Roald Dahl

Kevin P. Smith (Sheffield Hallam University)
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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 only male child born to Sofie Dahl, was to have a

1984 words

Citation: Smith, Kevin P.. "Roald Dahl". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 September 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1118, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1118 Roald Dahl 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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