Philip Pullman: A winner - if he gets his evil way

When the long list for the Booker Prize was published this week, the absences were as striking as the literary lions who were present. No Salman Rushdie. No Jonathan Coe. And this time, among the Nick Hornbys and Beryl Bainbridges, was an author whose presence marked a milestone: for the first time a children's author was listed, being taken as seriously as any other novelist.

Biography 1946 Born in Norwich 1957 Moved back to Britain from Australia, where his family had emigrated 1973 BA in English Language and Literature, Exeter College, Oxford 1973-86 Teacher in Oxford 1978 First children's story, 'Galatea', published 1995 'Northern Lights', first volume of the trilogy, 'His Dark Materials', published 1996 Received Smarties Gold Award for 'The Firework Maker's Daughter' 1997 'The Subtle Knife', second volume of trilogy, published 2000 'The Amber Spyglass', third volume of trilogy, is published 2001 'The Amber Spyglass' placed on the Booker longlist for fiction

When the long list for the Booker Prize was published this week, the absences were as striking as the literary lions who were present. No Salman Rushdie. No Jonathan Coe. And this time, among the Nick Hornbys and Beryl Bainbridges, was an author whose presence marked a milestone: for the first time a children's author was listed, being taken as seriously as any other novelist.

Philip Pullman was not particularly fazed to find himself on the list, and to adult aficionados of his work, it would have seemed long overdue.

His novel, The Amber Spyglass, is unusual. It's a magnificent piece of storytelling that, unlike self-consciously difficult literary novels, is sinfully sweet to devour. Despite its bulk, it isn't a stand-alone book, but the culmination of a trilogy. Most pertinently, it's a novel for children, albeit one that can be enjoyed with equal intensity by adults, who are more likely to pick up on its allusions.

Pullman received a fan letter recently from a 75-year-old woman, and the youngest reader who has contacted him was six: "I'm not sure how much he understood, but he was a very precocious and articulate little boy who said that he had read all three books and wanted another one very soon." Pullman gives a tired laugh. The trilogy, His Dark Materials, is 1,300 pages long. Northern Lights appeared in 1995, The Subtle Knife in 1997. Like many people who had discovered this epic fantasy, I was desperate to find out what happened to Lyra and Will, battling evil through parallel worlds in company with daemons, Lapland witches, armour-clad bears, sulky angels and dashing aeronauts.

His Dark Materials, based on Genesis and Paradise Lost, attracted criticism for its topsy-turvy take on Christian theology: the church is repressive, inquisitorial and cruel, while the Satan-figure, Lord Asriel, leader of the rebellion against God, is noble and freedom-loving.

"There have been a few ill-informed criticisms, ill-thought-out and hasty reactions to what the book seems to be saying. There's a critic who chided me with confusing good and evil, which is utter nonsense. It's just absurd. It's perfectly clear what the book thinks is good, and what the book thinks is bad. What it holds up for celebration are qualities like courage, compassion, goodwill, tolerance, kindness and so on, and what it criticises are qualities like cold-heartedness, cruelty and fanaticism."

Pullman is often mentioned in the same breath as J K Rowling: both create richly detailed magical universes, and both appeal to all ages. When asked whether Rowling caused a change in the way we view children's books, he sounds slightly hurt: "I like to think I played a part too, because my first book in the trilogy was published in 1995, before the first Harry Potter book, and I was getting picked up by adults right from the start."

Rowling's hissable villains tend to be signposted by evil names and nasty attributes: they are malevolent through and through.

With Pullman, you get the impression that his evil characters have chosen to be that way: "Free will is much more interesting. I like it when characters are surprised into good deeds. When a character whom you've come to think of as pretty warped and horrid suddenly does something that takes them by surprise by being rather good."

Pullman, born in Norfolk in 1946, attributes his flair for writing for children from 13 years spent as a teacher in middle schools in Oxford, where he still lives. "I started writing plays to put on at the school I was teaching in. My intention was to write stuff that kids and adults would find funny or exciting at the same time, and I found I could do that."

Instead of the usual arid literary debates, putting the The Amber Spyglass on the Booker shortlist might prompt discussions about "Why we're here, where do we come from, what happens when we die," as Pullman summarises his themes. "And children respond to those questions with great passion, just as adults do."