Michael Morpurgo OBE to give Keynote Address at Winchester Writers' Conference

The University of Winchester is proud to announce that Michael Morpurgo OBE will give the Keynote Address at the 29th Winchester Writers' Conference on the weekend of 3-5 July.

His address on Saturday, 4 July will draw upon his lifetime experience as a children's author, a parent and grandparent and a person with compassion for others and a passion for literature.

Michael Morpurgo was appointed Children's Laureate in May 2003 and held the post until May 2005. During this time, he travelled all over the UK talking to children and telling his stories and encouraging them to tell theirs.

In 2007 he was awarded an OBE for services to Literature in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2007.

He has written over 100 books, including Why the Whales Came, which was made into a major feature film, and My Friend Walter, filmed by Thames Television. Kensuke's Kingdom won the Children's Book Award 2000 and was also shortlisted for the Whitbread Children's Book Award and the Carnegie Medal in 2000. He received critical acclaim for his book Out of the Ashes, a moving novel about the foot and mouth crisis that was adapted for television.

His novel, Private Peaceful, a harrowing story about the First World War was published in Autumn 2003. It won the 2004 Red House Children's Book Award and the Blue Peter Book Award in 2005. His latest novel, Kaspar: Prince of Cats, was inspired during his time as Writer in Residence at the Savoy Hotel in London. Recently, his novel War Horse has been adapted into a play that performed to critical acclaim at the National Theatre in 2007 and returned to the National in 2008.

In 1976, Michael and his wife, Clare, started the charity Farms for City Children. They help to run three farms around the country, in Gloucestershire, Pembrokeshire and North Devon. Each farm offers children and teachers from urban primary schools the chance to live and work in the countryside for a week, and gain hands-on experience. For more information about the work of Farms for City Children, please visit www.farmsforcitychildren.co.uk.

Michael Morpurgo lives in Devon with his wife Clare. He has three children and seven grandchildren.

Michael Morpurgo's website is at: www.michaelmorpurgo.org.

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