Biography
Dick King-Smith was born on 27 March 1922 in Bitton, Gloucestershire. He was educated at Marlborough College and served with the Grenadier Guards in Italy during the Second World War, an experience that shaped his understanding of bravery and loyalty.
After the war, King-Smith farmed in Gloucestershire for twenty years. The farm was eventually sold at a loss and he retrained as a primary school teacher, teaching at Farmborough Primary School in the 1970s. It was his experiences in the classroom — reading to children, watching what captured their imagination — that confirmed his desire to write.
His first book, The Fox Busters, was published in 1978 when he was 56 years old. He went on to write over 100 children's books, nearly all featuring animals as central characters. His most famous novel, The Sheep-Pig (1983) — published in the US as Babe — won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and was later adapted into the hugely successful film Babe (1995).
King-Smith's work is distinguished by its close observation of animal behaviour — a direct result of his farming years — and its warm, unpretentious prose style. His animals are intelligent and individual without being anthropomorphised in ways that undermine the reader's belief. His best books feel true to animal life while being completely accessible to young readers.
He continued writing until shortly before his death on 4 January 2011 in Tadwick, Somerset, at the age of 88.