WRITING A BIOGRAPHY WHAT IS A BIOGRAPHY Biographical

WRITING A BIOGRAPHY

WHAT IS A BIOGRAPHY? Biographical writing is about someone else’s life. It is about a real person but written by someone else. A biography highlights the key events that have happened in their life, sometimes talking about their childhood. A biography can be written about someone who is dead or alive.

SOME EXAMPLES OF BIOGRAPHY BOOK COVERS

Roald Dahl Biography Roald Dahl was born in Wales on 16 th September 1916 to Norwegian parents. His father died when he was 3 years old and he was raised by his mother. He did not enjoy his time at boarding school and his school memories provided some of the inspiration for his later stories. After leaving school he worked for the Shell Oil Company and was based in Africa, until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, when he signed up with the Royal Air Force. Unfortunately, on a flight into enemy territory he ran out of fuel and crashed in the Libyan desert. He was sent to Washington DC to work as an attaché where, almost by accident, he started his writing career. When he was interviewed for an article about his time in action, he offered to write about his experiences. His piece was published in the Saturday Evening Post, who signed him up to write more articles in 1941. In 1943 he wrote his first children’s book, The Gremlins, which was originally intended to be made into an animated film by Walt Disney. The film was not made and instead Dahl turned to writing adult fiction. In 1945 he moved back to the UK, but in the early fifties returned to America, and in 1953 he married his first wife, the actress Patricia Neal. They had five children together but got divorced in 1983. The last years of his life were very happy and he wrote some of his best books during this period: The BFG, The Witches and Matilda. In total, he wrote 21 children’s books. Roald Dahl died on 23 rd November 1990 in Oxford, England.

Use the checklist to highlight the features in the Roald Dahl biography. You could right a list of the features you find. Time Connectives

PUTTING YOUR KNOWLEDGE INTO PRACTICE! You are going to write a biography of the author Kenneth Grahame. Read the information about Kenneth Grahame Take some notes and create a note grid. You can copy out the grid.

Possible note taking grid Growing up Career Family Inspirations End of life Other interesting facts