Books
This Author Writes A Magical New Year's "Wish" Every Year & You Need To Read Them All
With dozens of award-winning novels and short fiction, Neil Gaiman has become one of the most respected writers in the English-speaking world. In addition to writing good stories, Gaiman also gives fantastic New Year's advice on his blog each year. I have 16 years of New Year's advice from Neil Gaiman for you to read through below, and it will keep you inspired throughout the year.
Although you can pretty much count on a message from Gaiman every Dec. 31, the American Gods author has recycled old well-wishes on several occasions. His earliest post, which included the desire for his readers to "read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful" in the upcoming year, has re-emerged several times since he first published it in 2001. For the sake of brevity, I have only included Gaiman's new New Year's wishes in the list below.
If you've been a Neil Gaiman fan for a while, you know that doling out sound advice is something the fantasy author does often. His 2012 commencement speech at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia has since been published as a thin tome titled Make Good Art.
Check out 16 years of New Year's advice from Neil Gaiman below, and share your favorite wishes for the next 365 days with me on Twitter!
2001: "Magic and Dreams and Good Madness"
May your 2002 be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't to forget make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in 2002, you surprise yourself.
2008: "Always Be Kind"
I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you'll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you'll make something that didn't exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.
2009: A New Year's Benediction
You don't get many years like this in a life, and I am both aware of this, and amazingly grateful. And an email from my editor letting me know that the Graveyard Book is still on the New York Times Bestseller List after fifteen months, reminds me of how much I owe to all of you.
So thank you. Have a wonderful 2010. And goodnight.
2011: "Make Mistakes"
I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.
2012: "Be Brave"
It's a New Year and with it comes a fresh opportunity to shape our world.
So this is my wish, a wish for me as much as it is a wish for you: in the world to come, let us be brave — let us walk into the dark without fear, and step into the unknown with smiles on our faces, even if we're faking them.
2014: "Forgive Yourself and Forgive Others"
Be kind to yourself in the year ahead.
Remember to forgive yourself, and to forgive others. It's too easy to be outraged these days, so much harder to change things, to reach out, to understand.
2015: A Recorded Wish
Gaiman didn't write a new wish for 2015, but he recorded an old one for his fans to enjoy.
2016: Some Words from the Late Leonard Cohen
It's been a strange, hard year for so many of us. I find myself thinking of the old Jack Benny radio shows. Particularly during World War Two they'd do a new year's sketch, where the old year (played by Jack, with an old man voice) would give advice to the new year (played by a child). They weren't funny: they were a mixture of hope and sentiment, optimism, realism and resilience.
We are going to need all of these things in 2017.
