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William was born at his grandparents' house in Newquay, Cornwall, England. The house, called Karenza, Cornish for 'love' -
During his childhood, William Golding's father, a schoolmaster, encouraged his scientific and intellectual curiosity, while his mother, an activist for the women's suffrage movement,
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William Golding's academic career involved studying Natural Sciences and then English Literature at Brasenose College, Oxford University, where he earned a B.A. in 1934.
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During World War II, William Golding joined the Royal Navy and served for approximately six years, fighting in battles such as the sinking of the Bismarck and participating in the D-Day invasion of Normandy as a commander of a rocket-launching craft -
William Golding had a multi-faceted career as an English novelist, poet, and playwright, beginning with his first published work, the poetry collection Poems (1935). After service in the Royal Navy during World War II, he returned to teaching and writing, publishing his most famous novel, Lord of the Flies, in 1954. His career continued with other novels like The Inheritors and The Spire, earning him the Booker Prize in 1980
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Published in 1954, Lord of the Flies was Golding's first novel. Golding got the idea for the plot from The Coral Island, a children's adventure novel with a focus on Christianity and the supposed civilising influence of British colonialism. -
William Golding was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983 because the Swedish Academy recognized his novels for illuminating the human condition through realistic narrative art and a blend of myth and allegory.