Raft of activity planned to celebrate milestone birthday of popular character.
Roald Dahl’s Matilda turns 30 today (October 1) with a raft of activity planned by The Roald Dahl Story Company to celebrate the milestone.
Published on October 1, 1988, Matilda was the last major book published in Roald Dahl’s lifetime and is one of his best selling stories around the world, with 17 million copies in circulation.
Sir Quentin Blake, who illustrated the original book in 1988, has returned to create new images of Matilda aged 30, in a number of possible roles. These include Astrophysicist, World Traveller and Chief Executive of the British Library.
The three illustrations feature as covers of special celebratory editions of the book and will be released by Penguin Random House on October 4.
2019 will showcase Matilda as the Roald Dahl Story Company’s ‘Hero Title’ and the year will hold a host of new publishing, marketing, events and licensing activities.
There will be a focus around the Spirit of Crunchem Hall, and the camaraderie that Matilda and her classmates have against Miss Trunchbull with a key theme of ‘Back to Crunchem’.
A number of new product launches are also planned for this autumn including a limited edition Matilda Bath, Book and Bedtime gift set from Bloom and Blossom, as well as extensive gift lines from The Book People and Sainsbury’s in time for Christmas.
2019 will also see further growth across all categories.
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