Michelle Magorian (born 6 November 1947) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

author of

children's books A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younge ...

. She is best known for her first novel, '' Goodnight Mister Tom'', which won the 1982 Guardian Prize for British children's books and has been adapted several times for screen or stage. Two other well-known works are ''Back Home'' and ''A Little Love Song''. She resides in

Petersfield Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth a ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

Biography

Michelle Magorian was born in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

, and is of Armenian descent. She lived in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

and Australia from age seven to nine. As a child she spent as much time as possible in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

Her ambition was always to become an actress. After three years of study at the

Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama Rose Bruford College (formerly Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance) is a drama school in the south London suburb of Sidcup. The college has degree programmes in acting, actor musicianship, directing, theatre arts and various discipl ...

, she spent two years at

Marcel Marceau Marcel Marceau (; born Marcel Mangel; 22 March 1923 – 22 September 2007) was a French actor and mime artist most famous for his stage persona, "Bip the Clown". He referred to mime as the "art of silence", and he performed professionally worldw ...

's L'école Internationale de Mime in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. From there she launched into a professional acting career and spent a few years touring all over the country - from Scotland to

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

and then

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

- working in repertory companies, taking any part she could. Michelle's worst stage part was playing

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

in ''The Wombles'' musical. All this time she had been secretly writing stories. When she was 24 she became interested in children's books, and decided to write one herself. The result was ''Goodnight Mister Tom''. The idea for the book came from the colours in a song from ''

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'' (often colloquially known as ''Joseph'') is a sung-through musical with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the character of Joseph from the Bible's Book of Genesis. ...

''. 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. Some details for the story came from her mother's tales about her time as a nurse in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. She took four-and-a-half years to complete it because she was also working in the theatre. After she had finished the book, she joined a novel-writing class at City Lit, at which she shared the book. It was published by

Kestrel Books The term kestrel (from french: crécerelle, derivative from , i.e. ratchet) is the common name given to several species of predatory birds from the falcon genus ''Falco''. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behavi ...

in 1981 and quickly became an international success. At home Magorian won the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a once-in-a-lifetime award judged by a panel of British children's writers and she was a commended runner up for the Carnegie Medal from the

Library Association The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, since 2017 branded CILIP: The library and information association (pronounced ), is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers in the U ...

, recognising the year's best children's book by a

British subject The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...

. She also won the

International Reading Association The International Literacy Association (ILA), formerly the International Reading Association (IRA), is an international global advocacy and member professional organization that was created in 1956 to improve reading instruction, facilitate dialo ...

Children's Book Award. The book was adapted as a film of the same name by ITV and aired in 1998; it has also been adapted as a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwo ...

. Magorian followed ''Goodnight Mister Tom'' with ''Back Home'' (1984), another story about a child evacuated during

. Where ''Mister Tom'' featured a London boy living in the English countryside during the war, ''Back Home'' featured a girl struggling back home in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

after five years with a family in United States. ''A Little Love Song'' (''Not a Swan'' in the US), her third novel, features a young woman becoming independent and finding first love in wartime Britain. Most of Magorian's other books are also set in the mid-20th century, often based around theatres. She has written three more novels —''Cuckoo in the Nest'' (1994), ''A Spoonful of Jam'' (1998), and ''Just Henry'' (2008)— and two collections of poetry, a collection of short stories, and two picture books. In 2007, she received an honorary doctorate from

Portsmouth University The University of Portsmouth is a public university in Portsmouth, England. It is one of only four universities in the South East England, South East of England rated as Gold in the Government's Teaching Excellence Framework. With approximately 28 ...

. ''Just Henry'' won the 2008 Costa Book Award in the Children's Book category.

Works

* '' Goodnight Mister Tom'' (1981) () * '' Back Home'' (1984) () * ''Waiting for My Shorts to Dry'' (1989) * ''Who's Going to Take Care of Me?'' (1990) * ''Orange Paw Marks'' (1991) * ''A Little Love Song'' (1991) (); U.S. title, ''Not a Swan'' * ''In Deep Water'' (1992) * ''Jump'' (1992) * ''A Cuckoo in the Nest'' (1994) * ''A Spoonful of Jam'' (1998) * ''Be Yourself'' (2003) * ''Just Henry'' (2008) * ''Impossible'' (2014)

Filmography

Notes

References

External links