About Me

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. (If you'd like to help it grow, here's my Amazon wishlist.

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 home page or drop me a line. I love meeting fellow Dahl–fans!