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William Golding was born September 19, 1911, in Saint Columb Minor, Cornwall, England. He was raised by his mother Mildred and father Alec in a 14th-century house next door to a graveyard.
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Golding began attending Brasenose College at Oxford in 1930 and spent two years studying science, in deference to his father's beliefs. In his third year, however, he switched to the literature program, following his true interests.
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He published his first work, a book of poetry aptly entitled Poems. The collection was largely overlooked by critics.
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Golding took a position teaching English and philosophy at Bishop Wordsworth’s School in Salisbury. His expirence from teaching young boys later served as an inspiration in his book "Lord of the Flies"
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From 1935 to 1939, Golding worked as a writer, actor, and producer with a small theater in an unfashionable part of London, paying his bills with a job as a social worker.
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In 1935, he graduated from Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a diploma in education. Oxford awarded him the degree of Honorary Doctor of Letters in 1983 before he was awarded the Noble Prize for Literature.
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He married Ann Brookfield, with whom he had two children with. He had a daughter Judith and a son David
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He temporarily abandoned the profession to join the Royal Navy and fight in World War II. He fought on board a destroyer and was briefly involved in the pursuit and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck.
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After World War II ended, Golding went back to teaching and writing.
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After 21 rejections, he published his firsr 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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Peter Brooks made a film adaptation of the acclaimed novel. Two decades later, at the age of 73, Golding was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize of Literature.
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The novel Rites of Passage was the winner of the 1980 Booker McConnell Prize.
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At the age of 73 William was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1983. It awarded to William Golding for his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today.
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Golding was Knighted by England's Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. He was particularly struck by two aspects of the process. First, the lowlier the order the more the Queen talked to you. Secondly, she knew in each case why the order was awarded.
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a new film version of the Lord of the Flies was released, bringing the book to the attention of a new generation of readers
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On June 19, 1993, Golding died of a heart attack in Perranarworthal, Cornwall. After Golding passed away, his completed manuscript for The Double Tongue was published posthumously.
