The White Horse Of Zennor - Michael Morpurgo

Michael Morpurgo OBE was born in 1943 in St Albans and was educated at Kings Canterbury, Sandhurst and Kings College London. He taught for ten years in both state and private schools and is married with three children and six grandchildren. His first book was published in 1975 and he has since published over 100 titles. His books have been translated into over twenty languages. Michael's books have also been adapted for film and the stage, including most recently the National Theatre's enormously successful production of War Horse. Together with his wife Clare he founded Farms for City Children, an educational charity, in 1976. The organisation now runs three farms welcoming over 3,000 children a year. In 1999 he was awarded an MBE for services to youth, and in 2006 he was awarded an OBE. His books have won the Whitbread Award (The Wreck Of Zanzibar), the Smarties Book Prize (The Butterfly Lion), the Children's Book Award (Kensuke's Kingdom) and Cercle D'Or Prix Sorciere (King Of The Cloud Forests), the Blue Peter Book Award and the Califonia Young Reader Medal (Private Peaceful), the Independent Booksellers' Book of the Year Award (Alone On A Wide Wide Sea) and several have been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Michael was Children's Laureate from 2003-2005. Michael Foreman is an award-winning illustrator of over 180 books. He has contributed to books by Roald Dahl, Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens, as well as writing and illustrating his own books. Prizes include the Kate Greenaway Award (twice for 'Longneck and Thunderfoot' and 'War Boy: A Country Childhood'), the Smarties Book Prize ('War Game'), the Kurt Maschler Award ('Sleeping Beauty and Other Favourite Fairy Tales'), the Children's Book Award and the Bologna Book Prize. His titles for Egmont include 'The Best Christmas Present in the World' and 'Kensuke's Kingdom'.