43 Facts About Michael Rosen

Michael Wayne Rosen was born on 7 May 1946 and is a British children's author, poet, presenter, political columnist, broadcaster and activist who has written 140 books.

Michael Rosen served as Children's Laureate from 2007 to 2009.

Michael Wayne Rosen was born into a Jewish family in Harrow, Middlesex, on 7 May 1946.

Michael Rosen's ancestors were Jews from an area that is Poland, Romania, and Russia, and his family had connections to The Workers Circle and the Jewish Labour Bund.

Michael Rosen was a secondary school teacher before becoming a professor of English at the Institute of Education in London and publishing extensively, especially on the teaching of English to children.

Michael Rosen had attended Central Foundation Girls' School, where she made friends such as Bertha Sokoloff.

Michael Rosen met Harold in 1935, when both were aged 15, as they were both members of the Young Communist League.

Michael Rosen never joined, but his parents' activities influenced his childhood.

Michael Rosen spent time as an exchange student at Winchester College in 1964, which he recalls fondly.

In 1969, Michael Rosen graduated from Wadham College, Oxford, and became a graduate trainee at the BBC.

In common with the China expert and journalist Isabel Hilton, among several others at this time, Michael Rosen had failed the vetting procedures which were then in operation.

In due course, Michael Rosen established himself with his collections of humorous verse for children, including Wouldn't You Like to Know, You Tell Me and Quick Let's Get Out of Here.

Michael Rosen played a key role in opening up children's access to poetry, both through his own writing and with important anthologies such as Culture Shock.

Michael Rosen was one of the first poets to make visits to schools throughout the UK and further afield in Australia, Canada and Singapore.

Michael Rosen's tours continue to enthuse and engage school children about poetry in the present.

We're Going on a Bear Hunt is a children's picture book written by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury.

In 1993, Michael Rosen gained an MA in Children's Literature from the University of Reading and subsequently gained a PhD from the University of North London.

Michael Rosen is well established as a broadcaster, presenting a range of documentary features on British radio.

Michael Rosen is the presenter of BBC Radio 4's regular magazine programme Word of Mouth, which looks at the English language and the way it is used.

The book was written by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Quentin Blake.

Michael Rosen's This Is Not My Nose: A Memoir of Illness and Recovery is an account of his ten years with undiagnosed hypothyroidism; a course of drugs in 1981 alleviated the condition.

In 2011, he collaborated with his wife, Emma-Louise Williams, to produce the film Under the Cranes, with Michael Rosen providing the original screenplay, which Williams took as a basis with which to direct the film.

Michael Rosen has previously taught children's literature on the MA in education studies at the University of North London and its successor institution, London Metropolitan University.

Michael Rosen was formerly a visiting professor of children's literature at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught children's literature and devised an MA in children's literature, which commenced in October 2010.

Michael Rosen is a patron of the Shakespeare Schools Festival, a charity that enables schoolchildren across the UK to perform Shakespeare in professional theatres.

Michael Rosen was the subject of the BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs programme on 6 August 2006; his chosen favourite record, book and luxury item were "Black, Brown and White" by Big Bill Broonzy, the Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg, and his late son's didgeridoo respectively.

In March 2021, Michael Rosen released the book Many Different Kinds of Love: A Story of Life, Death and the NHS, an account of his experience being hospitalised with COVID-19 a year earlier, including his own poem for the NHS 60th anniversary 'These are the Hands' being pinned to his bed or wall.

Michael Rosen contributed to Poets for Corbyn, an anthology of poems from 20 writers.

In November 2019, along with other Jewish public figures, Michael Rosen signed an open letter supporting Corbyn, describing him as "a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism, xenophobia and racism in much of the democratic world" and endorsing him in the 2019 UK general election.

Michael Rosen stood for election in June 2004 in London as a Respect Coalition candidate.

Michael Rosen has written columns for the Socialist Worker and spoken at conferences organised by the Socialist Workers Party.

Michael Rosen was appointed the sixth British Children's Laureate in June 2007, succeeding Jacqueline Wilson, and held the honour until June 2009, when he was succeeded by Anthony Browne.

Michael Rosen signed off from the Laureateship with an article in The Guardian, in which he said, "Sometimes when I sit with children when they have the space to talk and write about things, I have the feeling that I am privileged to be the kind of person who is asked to be part of it".

In January 2008, Michael Rosen was presented with an honorary doctorate by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust and the University of East London.

Michael Rosen was selected to be the guest director of the 2013 Brighton Festival.

In 2022, Michael Rosen was awarded an honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing by an expectational and unanimous vote of the RCN Council during the organisation's annual congress; with RCN President Dr Denise Chaffer citing Michael Rosen's lived experience, patient advocacy, and ongoing COVID-19 public awareness work as contributory factors.

Michael Rosen has been married three times and has five children and two step-children.

In March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Michael Rosen was admitted to hospital with suspected COVID-19.

Michael Rosen was moved into the ICU and back to a ward, before again being moved back to ICU.

In 2019, Michael Rosen claimed there were "about 4,000 YTPs" of Michael Rosen performing his poems and stories.

In May 2021, Michael Rosen accused academic and campaigner against antisemitism Pete Newbon of an antisemitic act for posting a photoshopped image of Jeremy Corbyn reading his book We're Going on a Bear Hunt with children, replacing the text on the book's page with the antisemitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Michael Rosen claimed the image and its associated tweet as "loathsome and antisemitic".

Newbon commenced an action for libel against Michael Rosen, but died of suicide in January 2022.