LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
A collaborative biography with Maggie Fergusson looking at the complex and varied life of this highly successful children’s writer. Michael Morpurgo has responded to each of the seven chapters with his own stories providing a unique look into his life and work.
June 2012 MEGA Non-Fiction Book of the Month.
FROM ARTICLE IN GUARDIAN 26TH NOV 2012. AUTHOR FAVOURITES OF 2012:
Michael Holroyd - 'Among biographies, I particularly admired the subtlety and skill of Maggie Fergusson's Michael Morpurgo: War Child to War Horse (Fourth Estate). This is a story full of family problems which she confronts with insight and sensitivity.'
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About
Michael Morpurgo : War Child to War Horse Synopsis
The life of Michael Morpurgo, as a biography, and autobiographical stories. Michael Morpurgo is a national treasure. With books such as 'Private Peaceful', 'Kensuke's Kingdom' and 'The Wreck of the Zanzibar' he has enchanted a whole generation of children, weaving stories for them in a way that is neither contrived nor condescending. His is a rare gift. In 2007, Michael's novel 'War Horse' was adapted for the stage by the National Theatre. Five years on, it continues to play to packed audiences of all ages and has been turned into a blockbuster film by Steven Spielberg, propelling Morpurgo to household-name status. Michael's own story is as strange and surprising as any he has written, and is shot through with the same thread of sadness found in almost all his work. How did this supremely unbookish boy who dreamed of becoming an army officer become a bestselling author and Children's Laureate instead? What personal price has he paid for success? And why, amidst his triumphs, is he now haunted by regret? In a unique collaboration, Maggie Fergusson explores Michael Morpurgo's life through seven biographical chapters, to which he responds with seven stories. The portrait that emerges is one of light and shade: the light very bright, the shade complex and often painful.
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Press Reviews
Maggie Fergusson Press Reviews
Praise for Michael Morpurgo:
'The former children's laureate has the happy knack of speaking to both child and adult readers.
The Guardian
'Morpurgo was a teacher before he was a writer, and it's easy to see how he kept whole classrooms rapt. That he chose not to restrict his stories to the classroom, but to write them down too, has brought insight, pleasure and excitement to millions.'
Daily Telegraph
Praise for Maggie Fergusson and 'George Mackay Brown: the Life':
'He deserves a good biography but has got a magnificent one; sympathetic, affectionate, but not glossing over his weaknesses'
Allan Massie, Daily Telegraph
'This is an outstanding biography: deeply researched, sympathetic and full of insight ! it brings this extraordinary man to life on every page'
Claire Tomalin
Author
About Maggie Fergusson
Maggie Fergusson is Secretary of the Royal Society of Literature and Literary Editor of Intelligent Life. Her first book, George Mackay Brown: The Life, won the Saltire First Book Prize, the Marsh Biography Award, the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Award and the Scottish Arts Council Biography Award.
Michael Morpurgo OBE is one of Britain's best-loved writers for children. He was written over 100 books and won many prizes, including the Blue Peter Book Award and the Whitbread Award. His bestselling novels include Kensuke's Kingdom, Shadow, Private Peaceful, An Elephant in the Garden and Born to Run. He was made Children's Laureate from 2003 to 2005, a role which took him all over the country to inspire children with the joy of reading stories.
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