Abstract

His books have captured the imaginations of children, but where did he gain his ideas? And how did these progress from draft to publication? Dahl’s varied career included service in WW2 and a stint in the British Secret Service as well as his writing as a children’s author; he was associated with the US elite, married to the film star Patricia Neal, and, through a series of tragedies that struck his family, involved with medical innovations including the ‘Wade-Dahl-Till valve’ aid for brain injured children. Using source material from the archives of the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, the talk will flesh out Dahl’s biography and focus on various aspects of his writing process, including the variation between early drafts and the published versions of his books, and the relationship with his publishers and editors

Biography of speaker: Jane Branfield has been an archivist for over 20 years, following her first degree in chemistry. After posts at King’s College London and the Inner Temple, she has been archivist at The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre since 2006. Her role there includes cataloguing and creating finding aids to the collections and advising academic researchers from all over the world.