Sir Michael Andrew Morpurgo, OBE, FRSL is the author of many books for children, five of which have been made into films. He also writes his own screenplays and libretti for opera. Born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, in 1943, he was evacuated to Cumberland during the last years of the Second World War, then returned to London, moving later to Essex.
After a brief and unsuccessful spell in the army, he took up teaching and started to write. He left teaching after ten years to set up ‘Farms for City Children’ with his wife. They have three farms in Devon, Wales and Gloucestershire, open to inner-city school children who come to stay and work with the animals.
In 1999 this work was publicly recognized when he and his wife were invested a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to youth. In 2003, he was advanced to an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL) in 2004. He was knighted in 2018 for his services to literature and charity.
He is also a father and grandfather, so children have always played a large part in his life. Every year he and his family spend time in the Scilly Isles, the setting for three of his books.
Books in order of publication:
Friend or Foe (1977)
All Around the Year (with Ted Hughes) (1979)
The Nine Lives of Montezuma (1980)
War Horse (1982)
Little Foxes (1984)
Why the Whales Came (1985)
King of the Cloud Forests (1987)
Mossop’s Last Chance (with Shoo Rayner) (1988)
My Friend Walter (1988)
Waiting for Anya (1990)
The Wreck of the Zanzibar (1995)
The Butterfly Lion (1996)
Farm Boy (1997)
Kensuke’s Kingdom (1999)
Billy the Kid (2000)
The Sleeping Sword (2002)
Private Peaceful (2003)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (2004)
The Orchard Book of Aesop’s Fables (2004), illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark
War: Stories of Conflict (compiler) (2005)
Meeting Cezanne (2005)
The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips (2005)
Alone on a Wide Wide Sea (2006)
Beowulf (2006), illustrated by Michael Foreman
Born to Run (2007)
Running Wild (2009)
The Kites Are Flying! (2009)
Not Bad for a Bad Lad (2010)
An Elephant in the Garden (2010)
Shadow (2010)
Little Manfred (2011)
The Pied Piper of Hamelin (2011)
Sparrow: The True Story of Joan of Arc (2012)
Outlaw: The Story of Robin Hood (2012)
Homecoming (2012)
Where My Wellies Take Me (with Clare Morpurgo) (2012)
A Medal for Leroy (2012)
Beauty and the Beast (2013)
The Castle in the Field – Little Gems (2013)
Pinocchio By Pinocchio (2013)
The Goose is Getting Fat (2013)
All I Said Was (2014)
Half a Man (2014)
Listen to the Moon (2014)
Mini Kid (2014)
Such Stuff: A Story-Maker’s Inspiration (2016)
The Fox and the Ghost King (The Timeless Tale of an Impossible Dream) (2016)
An Eagle in the Snow (2016)
Greatest Magical Stories (2017)
Lucky Button (2017)
Toto: The Dog-Gone Amazing Story of the Wizard of Oz (2017)
Flamingo Boy (2018)
In the Mouth of the Wolf (2018)
The Day the World Stopped Turning (2019)
Grandpa Christmas (2020)
A Song of Gladness (2021)
The Puffin Keeper (2021)
When Fishes Flew: The Story of Elena’s War (2021)
Carnival of the Animals (2021)
Flying Scotsman and the Best Birthday Ever (2022)
Cobweb (2024)
Spring: The Story of a Season – 2025
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