- Poet, novelist, painter, playwright and illustrator, best known for: 'Rhymes Without Reason', 1944; 'Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor', 1945; 'The Craft of the Lead Pencil', 1946; 'Titus Groan' (novel), 1946; 'Letters from a Lost Uncle', 1948; 'The Glassblowers' (poem) and 'Gormenghast' (novel) were awarded W.H.Heinemann Foundation Prize (Royal Society of Literature) 1950; 'Mr Pye', 1953; 'The Wit to Woo' (play), 1957; 'Titus Alone' (novel), 1959; 'The Rime of the Flying Bomb', 1962; 'Titus Groan' novel, 1967; 'A Reverie of Bone' (poems), 1967.
- Peake cited writers Charles Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson as an influence on his writing.
- Peake designed the original logo for the publishing company Pan Books (an image of the Greek god Pan playing pipes). For his services, the publishers offered him either a flat fee of £10 or a royalty of one farthing per book. On the advice of writer Graham Greene, who told him that paperback books were a passing fad that would not last, Peake opted for the £10.
- Peake was born in Jiujiang, China in 1911, only three months before the revolution and the founding of the Republic of China.
- Peake's early years in early 20th-century China, with its art/architectural designs and culture, are noted to be an influence on his writing and artwork.
- Peake's father, Ernest Cromwell Peake (18 August 1874 - 24 December 1950) was an English Missionary of the London Missionary Society who worked in China, from 1899 to 1922. He was the first medical missionary to work in Hengzhou (Hengyang), in Hunan Province, China where he set up a clinic and dispensary. Ernest Peake was known for teaching Chinese locals about medicine, and for being one of the first missionaries to bring modern medical techniques to China.
- Peake's favourite novel was Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island".
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