NCBF05
GALA DAY (19th Gateshead Civic Centre)
Website
Wordybug
Michael has lived in a number of places and has had an even larger number of jobs! After going to Art School he trained as a graphic designer and photographer. He soon became a freelance photographer, and his clients included the Financial Times, the News of the World and various advertising agencies. When Michael fancied a change he stored all his belongings and went to Paris, and later hitch-hiked across Europe, where he ended up picking apples on a kibbutz in Israel.
Michael has written several books for children, including The Poltergoose which actually started life as a slip of the tongue one breakfast time, and twenty minutes of scribbling later Michael had the bones of the plot, as well as the names of the Three Musketeers, "who were already answering back!". The Poltergoose was shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards and this is the first title in the hilarious and acclaimed series about Jiggy McCue, the latest title being The Snottle.
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| Neville The Devil Orchard Books 1843628791 |
Nudie Dudie Orchard Books 1843626470 |
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| The Snottle Orchard Books 1843623447 |
The Killer Underpants Orchard Books 1841217131 |
Michael's new novel for young adult readers, A Crack in the Line, is the exciting first book in the Aldous Lexicon Trilogy. "A thought-provoking tale packed with mystery and suspense" - The Bookseller.
Michael now lives in Cambridgeshire, where he writes full time.
Publisher
Orchard Books
Chrysalis Books
What are your favourite children's books?
My current favourite is Raymond Briggs' Ethel and Ernest. When I was a child I had many favourites, including anything by E. Nesbit - Five Children and It, The Story of the Treasure Seekers, etc, The Chronicles of Narnia (just coming out and not yet famous), Sam Pig by Alison Uttley, The Jungle Book and Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling and the hilarious Jennings books by Anthony Buckeridge (who I dedicated The Killer Underpants to for the enormous pleasure he gave me back then).
Which famous person would you like to meet and why?
Paul Gauguin, because he changed his profession completely (as I've done, more than once), loved colour (as I do) and painted in the South Seas (as I once longed to do).
What is your perfect sandwich?
No sandwich can beat a stick of French bread straight out of the oven, tucked under the arm and eaten while walking through the streets of Paris on a cold winter morning.
Which animal would you like to be and why?
A grizzly bear. I like the idea of being bigger than everyone else and growling at them.
What is your earliest childhood memory?
When I was little I had a bedroom overlooking the river. One Sunday morning I looked out of the window and saw a punt drifting by with no one in it. I wondered about that for a very long time. Still do.