Biographical Information
Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff, Wales and died at the age 74. He was born on September 13th, 1916 and died on November 23rd, 1990. Dahl’s parents were Norwegian. Quentin Blake Award, funded by “The Roald Dahl Foundation” was named for the illustrator. Throughout his life, Dahl gave time and money to help people in need. Dahl died from a blood disorder, Myelo-dysplastic anaemia. After his death, The Roald Dahl Foundation offers grants in three key areas, all associated with his life: Literacy, Neurology, and Haematology.
General Information
Roald Dahl’s Awards:
· In 1954 he won his first Wins Edgar Allen Poe award and Mystery Writers of America award. In 1959 he won a second Edgar Allan Poe Award and second Mystery Writers of America Award and in 1980 he won his third Mystery Writers of America award.
· 1979 Wins California Young Reader Medal (for Danny the Champion of the World).
· 1982 Wins Federation of Children's Book Groups Award (for The BFG) and Massachusetts Children's Award (for James and the Giant Peach).
· 1983 Wins New York Times Outstanding Books Award, Federation of Children's Book Groups Award, and Whitbread Award (all for The Witches). Also wins World Fantasy Convention Lifetime Achievement Award.
· 1998 Matilda voted "Nation's Favorite Children's Book" in BBC Bookworm Poll.
· 2000 Wins Millennium Children's Book Award and Blue Peter Book Award (for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).
Roald Dahl’s Writing Style:
· The is no easy way to describe Roald Dahl’s writing but to just simplify his work by basically as creative, playful, funny, engaging, hyperbolic, exaggerated, and full of exciting imagination.
· He loves to twist words and play around with the sentence structure and from this type of writing he helps engage and immerses the reader in the story. Roald Dahl uses humor in his stories which helps attract a reader and keeps them entertained. He displays a great use of personification, transforming animals into human-like characters or vice-versa.
Dahl enjoyed books and stories, especially adventure stories. He experienced an unhappy period in school. Before he was sent to boarding school, he was a trouble maker. When he was nine, he went to a boarding school, St. Peter’s, in which he was bullied. His unhappy time at school was to greatly influence his writing. He loved Orchids, painting, chocolate, and conkers.
Hardships:
When he was only three years old his father and older sister passed away.
During WWII, Dahl was a Royal Air Force (RAF), crashed his plane and almost burned alive. He went through an extensive surgery in the hospital in order to stay alive. He described this experience in his first published short story, “A Piece of Cake,” which was included in “Over to You: Ten Short Stories of Flyers and Flying” (1946).
His oldest daughter died at the age of seven from measles developed into encephalitis (inflammation on the brain).
His four-month-old son was brain damaged after a road accident.
His wife suffered three strokes in rapid successions while she was pregnant. She couldn’t move or speak. For this, she had to do six hour long sessions of speech therapy every single day.
A few months before his own death, his stepdaughter died of a brain tumor.
· In 1954 he won his first Wins Edgar Allen Poe award and Mystery Writers of America award. In 1959 he won a second Edgar Allan Poe Award and second Mystery Writers of America Award and in 1980 he won his third Mystery Writers of America award.
· 1979 Wins California Young Reader Medal (for Danny the Champion of the World).
· 1982 Wins Federation of Children's Book Groups Award (for The BFG) and Massachusetts Children's Award (for James and the Giant Peach).
· 1983 Wins New York Times Outstanding Books Award, Federation of Children's Book Groups Award, and Whitbread Award (all for The Witches). Also wins World Fantasy Convention Lifetime Achievement Award.
· 1998 Matilda voted "Nation's Favorite Children's Book" in BBC Bookworm Poll.
· 2000 Wins Millennium Children's Book Award and Blue Peter Book Award (for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).
Roald Dahl’s Writing Style:
· The is no easy way to describe Roald Dahl’s writing but to just simplify his work by basically as creative, playful, funny, engaging, hyperbolic, exaggerated, and full of exciting imagination.
· He loves to twist words and play around with the sentence structure and from this type of writing he helps engage and immerses the reader in the story. Roald Dahl uses humor in his stories which helps attract a reader and keeps them entertained. He displays a great use of personification, transforming animals into human-like characters or vice-versa.
Dahl enjoyed books and stories, especially adventure stories. He experienced an unhappy period in school. Before he was sent to boarding school, he was a trouble maker. When he was nine, he went to a boarding school, St. Peter’s, in which he was bullied. His unhappy time at school was to greatly influence his writing. He loved Orchids, painting, chocolate, and conkers.
Hardships:
When he was only three years old his father and older sister passed away.
During WWII, Dahl was a Royal Air Force (RAF), crashed his plane and almost burned alive. He went through an extensive surgery in the hospital in order to stay alive. He described this experience in his first published short story, “A Piece of Cake,” which was included in “Over to You: Ten Short Stories of Flyers and Flying” (1946).
His oldest daughter died at the age of seven from measles developed into encephalitis (inflammation on the brain).
His four-month-old son was brain damaged after a road accident.
His wife suffered three strokes in rapid successions while she was pregnant. She couldn’t move or speak. For this, she had to do six hour long sessions of speech therapy every single day.
A few months before his own death, his stepdaughter died of a brain tumor.
Genre, Subjects, and Themes
· Autobiography
· Classic
· Comedy and Humor
· Fantasy
· Adventure
· Short Stories
· Anthology
· Poetry and Rhymes
· Fairy Tale
· Fiction
· Classic
· Comedy and Humor
· Fantasy
· Adventure
· Short Stories
· Anthology
· Poetry and Rhymes
· Fairy Tale
· Fiction
Author's Work
- · Roald Dahl’s first book was not as many supposed “James and The Giant Peach” but “The Gremlins.”
- · His mother used to tell him tales about trolls and other mythical Norwegian creatures from which he wrote many of his mythical stories.
- · He wrote “The Witches” for his mother in which he portrayed the “witches” as his Grandmother.
- · His father used to keep a journal from the Great War of 1914-1918 from which he wrote an autobiography, “Boy”.
- · “James and the Giant Peach” came into being because he used to make up bedtime stories for his daughters.
- · His time at school which passed through with being bullied, he expressed his horrors through “Matilda”.
- · Since he was a wing commander in the air force, he wrote “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”
- · Since he was also an agent of the British foreign intelligent service, he wrote a scene for a James Bond Movie, “You Only Live Twice.”
- · Roald Dahl has written 62 books in total.
Interesting Quotes
· He distinguished him from most other children writers by stating, “This business of remembering what it was like to be young.”
· CS Forester author of Captain Hornblower wanted Dahl to describe his version of the war which would be published in the Saturday Evening Post. He wrote Dahl stating, “Did you know you were a writer-I haven’t changed a word.”
· “I’m probably more pleased with my children’s books than with my adult short stories. Children’s books are harder to write. It’s tougher to keep a child interested because a child doesn’t have the concentration of an adult. The child knows the television is in the next room. It’s tough to hold a child, but it’s a lovely thing to do.”
· I am a disciplined writer. I don’t think any writer works particularly long hours because he can’t—he becomes inefficient.”
· “Had I not had children, I would not have written books for children, nor would I have been capable of doing so.”
· CS Forester author of Captain Hornblower wanted Dahl to describe his version of the war which would be published in the Saturday Evening Post. He wrote Dahl stating, “Did you know you were a writer-I haven’t changed a word.”
· “I’m probably more pleased with my children’s books than with my adult short stories. Children’s books are harder to write. It’s tougher to keep a child interested because a child doesn’t have the concentration of an adult. The child knows the television is in the next room. It’s tough to hold a child, but it’s a lovely thing to do.”
· I am a disciplined writer. I don’t think any writer works particularly long hours because he can’t—he becomes inefficient.”
· “Had I not had children, I would not have written books for children, nor would I have been capable of doing so.”