Meeting Michael Morpurgo

We were very fortunate today to be able to go to an event that was part of Derby Book Festival, to 'meet' Michael Morpurgo.  A friend, J had spotted this event for Derby schools and had got in touch to ask if home educators could go.  She had received a positive response, along with 6 tickets and we were very lucky to be able to go along with her and her daughter Mi.  Since that made 5 of us, I asked my friend C if her daughter G would like to come too, since I was fairly sure she'd be interested and happy to come with us without her mum.  All four girls were the 'right' age for the event too, which was for school years 5 & 6 (9 to 11 year olds).

G, M & K in the foyer beforehand.

Michael Morpurgo was a very engaging, interesting speaker.  He talked generally about how he goes about writing his books and where he gets his ideas from.  He recommended 'telling' stories rather than 'writing' them to avoid getting overwhelmed by the blank page.  He then spoke about three books of his in particular and where the inspiration for them had come from, in one case talking to someone at a boring drinks party!  He read a short extract from one of his books, Listen to the Moon, after explaining that it was inspired by a medal that his wife had found as a child when she was isolated with chicken pox.  The medal commemorating the sinking of the Lusitania turned up again decades later, when he was inspired by it and other things he'd read about to write the book, as he also explains here.

Michael Morpurgo!

After reading the extract, he then took questions from the audience.  There were a lot of children there, six children from each of the junior schools in Derby, as well as us, so clearly not everyone was going to get to ask their question, but he did his best to answer as many as possible.  Some of the questions were quite predictable and to be honest had already been answered in the course of his talk, but there was one in particular that stuck out for me and from his response, I think for Michael Morpurgo too.  The question was asked with tongue in cheek, but after acknowledging this, it was answered very much seriously: How do you feel about your fame and fortune?  He responded briefly about the nature of fame in today's society and also about how he feels it's much better to come to it later in life when you are better prepared, having experienced normal life first, to deal with it.  He also mentioned that while having money isn't bad things to aspire to, it's also very important to realise that having money separates you from people, which isn't a good thing.

A final thing to note, he very much encouraged the children to read his books, firstly encouraging them to borrow them from libraries, because they are free, and if you are going to buy them, wait for the paperback. So all in all, a massive thumbs up for Mr Michael Morpurgo and thank you J for the chance to 'meet' him!

After we parted ways with J and Mi, we headed back for lunch and play (for the girls along with L, G's sister) and chatting for C and me and had a generally lovely afternoon!