Editing William Golding (section)

===Writing success===
[[File:Golding, Lundkvist och Sartre i Leningrad 1963.jpg|thumb|Golding, [[Artur Lundkvist]] and [[Jean-Paul Sartre]] at a writers' congress in [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]], [[USSR]], 1963.]]
In ''William Golding: A Critical Study'' (2008), George states that, “Golding experienced two things that he counts the greatest influences on his writing—first, the war and his service in the navy and second, his learning ancient Greek.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Usha |first=George |title=William Golding: a critical study |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist. |year=2008 |isbn=978-0571132591}}</ref> While still a teacher at [[Bishop Wordsworth's School]], in 1951 Golding began writing a manuscript of the novel initially titled ''Strangers from Within''.<ref name="Williams">{{cite web | title=New BBC programme sheds light on the story behind the publication of Lord of the Flies | website=Faber & Faber Blog | date=6 June 2019 | url=https://www.faber.co.uk/blog/new-bbc-programme-sheds-light-on-the-story-behind-the-publication-of-lord-of-the-flies/ | access-date=28 August 2021}}</ref> 

In September 1953, after rejections from seven other publishers, Golding sent a manuscript to [[Faber and Faber]] and was initially rejected by their reader, Jan Perkins, who labelled it as "Rubbish & dull. Pointless".<!--<ref name="Sunday Feature BBC R3">Sunday Feature, 18:45 2 June 2019, BBC Radio 3, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/13750939?bcast=129246943 (Accessed 16 April 2020)</ref>--> His book, however, was championed by Charles Monteith, a new editor at the firm. Monteith asked for some changes to the text and the novel was published in September 1954 as ''[[Lord of the Flies]]''.

After moving in 1958 from [[Salisbury]] to nearby [[Bowerchalke]], he met his fellow villager and walking companion [[James Lovelock]]. The two discussed Lovelock's [[Gaia Hypothesis|hypothesis]], that the living matter of the planet Earth functions like a single organism, and Golding suggested naming this hypothesis after [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]], the personification of the Earth in Greek mythology, and mother of the Titans.<ref name="ecolo.org">James Lovelock, 'What is Gaia?', [http://www.ecolo.org/lovelock/what_is_Gaia.html accessed 16 May 2013]</ref> His publishing success made it possible for Golding to resign his teaching post at Bishop Wordsworth's School in 1961, and he spent that academic year in the United States as writer-in-residence at [[Hollins University|Hollins College]] (now Hollins University),<ref>{{Cite news |last=Knight |first=Nini |date=September 28, 1961 |title=Golding Glad To Be At Hollins |url=https://digitalcommons.hollins.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1764&context=newspapers |access-date=April 8, 2024 |work=Hollins Columns |page=1 |publication-place=Hollins College, Virginia |volume=XXXIV |issue=2}}</ref> near [[Roanoke, Virginia]].{{cn|date=January 2023}}

Golding won the [[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]] for ''[[Darkness Visible (Golding)|Darkness Visible]]'' in 1979, and the [[Booker Prize]] for ''[[Rites of Passage (novel)|Rites of Passage]]'' in 1980. Having been appointed [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) in the [[1966 New Year Honours]],<ref>United Kingdom list: {{London Gazette |issue=43854 |date=31 December 1965 |pages=10   |supp=y}}</ref> Golding was appointed a [[Knight Bachelor]] in the [[1988 Birthday Honours]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=51558 |date=13 December 1988 |page=13986 }}</ref> In September 1993, only a few months after his unexpected death, the First International William Golding Conference was held in France.<ref>F. Regard (ed.), ''Fingering Netsukes: Selected Papers from the First International William Golding Conference'', Saint-Etienne, PUSE, 1995.</ref>