Michael Morpurgo biography

Born in 1943 Michael Morpurgo describes himself as ‘oldish’. Married to Clare, father to three children and grandfather to six he has written over 100 titles for children over the course of his career.

After studying English and French at London University he took a job teaching primary school children and realised that the books on offer to them were sadly lacking in any real spark so he began to make up his own; something the children enjoyed, so much so that this was what he decided he really wanted to do.

Michael Morpurgo, is noted for his “magical storytelling”, for recurring themes such as the triumph of an outsider, survival, and characters’ relationships with nature, and for vivid settings such as the Cornish coast or World War I.

His most popular books include Why the Whales Came (1985), which was made into a film starring Helen Mirren; King of the Cloud Forests (1988), which won the Cercle D’Or Prix Sorciere (France); and My Friend Walter (1988) and Out of the Ashes (2001), which were both adapted for television. The Wreck of the Zanzibar (1995) won the 1995 Whitbread Children’s Book Award.

The Butterfly Lion (1996) draws on the author’s own unhappy experiences at boarding school, and is the story of a young boy who rescues an orphaned lion club from the African bush. It won the 1996 Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Gold Award). Kensuke’s Kingdom (1999) tells the tale of a boy who survives on an island after falling from his parents’ yacht and learns how to survive with the help of the mysterious Kensuke. This book won the Children’s Book Award in 2000. Private Peaceful (2003) is set during the first world war and telling the story of two brothers, Charlie and Tommo. It won the 2005 Red House Children’s Book Award and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award and was shortlisted for the 2004 Whitbread Children’s Book Award.

In 2003 Michael Morpurgo became the third Children’s Laureate, a scheme he had originally helped to set up with poet Ted Hughes. The Laureateship rewards a lifetime contribution to children’s literature and highlights the importance of the role of children’s books. Morpurgo firmly believes that ‘literature comes before literacy’ and wants all children ‘… to discover and rediscover the secret pleasure that is reading, and to begin to find their voice in their own writing …’

Honoured with an MBE in 1999 then Children’s Laureate from 2003-2005 and recipient of an OBE in 2006, Morpurgo is also a patron of countless charities, and in 1976 began, with his wife, the Farms For City Children charity which aims to relieve the experience of poverty in inner cities and urban areas by giving children the opportunity to live and work on a real farm for a week.

He has received critical acclaim for many of his books, nationally and internationally and counts Ted Hughes, Rudyard Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson as his favourite authors.

Michael Morpurgo books

• Alone on a Wide Wide Sea
• The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips
• And Pigs Might Fly!
• Arthur High King of Britain
• The Best Christmas Present in the World
• Billy the Kid
• Black Queen
• Blodin the Beast
• Born to Run
• The Butterfly Lion
• Cockadoodle-doo, Mr Sultana
• Colly's Barn Conker
• Cool
• Cool as a Cucumber
• The Dancing Bear
• Dear Olly,
• Dolphin Boy
• Escape from Shangri-La
• Farm Boy
• Friend or Foe
• The Gentle Giant
• The Ghost of Grania O'Malley
• Hansel and Gretel
• I Believe in Unicorns
• Jigger's Day Off
• Joan of Arc
• Jo-Jo the Melon Donkey
• Kaspar
• Kensuke's Kingdom
• King of the Cloud Forests
• The Last Wolf
• Little Albatross
• Little Foxes
• Long Way Home
• Martians at Mudpuddle Farm
• Mossop's Last Chance
• The Mozart Question
• Mr Nobody's Eyes
• Mr Skip
• Mum's the Word
• My Friend Walter
• The Nine Lives of Montezuma
• On Angel Wings
• Out of the Ashes
• Private Peaceful
• The Rainbow Bear
• Red Eyes at Night
• Robin of Sherwood
• The Sandman and the Turtles
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• The Silver Swan
• The Sleeping Sword
• This Morning I Met a Whale
• Tom's Sausage Lion
• Toro! Toro
• Twist of Gold
• A Visit to the Farm
• Waiting for Anya
• War Horse
• Wartman
• Who's a Big Bully Then?
• Why the Whales Came
• Wombat Goes Walkabout
• The Wreck of the Zanzibar

Latest news: Michael Morpurgo

Templar Publishing to publish 10 fiction titles in 2010
Templar Publishing has launched into fiction with a commitment to hardback publishing and distinctive formats. The company plans to publish 10 fiction titles this year, ranging from early readers to young adult. "Although we are known as a publisher of illustrated books, we feel we can bring s [...]

Egmont enters eBook market
March 1, 2010 saw Egmont UK launch its first e-book list with a range of contemporary and classic titles. Twenty-one best selling titles for pre-schoolers to teens will be available for the first time as eBooks, with the first 10 titles launching next Monday, the 8th of March. Among the first titl [...]

Michael Morpurgo: War Horse on Broadway, 10 simple rules and the search for new writers
War Horse, the West End theatre production of Michael Morpurgo’s acclaimed children’s book, will make its Broadway debut at New York's Lincoln Centre on March 17, 2011. The play, which was adapted by Nick Stafford, has consistently played to packed houses and can proudly list the Queen, Prince Phi [...]

Steven Spielberg, Michael Morpurgo and War Horse
Steven Spielberg recently visited the West End to watch War Horse at the New London Theatre. The director and producer has bought the film rights to the play and joined the cast and crew on stage to congratulate them on the award-winning show. War Horse uses life-sized puppets to portray the story [...]

Judging Panel announced for 2009 Costa Book of the Year
Novelist Josephine Hart will chair the final judging which selects the overall winner of the prestigious 2009 Costa Book of the Year, it was announced today. The Costa Book Awards recognise the most enjoyable books of the last year by writers based in the UK and Ireland. Josephine will chair a pane [...]

DreamWorks acquires rights to Michael Morpurgo's War Horse
Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Revel Guest are producing are taking on the Great War by acquiring the rights to Michael Morpurgo's novel War Horse. Billy Elliot scribe Lee Hall has been approached to write the screenplay. Michael Morpurgo biography, bibliography and book revi [...]

Audio Book Review: Why the Whales Came by Michael Morpurgo, read by Virginia McKenna
SynopsisRushy Bay was forbidden territory to Gracie and Daniel. And not just because of the currents; the Birdman lived there. Gracie brings the curse of Samson Island on her own family. It is only the Birdman who can avert the tragedy. Narrator: Virginia McKennaLength: 4 hours and 16 min. Review [...]

Philip Pullman and Michael Morpurgo instrumental in vetting database climb-down
Laws forcing the 11 million people who help out in schools and nurseries to undergo criminal record checks to prove they are not paedophiles are to be dropped following a massive outcry. Millions of adults who volunteer to work with children will no longer be forced to undergo criminal records check [...]

Michael Morpurgo to visit Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral will play host to children's author, Michael Morpurgo, for a one-off event on Monday, December 14. He will be narrating a dramatisation of one of his best-selling titles, On Angel Wings, and will be joined by the actress, Juliet Stevenson. On Angel Wings tells the story of how [...]

The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico reviewed on Fantasy Book Review
When you finish reading The Snow Goose you are left with conflicting emotions. You are uplifted, but the tragic events that have just unfolded will also leave you with a tear in your eye. The story of the man whose physical deformities prevent others from seeing the beauty within is as old as time b [...]