I recently had a teen patron ask me to help him find a book by a living British author. Of course, my first thought was Neil Gaiman. But as I thought about it further.... he's living in the US now. Has he ever gotten US citizanship?

While I still consider him a British author, I'm wondering if high school teachers would see it more as a matter of where his residence currently is.


Any opinions/insight from anyone?

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ARTHUR: By what name are you known?
AMY: There are some who call me... 'Amy'?
ARTHUR: Greetings, Amy of Doom.
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I believe he is still a Brit living in the US - I can't look now, but do a search of the journal archives for ...green card?

*smacks forehead*

Sorry GMZoe. Forgot about the search feature....

quote:

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The immigrant experience is, I suspect, a universal one (even if you're the kind of immigrant, like me, who holds on tightly, almost superstitiously, to his UK citizenship).

---

NG talking about writing American Gods
http://www.neilgaiman.com/exclusive/essay01.asp

quote:

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So, today I renewed my Green Card, which involved lots of Kafkaesque standing in corridors in order to get a number to allow me to enter a hall and wait some more. Eventually, after lots of waiting, they fingerprinted me, made me sign a bit of paper, took the form and the (terrible) photos of me, scribbled in my passport, and sent me on my way with a cheery "So, when are you applying for citizenship?"

(And the fact I had to renew my green card means I've been here ten years, which is, now I come to think of it, ten years, but I really still have
no desire to be a US citizen. I think of myself as English, even if my accent's a bit dodgy these days. Giving that up would be giving up something that makes me who I am.)

---

his blog journal, July 2002
http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal_archives/2002_07_01_archive.asp



If he considers himself British, I guess that's the most definitive answer I can get. From the source and all...


Thanks again,
*smacks forehead once more for good measure*
Amy

*****************************
ARTHUR: By what name are you known?
AMY: There are some who call me... 'Amy'?
ARTHUR: Greetings, Amy of Doom.
*****************************

For The Record
Back in High School, one year we had to research (too strong a word) an American Author, the next year (with a different teacher), a British one. Yes, you guessed the punchline, I did Neil for both. No teachers had heard of him back then, I don't know how many have now

The nationality question just came up on ALA's young adult listserv and I was able to whip over here, pick out the quote, and reply all in a matter of seconds.


*chortles*


I love it when I actually use this Board to help me out with my work.

Well... he was born in Ingland so tecnicly he's british.

TS Eliot was born in America, but he considered himself British. Things are not as clear-cut as we'd like them to be.

and from his journal entry today (10/26/04)

quote:

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Hi Neil! A friend of mine and I are presently having an argument we'd like for you to settle: After having lived so many years in the United States, do you consider yourself to be American, British, or both? I'm arguing for British, my friend insists you've been assimilated. We're both ardent American fans of yours who enjoy obsessing over minute and insignificant details. Please satisfy our curiosity and let us know just who you think you are now. =) Thank you!Fryda Wolff San Diego, CA (aka Comicon Funland)

I'm English. (If I was American, I'd be telling everyone who to vote for -- or at least, who to vote against.) At least, in my head I'm English. Although some English people hear my accent as American.

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Uhm, Sir Nick, they we just saying the opposite.

I'm kind of in the same case as him, with a green card in the US, but I think that I'll be getting my citizenship as soon as possible. I was told ( as reliable as that is) that I don't have to renounce my original citizenship anymore. I would assume it's the same thing for the UK now.

Why would taking US citizenship be a mistake?

Not everyone wants to be an American, I was born an American, but I have always wanted to live in either England or Canada. No true reason as to why, it just seems as if the place, the country on a hole, is quieter, more subtle. Perhaps in Neil's mind and heart, he is always living in Britain, where the land has a sense of continuity to it. This is not to say America doesn't, but America, quite honestly, is covered by the filth of stereotypes, the filth of things to worn out. To understand what I mean exactly, you might wanna see the documentary called: Bowling for Columbine, which goes into great detail about how American media over generalizes a great many things and stereotypes quite a bit more. I personally feel that Neil can be considered both an American and a British writer. However, why stereotype with the countries? He is a great writer, whether British, American or both.
Just a word,
J.M. Gutknecht

quote:

Originally posted by Sir Nick Stefanovic:
Neil Gaiman is a great writer but its' a damn shame that he's taken U.S. citizenship...

Not sure what your source is, but as far as we're aware, he hasn't gotten his US citizenship, nor does he plan to.

My whole point is, aita, who gives a damn what he is? British, American, whatever, he is still a GREAT author. It matters not where he comes from. But people always have to add a label to something, society has taught us to label things, and in a lot of cases, stereotype them.

High School English teachers care. If they ask for a paper on a British author, students want to make sure they pick a British author, lest they fail their paper.

Library of Congress cares. They need to know how to classify him.

Indeed a good point, but I don't see why it should be classified. Don't quite honestly see how what nationality an author has should have anything to do with how his work is interpreted. Of course, it just clearly makes no sense to me. Though I can see that the library of congress would indeed want to know where to put him for organizational purposes. However, I consider Neil both an American author and a British author. He's been the states for so long and been involved with things even longer in America. But I choose not to label, and if I had to, I would say both. Some people have different opinions and I respect that. I still would like the nationality to come off and it become 'Great Author', but meh, people do what they will do.

aitapata, that's a pretty creative name. You could be the next Neil Gaiman!!!



"I'm going to become-Brundlefly"

Read Neil's stuff. It's pretty obvious he's a Brit. Not many American authors take the time to write stories set in London. While American Gods is set in the US, it relies on fictional towns, and Gaiman admits to more than one mistake when it comes to the Yoopers and the dialects and customs of people from the northern midwest.

I'm not sure how Gaiman even qualifies as an American writer. Besides currently residing in America, that is.

If you're going to flame-bait, do so in Flame Wars. It's not acceptable behavior in any other forum.

This is a warning.

quote:

Originally posted by Sir Nick Stefanovic:
You people want to get into that bloody stink-bag country . . .

So why are you posting from Florida if it's such a stinkbag? Really, dude, your insults here are general and vapid enough that I'm not going to call them a second offense, but you're really toeing a line here.

quote:

So why are you posting from Florida if it's such a stinkbag? Really, dude, your insults here are general and vapid enough that I'm not going to call them a second offense, but you're really toeing a line here.

You're feeding into his flame war by responding like this.