<P> During the Second World War Dahl was a pilot in the Royal Air Force ( RAF ) until he crashed in the Libyan desert ; the subsequent injuries left him unfit to fly . He was posted to Washington as an assistant air attaché , ostensibly a diplomatic post , but which also included espionage and propaganda work . In 1942 the writer C.S. Forester asked him to provide details of his experiences in North Africa which Forester hoped to use in an article in The Saturday Evening Post . Instead of the notes which Forester expected , Dahl sent a finished story for which he was paid $900 . The work led to The Gremlins , a serialised story in Cosmopolitan about a mischievous and fictional RAF creature , the gremlin ; the work was published as Dahl 's first novel in 1943 . Dahl continued to write short stories , although these were all aimed at the adult market . They were sold to magazines and newspapers , and were later compiled into collections , the first of which was published in 1946 . Dahl began to make up bedtime stories for the children , and these formed the basis of several of his stories . His first children 's novel , James and the Giant Peach , was published in 1961 , which was followed , along with others , by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ( 1964 ) , Fantastic Mr Fox ( 1970 ) , Danny , the Champion of the World ( 1975 ) , The BFG ( 1982 ) and Matilda in 1988 . </P>
<P> During the Second World War Dahl was a pilot in the Royal Air Force ( RAF ) until he crashed in the Libyan desert ; the subsequent injuries left him unfit to fly . He was posted to Washington as an assistant air attaché , ostensibly a diplomatic post , but which also included espionage and propaganda work . In 1942 the writer C.S. Forester asked him to provide details of his experiences in North Africa which Forester hoped to use in an article in The Saturday Evening Post . Instead of the notes which Forester expected , Dahl sent a finished story for which he was paid $900 . The work led to The Gremlins , a serialised story in Cosmopolitan about a mischievous and fictional RAF creature , the gremlin ; the work was published as Dahl 's first novel in 1943 . Dahl continued to write short stories , although these were all aimed at the adult market . They were sold to magazines and newspapers , and were later compiled into collections , the first of which was published in 1946 . Dahl began to make up bedtime stories for the children , and these formed the basis of several of his stories . His first children 's novel , James and the Giant Peach , was published in 1961 , which was followed , along with others , by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ( 1964 ) , Fantastic Mr Fox ( 1970 ) , Danny , the Champion of the World ( 1975 ) , The BFG ( 1982 ) and Matilda in 1988 . </P>
when was roald dahl 's first book published
when was roald dahl 's first book published
1943
1943