Michelle Magorian
Encyclopedia
Michelle Magorian is an English
author of children's books, including Goodnight Mister Tom
, Back Home and A Little Love Song.
of Speech and Drama, she spent two years at Marcel Marceau
's L'école Internationale de Mime in Paris
. From there she launched into a professional acting career and spent a few years touring all over the country - from Scotland to Devon and then Yorkshire - working in repertory companies, taking any part she could. Michelle's worst stage part was playing Orinoco the Womble in a musical. All this time she had been secretly writing stories. In her mid-twenties she became interested in children's books, and decided to write one herself.
The result was Goodnight Mister Tom, a winner of the Guardian Award
and the International Reading Association Award. The book has also been adapted into a film and a musical. Since then she has published four more novels, two collections of poetry, a collection of short stories and two picture books.
Michelle wrote Goodnight Mister Tom in a novel-writing class. The idea for the book came from the colours in a song from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. She thought of brown as an earthy, old colour and green as a colour of youth. The character of William Beech came into her head because she thought of a beech tree with its slim trunk and it gave her the idea for a slim young boy. Details for the story came from her mother's tales about her time as a nurse in the Second World War. It took Michelle four and a half years to write Goodnight Mister Tom because she was also working in the theatre and upon publication it quickly became an international success.
Michelle followed Good Night Mister Tom with Back Home, another story about the Second World War. However, the main character in Back Home is a young girl; the story details her struggle at being back home in England after five years of living with a family in America as an evacuee.
A Little Love Song (Not a Swan in the USA) is about gaining independence and finding love in wartime Britain.
Most of Michelle's other books are also set in the mid-1900s, often based around theatres.
In 2007, she received an honorary doctorate from Portsmouth University.
Just Henry won the Children's Book category in the 2008 Costa Book Awards
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
author of children's books, including Goodnight Mister Tom
Goodnight Mister Tom
Goodnight Mister Tom novel by Michelle Magorian. It follows a young boy, William Beech, who is evacuated from London during the Blitz of World War II, and put into the care of Tom Oakley, an elderly recluse...
, Back Home and A Little Love Song.
Biography
Michelle Magorian was born in Southsea. As a child she spent as much time as possible in the King's Theatre in Portsmouth and her ambition was to become an actress. After three years of study at the Rose Bruford CollegeRose Bruford College
Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance is a British drama school, offering university-level and professional vocational training for theatre and performance and the BA and MA degrees, based in Sidcup, Southeast London.-History:Founded in 1950, Rose Bruford "pioneered the first acting degree...
of Speech and Drama, she spent two years at Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau was an internationally acclaimed French actor and mime most famous for his persona as Bip the Clown.-Early years:...
's L'école Internationale de Mime in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. From there she launched into a professional acting career and spent a few years touring all over the country - from Scotland to Devon and then Yorkshire - working in repertory companies, taking any part she could. Michelle's worst stage part was playing Orinoco the Womble in a musical. All this time she had been secretly writing stories. In her mid-twenties she became interested in children's books, and decided to write one herself.
The result was Goodnight Mister Tom, a winner of the Guardian Award
Guardian Award
The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award is a prominent award for works of children's literature by British or Commonwealth authors, published in the United Kingdom during the preceding year. The award has been given annually since 1967, and is decided by a panel of authors and the...
and the International Reading Association Award. The book has also been adapted into a film and a musical. Since then she has published four more novels, two collections of poetry, a collection of short stories and two picture books.
Michelle wrote Goodnight Mister Tom in a novel-writing class. The idea for the book came from the colours in a song from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. She thought of brown as an earthy, old colour and green as a colour of youth. The character of William Beech came into her head because she thought of a beech tree with its slim trunk and it gave her the idea for a slim young boy. Details for the story came from her mother's tales about her time as a nurse in the Second World War. It took Michelle four and a half years to write Goodnight Mister Tom because she was also working in the theatre and upon publication it quickly became an international success.
Michelle followed Good Night Mister Tom with Back Home, another story about the Second World War. However, the main character in Back Home is a young girl; the story details her struggle at being back home in England after five years of living with a family in America as an evacuee.
A Little Love Song (Not a Swan in the USA) is about gaining independence and finding love in wartime Britain.
Most of Michelle's other books are also set in the mid-1900s, often based around theatres.
In 2007, she received an honorary doctorate from Portsmouth University.
Just Henry won the Children's Book category in the 2008 Costa Book Awards
Costa Book Awards
The Costa Book Awards are a series of literary awards given to books by authors based in Great Britain and Ireland. They were known as the Whitbread Book Awards until 2005, after which Costa Coffee, a subsidiary of Whitbread, took over sponsorship....
.