First and foremost… I AM NOT ROALD DAHL!
My name is Kris Howard. I grew up in rural Indiana in the United States, but now I live in Sydney, Australia with my husband our two silly cats. Roald Dahl has been my favorite author since Mrs. Jordan read The BFG to my 3rd-grade class, and I’ve now read just about everything he ever wrote. I got the idea for this site many years ago in college in 1996 when I did a web search for “Roald Dahl” and found about 3 measly pages. I knew that I could offer information and resources on Dahl that no one else could, and I was interested in web designing and publishing. Pretty soon I had my site up and running.
The response wast been amazing. I had really lucky timing, and my page was just starting to get popular when the films Matilda and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – 25th Anniversary were released. I was mentioned in USA Today, and I’ve been written up in various computer magazines as well. I started getting e-mail from visitors, which has increased to (on average) at least 4 messages a day. I’ve also had the chance to expand my own Dahl collection as well, which has grown to include some pretty rare editions.
I spent the spring of 1998 in London, England as part of the Notre Dame London Program. While there I had the opportunity to visit the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery in Aylesbury and meet the curators of that museum. I was also supposed to go to Gipsy House and actually meet Felicity Dahl, but unfortunately our schedules never coincided. Nevertheless, the trip was amazing and I felt I had benefitted by simply absorbing the country and culture that Dahl lived in for most of his life.
In October 1999 I decided to leave my comfy job at home in the States and make my way back to England. It turned out to be the best decision I could’ve made. I got a great job, made new friends, and met the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I also enjoyed meeting English Dahl fans and visiting some of the places he mentions in his stories. In May 2000 I finally got to meet Felicity Dahl, who is just the nicest person I could possibly imagine. I also got to see Gipsy House, which (for me) represented the pinnacle of everything Dahl. I stood there just amazed at how far this site has taken me.
After two years in England, I was ready to move on. As my partner is Australian, Sydney was the obvious destination. We’ve been here since the end of 2001 and I couldn’t be happier.
Anyway, that’s me in a nutshell. A rather cheesy description I suppose, but mostly I just wanted to make it clear that I’m NOT Roald Dahl. *sigh* I feel really bad when people send me fan-mail addressed to him. On the other hand, if I happen to have caught your fancy and you think you might like to know a little bit more about me, check out my personal site or weblog, or drop me a line. I love meeting fellow Dahl fans!