Morpurgo Author Information

Interesting Facts about Michael Morpurgo

• Michael Morpurgo was born in St Albans, Hertfordhire on October 5th, 1943.
• He set up “Farms for City Children” charity with his wife Clare in 1976 after leaving his job as a teacher that he held for ten years. About 85,000 children have taken part in the Farms for City Children scheme since it was set up, and the charity now has three farms in Devon, Gloucestershire and Wales.
• Both Michael and his wife were awarded an MBE for services to youth in 1999 and in 2006, Michael also received an OBE from the Queen.
• Michael Morpurgo has written over 120 books. His 100th book, Private Peaceful, was first published in 2003 and was adapted into a play in 2004 which was later revived in 2014.
• He became a primary school teacher in Kent after graduating from the university of London.
• Many of Michael Morpurgo’s books have been adapted. Film versions have been made of Friend or Foe, Private Peaceful, and Why the Whales Came – which was also adapted to a stage play. My Friend Walter, Purple Penguins and Out of the Ashes were also adapted for TV. War Horse, one of Michael’s best selling novels, has been adapted as a radio broadcast and stage play.
• War Horse was also adapted into a 2011 British film directed by the world-famous director, Steven Spielberg.
• Michael Morpurgo has revealed that he writes all of his books in exercise books. He also doesn’t work from a desk, instead choosing to write sitting on his bed, propped up with pillows.
• His favorite animal is the elephant and he enjoys reading works by his favorite authors, including Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson and Ted Hughes.
• Michael is a very traditional author and is known to not enjoy the process of editing and rewriting his novels.
• In 2003, Michael became the third person to fulfil the role of Children’s Laureate. This is a position awarded in the United Kingdom once every two years to a “writer or illustrator of children’s books to celebrate outstanding achievement in their field”. Michael served in this role, a two-year position, from 2003 to 2005.
• Michael has three children. Their names are Sebastian, Horatio and Rosalind. He also has several grandchildren.
• He likes to relax by listening to the works of the composer Mozart, but when he is writing, Michael needs to be in a silent room to concentrate.
• He enjoyed French at school, and studied French along with English at the University of London before becoming a teacher.
• Michael Morpurgo has won many awards for his writing. These include winning Prix Sorcière in France three times for King of the Cloud Forests (1993), Wombat Goes Walkabout (1999) and Kensuke’s Kingdom (2001) and he also won the Red House Children’s Book Award twice for Kensuke’s Kingdom (2000) and Private Peaceful(2004).
• His novel War Horse was ‘discovered’ by National Theatre associate director Tom Morris when Michael was Children’s Laureate. War Horse is now the biggest-selling production ever at the New London Theatre.