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William Golding was born in Saint Columb Minor, Cornwall, England.
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William published his first work, a book of poetry aptly entitled Poems.
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In 1935 he started teaching English and philosophy in Salisbury.
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He temporarily left teaching in 1940 to join the Royal Navy during World War Two.
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In 1945, after World War II had ended, Golding went back to teaching and writing.
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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.
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Two decades later, at the age of 73, Golding was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize for Literature.
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In 1988 he was knighted by England’s Queen Elizabeth II.
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Golding spent the last few years of his life quietly living with his wife, Ann Brookfield, at their house near Falmouth, Cornwall, where he continued to toil at his writing and on June 19, 1993, Golding died of a heart attack in Perranarworthal, Cornwall.