local paper. His early reading included the works of H. G. Wells , Arthur Conan Doyle , and "every book you really ought to read", which he later regarded as "getting an education". Pratchett published his first short story, "Business Rivals", in

4125-520: The official Terry Pratchett Twitter account: A T LAST, S IR T ERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER. Terry took Death's arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night. The End. Public figures who paid tribute included the British prime minister David Cameron , the comedian Ricky Gervais , and the authors Ursula K. Le Guin , Terry Brooks , Margaret Atwood , George R. R. Martin , and Neil Gaiman . Pratchett

4200-437: The point of "overflow". He advised that writing is hard work, and that writers must "make grammar, punctuation and spelling a part of your life". However, Pratchett enjoyed writing, regarding its monetary rewards as "an unavoidable consequence" rather than the reason for writing. Although during his early career he wrote for the science fiction and horror genres, Pratchett later focused almost entirely on fantasy, and said: "It

4275-504: The proposed symbol Oc (pronounced "ook"). The final name chosen for element 117 was tennessine with the symbol Ts. Pratchett was a trustee for the Orangutan Foundation but was pessimistic about the future of orangutans . His activities included visiting Borneo with a Channel 4 film crew to make an episode of Jungle Quest in 1995, seeing orangutans in their natural habitat. Following Pratchett's lead, fan events such as

4350-540: The same God that Einstein did ... And it is just possible that once you have got past all the gods that we have created with big beards and many human traits, just beyond all that on the other side of physics, there just may be the ordered structure from which everything flows." In an interview on Front Row he described an experience of hearing his dead father's voice and feeling a sense of peace. Commentators took these statements to mean that Pratchett had become religious, but Pratchett responded in an article published in

4425-404: The same terms as peer-reviewed research, with no easy way to gauge reliability. Gates disagreed, saying that online authorities would index and check facts and sources in a much more sophisticated way than in print. The interview was rediscovered in 2019, and seen by Pratchett's biographer as prescient of fake news . Pratchett was an avid video game player, and collaborated in the creation of

4500-410: The same time, with audiences questions and real time comments. The festival also featured social spaces where festival-goers could meet each other as well as speakers and musicians. Over the weekend 19–20 September, the festival hosted its next event: HowTheLightGetsIn Global 2020: Delhi, London, New York. This online festival included 200 events live streamed from Delhi, London and New York, giving

4575-537: The screening of documentaries from around the world with BBC Four . The 2012 festival was held in Hay-on-Wye and ran between 31 May and 10 June 2012. The festival staged almost five hundred sessions across the site's five venues. Amongst the speakers on the festival's programme were musician Brian Eno , founder of Glastonbury festival Michael Eavis , literary theorist and critic Terry Eagleton and independent scientist and inventor James Lovelock . Musical highlights included performances from Charlotte Church , Emmy

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4650-664: The soul", philosophy and the exchange of ideas are at the heart of the event. The festival formulates its theme and programme around debates with headline speakers and live talks, in addition to live bands and soloists, comedy, cabaret and DJs. Speakers have included Noam Chomsky , Steven Pinker , Liz Truss , Roger Penrose , A.S. Byatt , Paul Krugman , Jess Phillips , Rory Stewart , Daniel Dennett , Peter Singer , Kimberlé Crenshaw , Bianca Jagger , and Slavoj Žižek , along with musicians Brian Eno , Clean Bandit , Laura Marling , and comedians James Acaster and Robin Ince . IAI.tv

4725-703: The topic of Identity. The School of Life hosted a series of philosophy breakfasts with leading thinkers over the 10-day festival. Radio 1's Huw Stephens and John Rostron, the duo behind the Sŵn Festival, curated a night of music, which was accompanied by live performances from Johnny Flynn , Cate le Bon and Radio 1's Bethan Elfyn . The 2011 festival included critical theorist Leela Gandhi , Times columnist David Aaronovitch , poet Simon Armitage , New Statesman culture editor Jonathan Derbyshire and screenwriter Jez Butterworth . Festival events ranged from Ghostpoet , Mount Kimbie and The Correspondents , to comedy and

4800-463: The topics of philosophy, science, politics and the arts. The IAI is also responsible for organising the bi-annual festival HowTheLightGetsIn , the biggest philosophy and music festival in the world aimed at "tackling the dearth of philosophy in daily life", in addition to monthly IAI Live events. The IAI was founded by philosopher Hilary Lawson with a mission to explore "the cracks in our thinking, in order to change how we think and how we change

4875-439: The world". The IAI's first festival, Crunch, focussed on the visual arts and was held in November 2008 in the wake of the financial crash. In May 2009, the IAI held its first philosophy festival HowTheLightGetsIn in the book town of Hay-on-wye . The IAI's festival HowTheLightGetsIn is held in Hay-on-Wye in May and in London at Kenwood House , Hampstead Heath , in September. Described by Yahoo UK as "a playground for

4950-524: Was a ZX81 ; the first computer he used properly for writing was an Amstrad CPC 464 , later replaced by an IBM PC compatible . Pratchett was one of the first authors to routinely use the Internet to communicate with fans, and was a contributor to the Usenet newsgroup alt.fan.pratchett from 1992. However, he did not consider the Internet a hobby, just another "thing to use". He had many computers in his house, with

5025-472: Was a key member of the debating society and wrote stories for the school magazine. Pratchett described himself as a "non-descript" student and, in his Who's Who entry, credited his education to the Beaconsfield Public Library. Pratchett's early interests included astronomy . He collected Brooke Bond tea cards about space, owned a telescope and wanted to be an astronomer, but lacked

5100-456: Was an English author , humorist , and satirist , best known for the Discworld series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the apocalyptic comedy novel Good Omens (1990), which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman . 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

5175-507: Was announced that Pratchett would be knighted (as a Knight Bachelor ) in the Queen's 2009 New Year Honours. Afterwards he said, "You can't ask a fantasy writer not to want a knighthood. You know, for two pins I'd get myself a horse and a sword." In 2010, Pratchett created his own sword from deposits of iron he had found in a field near his home as he believed a knight should have a sword. Ten honorary doctorates were conferred on Pratchett: from

5250-405: Was bullied for his speech impediments . He was bothered by the head teacher, who, he said, thought "he could tell how successful you were going to be in later life by how well you could read or write at the age of six". Pratchett's family moved to Bridgwater , Somerset, briefly in 1957. He passed his eleven plus exam in 1958, earning a place at High Wycombe Technical High School , where he

5325-462: Was donating $ 1 million (about £494,000) to the Alzheimer's Research Trust (later called Alzheimer's Research UK), and that he was shocked "to find out that funding for Alzheimer's research is just 3% of that to find cancer cures". He said: "I am, along with many others, scrabbling to stay ahead long enough to be there when the cure comes along." In April 2008, Pratchett worked with the BBC to make

5400-625: Was made an adjunct Professor in the School of English at Trinity College Dublin in 2010, with a role in postgraduate education in creative writing and popular literature. Pratchett won the British Book Awards ' "Fantasy and Science Fiction Author of the Year" category in 1994, the British Science Fiction Award in 1989 for his novel Pyramids , and a Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 2008 for Making Money . He won

5475-569: Was memorialised in graffiti in East London. The video game companies Frontier Developments and Valve added elements to their games named after him. Users of the social news site Reddit organised a tribute by which an HTTP header , " X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett ", was added to web sites' responses, a reference to the Discworld novel Going Postal , in which "the clacks" (a semaphore system, used as Discworld 's equivalent to

5550-556: Was shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Novel ; however, Pratchett recused himself, stating that stress over the award would mar his enjoyment of Worldcon . In the same year, A Hat Full of Sky won a Mythopoeic Award . In 2008, Making Money was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel . I Shall Wear Midnight won the 2010 Andre Norton Award , presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) as

5625-554: Was the UK's bestselling author of the 1990s. According to The Times , Pratchett was the top-selling and highest earning UK author in 1996. Some of his books have been published by Doubleday , another Transworld imprint. In the United States, where his books are published by HarperCollins , Pratchett had poorer sales, marketing and distribution until 2005, when Thud! reached the New York Times bestseller list. According to

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