Michael Morpurgo - World Literary Awards

Profile

Gender: Male
Born: 1943-10-05 （St Albans, Hertfordshire）
Nationality: United Kingdom, British
Languages: English, French
Residence History: Devon → Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex → Earl's Court, London

Career

Occupations: Author, Poet, Playwright, Librettist, Teacher
Active Years: 1977-2024
Affiliations: BookTrust (President), Farms for City Children (Co-founder)
Memberships: Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL), Fellow of King's College (FKC)
Influenced By: Ted Hughes, Paul Gallico, Ernest Hemingway, Seán Rafferty
Influenced: Many children's authors
Nominations: Carnegie Medal shortlist: Waiting for Anya (1991), Carnegie Medal shortlist: Private Peaceful (2003)

Education

Institution	Faculty	Department	Degree	Period	Country
King's College London	—	English, French, and Philosophy	BA (Third-class honours)	—	United Kingdom
The King's School, Canterbury	—	—	—	—	United Kingdom
The Abbey School, Ashurst Wood	—	—	—	—	United Kingdom

King's College London

English, French, and Philosophy

Degree: BA (Third-class honours)

Year of Graduation: 1967

Country: United Kingdom

The King's School, Canterbury

Country: United Kingdom

Boarding school

The Abbey School, Ashurst Wood

Country: United Kingdom

Boarding school for 6 years

Awards

Year	Award	Work	Category	Organization	Result
1996	Nestlé Smarties Book Prize	The Butterfly Lion	—	Nestlé	Gold Award
1995	Whitbread Children's Book Award	The Wreck of the Zanzibar	—	—	Won
2000	Red House Children's Book Award	Kensuke's Kingdom	—	—	Won
1993	Prix Sorcières	King of the Cloud Forests	—	—	Won
2006	Officer of the Order of the British Empire	—	—	British Monarchy	Won
2018	Knight Bachelor	—	—	British Monarchy	Won

Nestlé Smarties Book Prize

1996

Work: The Butterfly Lion

Organization: Nestlé

Result: Gold Award

Whitbread Children's Book Award

1995

Work: The Wreck of the Zanzibar

Result: Won

Red House Children's Book Award

2000

Work: Kensuke's Kingdom

Result: Won

Prix Sorcières

1993

Work: King of the Cloud Forests

Result: Won

Officer of the Order of the British Empire

2006

Organization: British Monarchy

Result: Won

Knight Bachelor

2018

Organization: British Monarchy

Result: Won

Awards & Nominations

Prix Sorcières 4 appearances

Costa Book Awards 1 appearances

Edition 25 (1995) Winner

Nestlé Smarties Book Prize 2 appearances

Edition 12 (1996) Gold Prize
Edition 18 (2002) Bronze Prize

Works

Major Works

War Horse

1982 Children's novel

Story of Joey the horse and boy Albert during WWI.

WarFriendshipSurvivalNature

Adaptations

[Stage play] War Horse / Nick Stafford (2007)
[Film] War Horse / Steven Spielberg (2011)

Private Peaceful

2003 Children's novel

Story of two brothers in WWI.

WarFamilyCourage

Adaptations

[Film] Private Peaceful (2012)

Kensuke's Kingdom

1999 Children's novel

Boy stranded on a desert island.

SurvivalFriendshipNature

Adaptations

[Film] Kensuke's Kingdom (2024)

Bibliography

Friend or Foe (1977)
Why the Whales Came (1985)
The Butterfly Lion (1996)

Style & Themes

Literary Style: Magical storytellingVivid settings
Recurring Motifs: Triumph of an outsiderRelationships with natureSurvival in war

Health

Laryngeal cancer

2017-現在

Received radiotherapy and recovered.

Legacy

Renowned children's author, War Horse success, over 35 million books sold worldwide.

In Popular Culture

War Horse adapted into Spielberg film

Quotes

The war poets were part of the reason I left the army and became a writer.

Source: The Guardian (2022)

Trivia

Married daughter of Penguin Books founder.
Co-founded Farms for City Children charity.