Michael Morpurgo OBE, is an English author, poet, playwright and librettist, best known for his work in children’s literature. He was the third Children’s Laureate. He has written over 120 books, and has been published in over 25 languages. His children’s novel War Horse has been adapted for stage where it became a smash-hit success in the UK, before transferring to Broadway and Toronto. War Horse has also been adapted for screen, directed by Steven Spielberg and released in 2012. Simon Reade has previously adapted Michael Morpurgo's Toro! Toro! and The Mozart Question as well as the phenomenally successful stage version of Private Peaceful, which he has also dramatised for BBC Radio and for feature film. His other plays include Moon Tiger, Twist of Gold, Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp, Not the End of the World, The Scarecrow and His Servant, The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark (all for Bristol Old Vic), Pride and Prejudice (for Theatre Royal Bath Productions), and for the Royal Shakespeare Company Ted Hughes' Tales From Ovid, Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children and Epitaph for the Official Secrets Act (with Paul Greengrass.) His plays for young people are published by Oberon, as is his book Dear Mr. Shakespeare.