On 13 September 2026 we mark the 110th anniversary of the birth of Roald Dahl, one of the most inventive and enduring storytellers of the twentieth century. Born in Wales to Norwegian parents in 1916, Dahl grew up to become a master of the mischievous, the macabre, and the magnificently odd. His books have sold hundreds of millions of copies and continue to delight (and occasionally unsettle) readers of every age.
Dahl’s gift lay in treating children as intelligent, resilient creatures rather than delicate flowers. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The BFG, James and the Giant Peach, and The Witches, he peopled his pages with greedy grown-ups, brave small heroes, and worlds where justice is deliciously creative. His prose is lean, rhythmic, and shot through with dark humour; his characters—Willy Wonka, the Trunchbull, the Grand High Witch—are unforgettable. Even his adult short stories, collected in volumes such as Kiss Kiss and Someone Like You, display the same precision and wicked twist.
Behind the stories stood a man of striking contradictions: a wartime RAF fighter pilot who later became a celebrated children’s author; a writer capable of both tender invention and sharp satire. He wrote with the conviction that stories should entertain first and moralise second—if at all. That approach has kept his work fresh across generations.
As we celebrate his birthday, we remember not only the man but the enduring invitation his books extend: to look at the world sideways, to side with the underdog, and to believe that imagination can turn the ordinary into something extraordinary. Happy birthday, Roald Dahl.
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