Roald Dahl: Teller of the Unexpected

About

From one of our best contemporary biographers, a concise life of Roald Dahl – much-loved author and creator of numerous iconic literary characters.

Roald Dahl was one of the world's greatest storytellers. He saw writing as a form of exploration and was able to masterfully tap into a child's viewpoint. He crafted tales that were exotic in scenario, frequently invested with a moral, and filled with vibrant characters that endure in public imagination to the present day.

In this talk Matthew Dennison re-evaluates the received narrative surrounding Dahl – that of school sporting hero, daredevil pilot, and wartime spy-turned-author. Join him as he examines surviving primary resources as well as Dahl's extensive literary output to tell the story of a man who identified as a rule-breaker, an iconoclast and a romantic, both insider and outsider, hero and child's friend.

Matthew Dennison is the author of nine critically acclaimed works of non-fiction, including Behind the Mask: The Life of Vita Sackville-West, a Book of the Year in The Times, Spectator, Independent and Observer, and the much-praised Eternal Boy, a life of Kenneth Grahame. His most recent book is a new biography of Her Majesty The Queen, published by Head of Zeus.

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