Peter Soyer Beagle was born in 1939 in the Bronx, New York, and is widely regarded as America's greatest living fantasist. He is a multifaceted creative individual with a diverse range of talents, having written novels, nonfiction, poetry, opera librettos, songs, and screenplays. Additionally, he is a skilled guitarist and folk singer.
As a child, Beagle was an avid reader and appeared regularly on a New York City radio program, where young people presented book reviews. His passion for writing was evident even at a young age, as he penned his first novel, A Fine and Private Place, at the tender age of 19, while still a student at the University of Pittsburgh.
After graduating, Beagle spent a significant amount of time in France and Italy, before returning to America to participate in a prestigious seminar program for young writers at Stanford University. Notably, he was joined by notable writers Larry McMurtry and Ken Kesey during this program.
Today, Beagle is most renowned for his captivating novel, The Last Unicorn, which consistently ranks among the top ten fantasy novels of all time. Two of his other works, A Fine and Private Place and I See By My Outfit, are considered modern classics.
Beagle's impressive resume also includes writing the teleplay for the iconic television episode "Sarek" from Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as the screenplay for the 1978 animated adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, which inspired a young Peter Jackson to read the original trilogy.
His work as a screenwriter temporarily interrupted his career as a novelist and short-story writer, but he returned to prose fiction in the mid-1990s and has since produced new works at a consistent pace.
In 2005, Beagle published a novelette titled "Two Hearts," which served as a coda to The Last Unicorn, and began working on a full-novel sequel. He currently resides in Oakland, California.
