Funny Thing, Getting Older

Name: Funny Thing, Getting Older
Author: Michael Morpurgo
ISBN: 9781399739726

By Michael Morpurgo (author)

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Funny Thing, Getting Older Synopsis

'A beautiful, thoughtful book that brims with joy' KATE MOSSE

'Our master storyteller' JOANNA LUMLEY

For so many, getting older isn't funny at all. But it's a time for reflections certainly. So reflect, Michael, reflect. What have I been here for?

'Over the decades I have strayed more and more often from fiction into writing about the real world. Much of this writing has never been seen before in print. But in this book, for the first time, I've collected some of my favourite pieces. Some are deeply personal, some political, others in between. Woven in amongst them you will find a play, a poem or two, and even a few stories too. And a new introduction that I've written especially.

Although you'll find much of my life in my stories, there comes a time to look my reader in the eye, and come clean about the great issues of our times. Now that I'm 80, it seemed the time to do it.'

Michael Morpurgo is one of Britain's most beloved novelists, best known for enchanting children with his books like War Horse and Private Peaceful. Here, collected for the first time, are his thoughts on nature, childhood, writing, politics and getting older. Full of wonder, gentle humour and sharp observation, Funny Thing, Getting Older is a book to treasure.

About This Edition

ISBN:	9781399739726
Publication date:	30th October 2025
Author:	Michael Morpurgo
Publisher:	Hodder an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton
Format:	Paperback
Pagination:	336 pages
Primary Genre	Biographies & Autobiographies
Other Genres:	Memoirs Biography: writers

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Author

About Michael Morpurgo

Michael Morpurgo has written over 90 books and has an unparalleled reputation in the world of children's books. His books have been adapted for the cinema, TV and theatre and he has won numerous awards including Children's Book Award, Whitbred Children's Book Award and the Smarties Prize.

Michael Morpurgo is, in his own words, "oldish, married with three children, and a grandfather six times over." After schools in London, Sussex and Canterbury (one of which was horrible enough to inspire him to describe it obliquely in The Butterfly Lion), he went on to London University to study English and French, followed by a job in a primary school in Kent. It was there that he discovered what he wanted to do. "We had to read the children a story every day and my lot were bored by the book I was reading. I decided I had to do something and told them the kind of story I used to tell my kids - it was like a soap opera, and they focussed on it. I could see there was magic in it for them, and realised there was magic in it for me."

Living in Devon, listening to Mozart, and working with children have provided most of the stimulae Michael needs to discover and write his stories. He spends about half his life mucking out sheds with the children, feeding sheep or milking cows; the other half he spends dreaming up and writing stories.

Michael Morpurgo, former Children's Laureate and author of bestsellers such as War Horse and Why The Whales Came, is the inaugural President of the Historical Writers Association beginning in Autumn 2011. The Historical Writers' Association (www.thehwa.co.uk) will celebrate its first anniversary in October. It was founded to bring social and professional support to writers of historical fiction and non-fiction, publishers, agents and booksellers, all bound both by their common interest in historical books and by the sense of community that comes from a shared obsession.

STOP PRESS: The Harrogate History Festival

Author of War Horse and over 130 books, and much-loved by readers of all ages, Michael Morpurgo will be at the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate on Friday 23 October. Prepare to be inspired! Click here to find out more.

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