Roald Dahl Biography: Writing for Children

“Roald Dahl is without question the most successful children’s writer in the world,” wrote Brian Appleyard in The Independent in 1990. Roald himself said, “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 try to do.” He first became interested in writing children’s books by making up bedtime stories for his daughters Olivia and Tessa. This was how James and the Giant Peach came into being. The book was published in America in 1961 and the UK in 1967.

His second book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory also debuted in the USA (in 1964) before being published in the UK (1967). It was a significant success on both sides of the Atlantic. In the UK, Elaine Moss wrote in The Times, “It is the funniest children’s book I have read in years; not just funny but shot through with a zany pathos which touches the young heart.” The book went on to achieve phenomenal success all over the world. The Chinese edition was the biggest printing of any book ever – two million copies! 1971 saw the release of a movie version starring Gene Wilder. Roald himself was not a fan, but the movie has proved consistently popular.

An unbroken string of bestselling titles followed, including The BFG, Danny The Champion of the World, The Twits, The Witches, Boy and Going Solo. Sales of Matilda, Roald’s penultimate book, broke all previous records for a work of children’s fiction with UK sales of over half a million paperbacks in six months.