Children's Laureate February 2004 Tour
Item Posted: Monday 26th April , 2004
AUTHOR EVENTS COWAL SUCCESS. '"
The Scottish Book Trust director, Marc Lambert, declared the Children’s Laureate tour of Scotland an “outstanding achievement.” At a gathering of those involved in the tour to celebrate World Book Day in Edinburgh, he told the audience that Michael Morpurgo had told his stories to over 5000 children. In venues as varied at the Royal Concert Hall with 800 in the audience to a small rural school that only had 6 children, Michael kept the audience enthralled and begging for more.
Certainly the events in Cowal clearly showed the enormous demand, and enthusiasm for, quality author events. Four primary schools- Dunoon, Tighnabruich, Furnace, and Strachur provided a rapt audience of about 200 on Friday. A smaller, but no less keen, audience gathered in Lochgoilhead Village Hall on the Sunday.
Michael is an outstanding storyteller in print, but in the flesh brings an uncanny acting ability into play. One minute a gruff teacher, the next a lonely and homesick boy, the characters in his stories seemed to join us in the room. The audience swung from laughter to tears, and back again in no time.
The events were much more than just the effective reading of both powerful and funny stories, they were an informal workshop on writing, and how an author collects and combines incidents in his life to weave a tale.
Unusually he is a “children’s” author who can be appreciated by adults, and deals with subjects and emotions not normally associated with children’s books. His latest bestseller, “Private Peaceful”, short-listed for the Whitbread prize, deals with the tragedy of a young soldier shot for so-called cowardice.
What came across to the audience- both young and old- is his passion for books and reading. He enthused that he hoped to “ bring even more children to reading and writing.I shall tell my stories wherever I go. I will be telling them that for me a story is at the heart of great literature, whoever it is written for.”
If the spark of his enthusiasm creates a handful of avid readers he will have been mightily pleased with his efforts. If one child takes up his pen- or faces his computer- and writes stories as a result of hearing Michael, his tour, and the support of its funders Scottish Friendly, will have been really worthwhile.
Michael will be back in Scotland on the second leg of his tour in June. Further details from the Scottish Book Trust 0131 5240160.
The success of these events in Cowal have led a group to consider liaising with schools and groups of adults to set up more author and storytelling events. If you might be interested please call 01301 703559.
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Photograph caption:
The Clerk children from Lochgoilhead, who recently interviewed the author for the Dunoon Observer, with Michael Morpurgo.