Michael Morpurgo is the author of over 100 books and winner of both the Whitbread and the Smarties Prize. Children's Laureate from 2003-2005, he has received the MBE (1999) and OBE (2006). In 1976 Michael and his wife, Clare, started the charity Farms For City Children (FFCC), which aims to relieve the poverty of experience of young children from inner city and urban areas by providing them with a week in which they work actively and purposefully on farms in the heart of the countryside.

Living in Devon, listening to Mozart, and working with children have provided most of the stimulae Michael needs to discover and write his stories. He spends about half his life mucking out sheds with the children, feeding sheep or milking cows; the other half he spends dreaming up and writing stories. "For me, the greater part of writing is daydreaming, dreaming the dream of my story until it hatches out - the writing down of it I always find hard. But I love finishing it, then holding the book in my hand and sharing my dream with my readers."

The full NAWE conference programme is currently being finalized and will be posted on the website by the end of July, then mailed to all members.

Early booking information is already available.

All enquiries to Gill Greaves, Acting Programme Manager.

Picture of Michael Morpurgo courtesy SLA / Martin Salter