Sir Terry Pratchett sold his first story when he was thirteen, which earned him enough money to buy a second hand typewriter His first novel, a humorous fantasy entitled The Carpet People, appeared in 1971 from the publisher Colin Smythe Terry worked for many years as a journalist and press officer, writing in his spare time and publishing a number of novels, including his first Discworld novel, The Color of Magic, in 1983 In 1987, he turned to writing full time There are over 40 books in the Discworld series, of which four are written for children The first of these, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, won the Carnegie Medal A non Discworld book, Good Omens, his 1990 collaboration with Neil Gaiman, has been a longtime bestseller and was reissued in hardcover by William Morrow in early 2006 it is also available as a mass market paperback Harper Torch, 2006 and trade paperback Harper Paperbacks, 2006 In 2008, Harper Children s published Terry s standalone non Discworld YA novel, Nation Terry published Snuff in October 2011 Regarded as one of the most significant contemporary English language satirists, Pratchett has won numerous literary awards, was named an Officer of the British Empire for services to literature in 1998, and has received honorary doctorates from 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, the University of Winchester in 2009, and The Open University in 2013 for his contribution to Public Service.In Dec of 2007, Pratchett disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer s disease On 18 Feb, 2009, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.He was awarded the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award in 2010.Sir Terry Pratchett passed away on 12th March 2015.