Michael Morpurgo

Share this page

Michael Morpurgo is an extraordinary prolific British author, poet, playwright, and librettist. He started writing while working as a teacher in a village primary school in Kent, and has since written more than a hundred books, including War Horse (1982). In 1976, he and his wife Clare set up the charity Farms for City Children, providing children from the cities the opportunity to experience the countryside.

Author recommends

    The Rattle Bag

    By Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes (ed.)

    Recommended by: Michael Morpurgo
    Publish Date: 1982
    Composed of Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes’ favourite poems, The Rattle Bag represents a classic poetry anthology. Including masters such as Shakespeare, William Blake, Sylvia Plath, and T. S. Eliot, as well as rare gems, translated poems, and poems from…
  • The Man Who Planted Trees

    By Jean Giono

    Recommended by: Michael Morpurgo
    Publish Date: 1954
    Children’s book. An ode to nature in allegorical form, The Man Who Planted Trees tells the tale of young man who, during his journey across Provence and the barren plains of the lower Alps, finds himself out of water and…
  • The Old Man And The Sea

    By Ernest Hemingway

    Recommended by: Michael Morpurgo
    Publish Date: 1952 Awards: 1953 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction
    A universal tale of endurance set in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Havana, The Old Man and the Sea explores mankind’s titanic battle to dominate nature. The old fisherman Santiago’s struggle against the giant marlin is a testament…