Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl is an English writer, poet and screenwriter. He is best known for his childrens books including Matilda, The BFG and James and the Giant Peach. He was born in 1916 in Wales, and spent much of his childhood at a boarding school. He had a miserable time whilst at the two schools, he was very homesick and was frequently caned.
These terrible circumstances may have lead him to create characters, such as James Trotter, who suffer awfully at a young age by vicious adults, such as Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge, the Witches or Matilda's parents. Where the young Roald felt like he had no power over his circumstances, the protagonists of his books always overcome their abusers and triumph in the end.