Biography
Michael Morpurgo was born on 5 October 1943 in St Albans, Hertfordshire. He was educated at the King's School in Canterbury and King's College London, where he studied English and French. He worked as a primary school teacher before becoming a full-time writer.
The founding of Farms for City Children in 1976 — which Morpurgo and his wife Clare established together — was the formative experience of his writing life. The charity, which has brought over 100,000 urban children to live and work on farms in Devon, Pembrokeshire and Gloucestershire, gave Morpurgo direct access to the landscape, animals and rural communities that fill his books. War Horse (1982) was inspired by a conversation with an elderly villager who had served with horses in the First World War.
Morpurgo has written over 150 books, though he is best known for a core group of novels that combine historical research with emotional depth and lyrical prose. His wartime novels — War Horse, Private Peaceful, The Butterfly Lion — draw on extensive primary research into the First World War, including the stories of the Shot at Dawn soldiers that form the basis of Private Peaceful.
He was appointed Children's Laureate from 2003 to 2005, during which time he campaigned vigorously for greater access to books, storytelling and the arts for all children. He was awarded an OBE in 2006 and knighted in 2018 for services to literature and charity.
Morpurgo's books have won numerous awards, including the Whitbread Children's Book Award for The Butterfly Lion. War Horse was adapted into a hugely successful stage play by the National Theatre in 2007 and a film by Steven Spielberg in 2011.