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William Golding was born on September 19th, 1911, in Newquay, Cornwall, England. -
William Golding was raised in Malborough, Wiltshire, England. His parents were a schoolmaster and a suffragette. He spent most of his time in their house because of how young he was compared to his older brother, Jose. He grew up terrified of the graveyard next door because from their window in the house, you could see a graveyard. He was very smart in school and received many academic and athletic awards. He played cricket, sprinting, and rugby. He sprinted at a country level.
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William Golding went to Brasenose College and Oxford University. He initially studied natural science, but was unhappy and ended up switching to English Literature. In Oxford, William Golding published his first work, a book of poems.
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William Golding published the widely known book The Lord of the Flies on September 17th, 1954. The Lord of the Flies is about a group of boys who are stranded on an island and try to create their own society. Initially, Lord of the Flies sold very poorly, but it eventually became a massive worldwide bestseller. -
The Inheritors is another book that was written by William Golding. This is another famous book for which he won awards for writing. This was published in 1955. It was about a tribe of Neanderthals, led by the thoughtful Lok, as they encountered early Homo sapiens in a prehistoric land, leading to conflict and the gradual destruction of the peaceful Neanderthals due to the violence. -
William Golding won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983, the Booker Prize for Rites of Passage in 1980, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Darkness Visible in 1979. He was also awarded the title of Knight Bachelor in 1988.