Michael Morpurgo
Children's Author
English author of such children's books as War Horse, Billy the Kid and Kensuke's Kingdom. His other literary works include plays, poems, and libretti.
He attended King's College, London and worked as a schoolteacher in Kent, England for a time. While he was teaching primary school, he discovered his talent for storytelling and began to pursue the writing career that would eventually earn him the honor of British Children's Literature Laureate.
He received a California Young Reader Medal in 2008 for his book Private Peaceful.
His mother was actress Kippe Cammaerts, and he was the biological son of actor Tony Van Bridge, although he was raised by his stepfather, Jack Morpurgo. He married Clare Lane, the daughter of the founder of Penguin Books and he has three children named Sebastian, Rosalind and Horatio.
His novel War Horse was adapted into a 2011 film directed by Steven Spielberg.