Michael Morpurgo

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Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo OBE (born 5 October 1943) is a British writer. Michael Morpurgo grew up in wartime London. He became a teacher, but the book Poetry in the Making by Ted Hughes made him decide to write instead. He is the author of over one hundred books, most for children, many of which have attracted literary prizes and awards.

Five of his books have been made into films. My Friend Walter (1988) and Out of the Ashes (2001) have both been adapted for television.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Michael Morpurgo was born in St Albans, Hertfordshire in 1943. During the last years of World War II he was evacuated to Cumberland; he later moved back to London, and then on to Essex. He attended schools in London, Sussex and Canterbury (his unhappy experiences at boarding school would later be drawn upon for his novel Alone On A Wide, Wide Sea, one of his most famous works to date). When he attended The King's School Canterbury he was once described as being "rather stupid but great at rugby". He later spent a small while in the army. He got injured in the army and he returned home and a while after that he became a famous writer.

[edit] Teaching

Michael studied English and French at King's College London, and went on to teach Primary school students in Kent. While he was teaching, he discovered his talent for storytelling, stating "I could see there was magic in it for them, and realised there was magic in it for me." He was also a caretaker in many schools and didn't become successful until he found an ad that said "we need a teacher", so he went for it and became successful.

[edit] Farms for City Children

In 1976 Michael Morpurgo and his wife, Clare Morpurgo, established the charity Farms for City Children, with the primary aim of providing children from inner city areas with experience of the countryside. The programme involves the children spending a week at a countryside farm, during which they will take part in purposeful farmyard work.[1]

50,000 children have taken part in the scheme since it was set up, and the charity now has three farms in Devon, Gloucestershire and Wales. In 1999 the couple were created Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in recognition of these services to youth. Michael Morpurgo was raised to Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on 17 June 2006.

[edit] Children's Laureate

Morpurgo was involved in the development of the Children's Laureate award as, "The idea for the Children's Laureate originated from a conversation between (the then) Poet Laureate Ted Hughes and children's writer Michael Morpurgo."[2] He was the third person to become Children's Laureate and held the title from 2003-2005.

[edit] Illustrators

Michael Morpurgo has worked with a number of illustrators, including Quentin Blake, Christian Birmingham, Sean Chumber, Michael Foreman, Shoo Rayner and Tony Ross.

[edit] Literary Awards and Prizes

[edit] Shortlisted

  • 1991 Carnegie Medal: Waiting for Anya
  • 1995 Carnegie Medal: Arthur, High King of Britain
  • 1996 Carnegie Medal: The Wreck of the Zanzibar
  • 2002 WHSmith Award for Children's Literature: Out of the Ashes
  • 2003 Blue Peter Book Award: The Book I Couldn't Put Down: Cool!
  • 2003 Carnegie Medal: Private Peaceful
  • 2004 Whitbread Children's Book Award: Private Peaceful


>===Awarded===

  • 1993 Prix Sorcières (France): King of the Cloud Forests
  • 1995 Whitbread Children's Book Award: The Wreck of the Zanzibar
  • 1996 Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Gold Award): The Butterfly Lion
  • 1999 Prix Sorcières (France): Wombat Goes Walkabout
  • 2000 Red House Children's Book Award: Kensuke's Kingdom
  • 2001 Prix Sorcières (France): Kensuke's Kingdom
  • 2002 Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Bronze Award): The Last Wolf
  • 2004 Red House Children's Book Award: Private Peaceful
  • 2005 Blue Peter Book of the Year Award: Private Peaceful
  • 2005 Hampshire Book Award: Private Peaceful

[edit] Bibliography

  • It Never Rained: Five Stories (1974)
  • Living Poets (compiler with Clifford Simmons) (1974)
  • Long Way Home (1975)
  • Thatcher Jones (1975)
  • The Story-Teller (compiler with Graham Barrett) (1976)
  • Friend or Foe (1977)
  • Do All You Dare (1978)
  • What Shall We Do with It? (1978)
  • All Around the Year (with Ted Hughes) (1979)
  • Love at First Sight (1979)
  • That's How (1979)
  • The Day I Took the Bull By the Horn (1979)
  • The Ghost-Fish (1979)
  • The Marble Crusher and Other Stories (1980)
  • The Nine Lives of Montezuma (1980)
  • Miss Wirtle's Revenge (1981)
  • The White Horse of Zennor: And Other Stories from below the Eagle's Nest (1982)
  • War Horse (1982)
  • Twist of Gold (1983)
  • Little Foxes (1984)
  • Why the Whales Came (1985)
  • Words of Songs (libretto, music by Phyllis Tate) (1985)
  • Tom's Sausage Lion (1986)
  • Conker (1987)
  • Jo-Jo, the Melon Monkey (1987)
  • King of the Cloud Forests (1988)
  • Mossop's Last Chance (with Shoo Rayner) (1988)
  • My Friend Walter (1988)
  • Albertine, Goose Queen (with Shoo Rayner) (1989)
  • Mr. Nobody's Eyes (1989)
  • Jigger's Day Off (with Shoo Rayner) (1990)
  • Waiting for Anya (1990)
  • And Pigs Might Fly! (with Shoo Rayner) (1991)
  • Colly's Barn (1991)
  • The Sandman and the Turtles (1991)
  • Martians at Mudpuddle Farm (with Shoo Rayner) (1992)
  • The King in the Forest (1993)
  • The War of Jenkins' Ear (1993)
  • Arthur, High King of Britain (1994)
  • Snakes and Ladders (1994)
  • The Dancing Bear (1994)
  • Blodin the Beast (1995)
  • Mum's the Word (with Shoo Rayner) (1995)
  • Stories from Mudpuddle Farm (with Shoo Rayner) (1995)
  • The Wreck of the Zanzibar (1995)
  • Robin of Sherwood (1996)
  • Sam's Duck (1996)
  • The Butterfly Lion (1996)
  • The Ghost of Grania O'Malley (1996)
  • Farm Boy (1997)
  • Cockadoodle-doo, Mr Sultana! (1998)
  • Escape from Shangri-La (1998)
  • Joan of Arc (1998)
  • Red Eyes at Night (1998)
  • Wartman (1998)
  • Kensuke's Kingdom (1999)
  • The Rainbow Bear (1999)
  • Wombat Goes Walkabout (1999)
  • Billy the Kid (2000)
  • Black Queen (2000)
  • Dear Olly (2000)
  • From Hereabout Hill (2000)
  • The Silver Swan (2000)
  • Who's a Big Bully Then? (2000)
  • More Muck and Magic (2001)
  • Out of the Ashes (2001)
  • Toro! Toro! (2001)
  • Cool! (2002)
  • Mr. Skip (2002)
  • The Last Wolf (2002)
  • The Sleeping Sword (2002)
  • Gentle Giant (2003)
  • Private Peaceful (2003)
  • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (2004)
  • I Believe in Unicorns (2005)
  • The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips (2005)
  • Albatross (2006)
  • It's a Dog's Life (2006)
  • Alone on a Wide, Wide Sea (2006)
  • Born to Run (2007)
  • The Mozart Question (2007)

[edit] Radio broadcasts

  • The Invention of Childhood (2006) (with Hugh Cunningham), BBC Radio 4

[edit] Trivia

  • Of his own books, his favourites are The Butterfly Lion, Kensuke's Kingdom, War Horse, Private Peaceful, The Last Wolf, The Sleeping Sword and many more.

[edit] References

  1. ^ [http://www.farms4citychildren.co.uk/ Farms for City Children.
  2. ^ Children's Laureate: About the Award

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links