Roald Dahl is one of twentieth century's most popular and famous writers of children's fiction. His books have been translated into dozens of languages, achieving high sales and recognition world-wide – from Europe and North America to Africa and Asia. Although he began his career as a writer of short stories for adults, it is for his anarchic and fairy tale-like children's stories that he is best known.

Born 13 September 1916 to Norwegian parents in Llandaff, Wales, Roald was the second boy of 7 siblings, two of whom from his father, Harald's, previous marriage. His father, a prosperous merchant based in Cardiff, died of pneumonia in 1920, just two months after Roald's sister Astri died of appendicitis, aged seven. Roald, the o

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First published 20 September 2002

Citation: Smith, Kevin P.. "Roald Dahl". The Literary Encyclopedia. 20 September 2002.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1118, accessed 20 November 2009.]