1. Michael Morpurgo's work is noted for its "magical storytelling", for recurring themes such as the triumph of an outsider or survival, for characters' relationships with nature, and for vivid settings such as the Cornish coast or the trenches of the First World War.
Michael Morpurgo's father came from a working-class family, while his mother's family included actors, an opera singer, writers, and poets.
When Michael Morpurgo was born the following year, his father was stationed in Baghdad.
Michael Morpurgo has two younger half siblings, Mark and Kay Morpurgo.
Michael Morpurgo went to primary school at St Matthias, Earl's Court.
Michael Morpurgo did not learn who his biological father was until he was 19 years old.
Michael Morpurgo quickly realised that a soldier's life was not for him and left after nine months.
Michael Morpurgo later went to study at King's College London, reading English, French, and Philosophy, and graduated with a third class degree.
Michael Morpurgo then joined the teaching profession with a job at Wickhambreaux Primary School in Canterbury, Kent.
Michael Morpurgo's writing career was inspired by Ted Hughes' Poetry in the Making, Paul Gallico's The Snow Goose and Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea.
Michael Morpurgo is the author of dozens of books, including the notable titles:.
Kensuke's Kingdom, following a fictionalised version of Morpurgo himself stranded on a desert island as a child, was adapted as a film of the same title first released in 2023 and widely released in 2024, with Aaron MacGregor voicing a young Michael, and Sally Hawkins and Cillian Murphy voicing his parents.
Michael Morpurgo has thirty books on the HarperCollins list and has sold more than 35 million books worldwide.
Michael Morpurgo and Ted Hughes, then Poet Laureate, originated the idea of the Children's Laureate role, and Michael Morpurgo later became the third person to fill the two-year position, from 2003 to 2005.
In 1963, aged 19, Michael Morpurgo married Clare Lane, eldest daughter of Allen Lane, the founder of Penguin Books.
Lane was pregnant with their first child and Michael Morpurgo has referred to it as a shotgun wedding.
Michael Morpurgo was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer in 2017 and received radiotherapy.
Michael Morpurgo has referred to the charity as his greatest achievement in life.
Michael Morpurgo was advanced to Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2006 Birthday Honours for services to literature and was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to literature and charity.
In 2012, Michael Morpurgo was made an Honorary Graduate of the University of Suffolk.
Michael Morpurgo was awarded an honorary doctorate at Bishop Grosseteste University on 17 July 2013.
Michael Morpurgo was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Devon on 10 April 2015.
Michael Morpurgo is President of BookTrust, the UK's largest children's reading charity.
On 9 November 2023 Michael Morpurgo was awarded an honorary doctorate at University of Plymouth, after writing almost all of his 150 books in the county of Devon.