William Golding

  • William Golding was born on September 19, 1911, in Saint Columb Minor, Cornwall, England. He was raised in a 14th-century. His mother, Mildred, was an active suffragette who fought for women’s right to vote. His father, Alex, worked as a schoolmaster.

  • William received his early education at the school his father ran, Marlborough Grammar School. When William was just 12 years old, he attempted, unsuccessfully, to write a novel.

  • In 1934, a year before he graduated, William published his first work, a book of poetry aptly entitled Poems. The collection was largely overlooked by critics.

  • William Golding started teaching English and philosophy in Salisbury in 1935.

  • In 1940 Golding temporarily abandoned the profession to join the Royal Navy and fight in World War II. Golding spent the better part of the next six years on a boat, except for a seven-month stint in New York.

  • In 1954, after 21 rejections, Golding published his first and most acclaimed novel, Lord of the Flies. The novel told the gripping story of a group of adolescent boys stranded on a deserted island after a plane wreck

  • In 1963, the year after Golding retired from teaching, Peter Brook made a film adaptation of the critically acclaimed novel.

  • Golding was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize for Literature.

    https://www.biography.com/writer/william-golding
  • In 1988 he was knighted by England’s Queen Elizabeth II.

  • On June 19, 1993, Golding died of a heart attack in Perranarworthal, Cornwall. After Golding died, his completed manuscript for The Double Tongue was published posthumously.

    https://www.biography.com/writer/william-golding