Author of the Month: Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990)
Do you want to visit Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory? Do you want to be friend with BFG (Big Friendly Giant)? Are you afraid of Miss Trunchbull? From Willy Wonka to Miss Trunchbull, they may be good or bad, but they are famous and memorable fictional characters created by Roald Dahl!
Roald Dahl was born in Wales to Norwegian parents, Harald Dahl and Sofie Magdalene Hesselberg, and he was named after Norway’s famous explorer, Roald Amundsen, who was the first man to reach the South Pole in 1911. When Roald was three years old, his father died of pneumonia and his mother was left to raise Roald and his siblings. Roald’s mother was a great storyteller, she liked to tell her children Norwegian children stories and these stories had a profound effect on Roald Dahl. Roald began his education at the age of seven at the Llandaff Cathedral School, after the principal gave him a severe beating for a misbehaviour, his mother sent him to St. Peter’s Preparatory School. At thirteen years old, he was sent to the Repton Public School. During years at Repton, Roald and his classmates got regular chance to test and rate chocolate bars from a nearby chocolate company and this childhood memory inspired him to write “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (1964).
After graduated from Repton at seventeen years old, Roald Dahl did not go on to higher education, instead, he worked for an oil company until the outbreak of World War Two. When World War Two began, he joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot and served for seven years. His wartime experiences also inspired him to write books including “The BFG” (1982) and “Going Solo” (1986). In 1942, he met writer, C. S. Forester, who encouraged him to write about his wartime experiences for magazines and Roald Dahl began his writing career at the same year. Roald Dahl spent most of his early career writing for adults and he decided to become children’s writer in 1961. He published first children novel “James and the Giant Peach” in 1961. Three years later, he published his second children novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and the book become one of the best-selling children’s book of the twentieth century. Followed by many other great children novels and two books about his own life: “Boy” (1984) and “Going Solo”.
There are over 50 Roald Dahl’s books in our library, you are welcome to read and borrow the books from the fiction and biography areas. If you are Roald Dahl fan, please visit the library now!
References:
Kelley, T. (2012). Who was Roald Dahl? New York: Grosset & Dunlap.
The Roald Dahl Story Company Limited. (2018). Retrieved January 20, 2018, from http://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/about
