Did you know that this year marks the 100th anniversary of Roald Dahl’s birth? It is true, the British author was born on September 13th 1916 (and he died 74 years later on November 23th 1990). And of course, this needs to be celebrated! Throughout the year, there will be parties for #RoaldDahl100, focusing on his gloriumptious stories and characters, delivering a year packed with squiffling surprises and treats for everyone. A detailed overview of all the events can be found here: July, August, September, October, November, December.
Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.
On his official birthday, September 13th, there will be a huge worldwide celebration of the world’s number one storyteller. Do you want to take part in this celebration? Then you can do so easily, as the Roald Dahl’s Estate is kindly offering a Party Pack. All you have to do is register with your email address and you will be sent a 25-page document with everything you need to hold a party, whether you’re celebrating at home, in school or out and about. As they say themselves: the Oompa-Loompas have been working tirelessly to get the packs ready so you can have the most splendiferous, swizzfiggling, gloriumptious Roald Dahl party of all time! It contains so many fun things, including:
- A handy guide to help you “find your Roald Dahl name”
(mine is The Ucky-mucky Fleshlumpeater, in case you were wondering) - Invitations
- Placemats
- Party hats
- Dream jars
- Colouring pictures
- Word searches and crossword puzzles
- Gloriumptious games
- Book quizzes
- Dress up-tips
- …
Teachers, moms of readers, and bookwurms yourselves, listen up. This is definitely something for you! Go download the party packs right now, and join in on the fun.
If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.
By the way, if you want to learn a little more about Roald Dahl, be sure to check out his website. You can find so much interesting information about the author. Like, for example, did you know that:
- The Gremlins was actually Roald Dahl’s first piece of writing for children?
He started writing it in 1942 and the finished manuscript was sent to Walt Disney himself, who liked it so much he wanted to turn it into a movie. It was shelved for a while, Gremlins only being released in 1984 under direction of Steve Spielberg.
(by the way, have you noticed how much like Furbies the Gremlins look?) - he wrote a stage play?
The Honeys is a comedic play, and as he explained it himself, it “follows a woman through three marriages with three different men… In each case the husband is murdered because he deserves it.” - there is an opera based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?
Composed by Peter Ash and with text by Donald Sturrock, The Golden Ticket, premiered in St. Louis in 2010. In 2013, a new musical production opened in London’s West End with Douglas Hodge as Mr. Wonka. - he wrote the screenplay for a James Bond movie?
Dahl adapted two of Ian Fleming‘s books into screenplays, resulting into the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice and the 1968 adventure family film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. - Roald Dahl lived in Africa when he was young?
It’s where he got the inspiration for The Enormous Crocodile, first published in 1978. Fun fact: this was the first collaboration between him and illustrator Quentin Blake, the start of a now legendary partnership. - he gave his children witches potions?
Much like George in George’s Marvellous Medicine, Dahl also had fun mixing what he called “witches potions” which he gave to his children right before bedtime. - The BFG was Roald Dahl’s own favourite story?
Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog.
All of this and more can be found on the Roald Dahl website right here:
- 1940s: the early days of Roald’s writing career
- 1950s: short stories and writing for the stage
- 1960s: Roald’s career as a writer of stories for children takes off, and he also works on two iconic film screenplays
- 1970s: the 70s saw the publication of more of Roald’s much-loved children’s stories, and his work for adults
- 1980s: in the last decade of his life, Roald Dahl’s prolific output included some of his best-known stories
- 1990s: even after his death in 1990, Roald Dahl’s stories continued to delight audiences around the world
- 2000s: a decade after his death, new collections of Roald Dahl’s writings were still being published
It doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like, so long as somebody loves you.
Roald Dahl was a great author of children’s books, and I read a lot of his books growing up. He is also a very quotable writer, I have included my favourites in this post as well. How about you? Were you a fan of Roald Dahl’s silly stories as a child? Or do you prefer his adult novels and writings?
Happy reading,
Loes M.