Roald Dahl (1916–1990) was a British author and scriptwriter,[1] and "the most popular writer of children's books since Enid Blyton", according to Philip Howard, the literary editor of The Times.[2]
Dahl wrote his first story for children, The Gremlins, in 1943; the story was also written for Walt Disney, who was interested in turning it into a film that was ultimately never made.[3] This was Roald Dahl's first children's book published, though it was originally not written as such.[4] Dahl continued to write short stories, although these were all aimed at the adult market. Dahl worked for periodicals as a short story contributor. Other stories were sold to magazines and newspapers, and were later compiled into collections, the first of which was published in 1946.[5] Dahl began to make up bedtime stories for the children, and these formed the basis of several of his stories.[6][7] His first novel intentionally written for children, James and the Giant Peach, was published in 1961,[8] which was followed, along with others, by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), Fantastic Mr Fox (1970), Danny, the Champion of the World (1975), The BFG (1982) and Matilda in 1988.[9]
Dahl's first script was for a stage work, The Honeys, which appeared on Broadway in 1955. He followed this with a television script, "Lamb to the Slaughter", for the Alfred Hitchcock Presents series. He co-wrote screenplays for film, including for You Only Live Twice (1967) and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968).[10][11] In 1982 Dahl published the first of three editions of poems aimed at children. The following year he edited a book of ghost stories.[12] He wrote several works of non-fiction, including three autobiographies, a cookery book, a safety leaflet for the British railways and a book on measles, which was about the death of his daughter Olivia from measles encephalitis.[12][13]
As at 2019, Dahl's works have been translated into 63 languages and have sold more than 200 million books worldwide.[14][15] Dahl was known as “The World’s No. 1 Story-teller” due to how his books celebrate nonsense, imagination, and creativity. It is because of this that his books are still popular with children.[16] His awards for contribution to literature include the 1983 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, and the British Book Awards' Children's Author of the Year in 1990. In 2008 The Times placed Dahl 16th on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".[17] He has been referred to by The Independent as "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century".[18] On his death in 1990, Howard considered him "one of the most widely read and influential writers of our generation".[2]
Many of Dahl's works were used as the basis for films or television programmes. The following are where he is credited as the writer of the performed script.[7][25]
"Collecting Roald Dahl". The Book and Magazine Collector. No. 259. September 2005.
Carrick, Robert (2002). "Roald Dahl". In Harris-Fain, Darren (ed.). Dictionary of Literary Biography: British Fantast and Science-Fiction Writers, 1918–1960. Detroit: Gale Research. ISBN978-0-7876-5249-4.
