Michael Rosen

Nominated Children’s Laureate in 2007, the award-winning Michael Rosen is known to many for his humorous books and poems as well as his work in education, while the YouTube channel where he presents hundreds of stories in comedic style has garnered millions of fans. ...

Born into a Jewish family with Communist ideals in 1946, Rosen was brought up over a shop in Pinner, where the builders’ yard behind their flat served as a playground. Both his parents were teachers who valued learning as well as the importance of stories, songs and fun and these elements, as well as their political awareness, were to play a significant part in Rosen’s work.

After a fleeting interest in becoming a doctor Rosen left Middlesex Hospital Medical School to study English Language and Literature at Wadham College in Oxford. During this time he was twice arrested for protesting – against the Vietnam war, and against a hairdresser who refused to accept black clients – and wrote his play Backbone, which used an interfaith relationship to explore changing social norms. It was performed at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1968 and was reviewed in The Stage by RB Marriott, who surmised that the ‘new young playwright may well be more interesting later on’.

Undeterred, Rosen took a job after university with the BBC, working on radio plays, documentaries and Playschool, but writing fiction was never far from his mind and in 1974 he published the children’s book Mind Your Own Business. Over the next five decades he combined journalism, poetry and writing with school visits, teaching at universities and running workshops for teachers, earning a PhD in children’s literature on the way.

Some 200 books later he has become one of the most recognizable names in children’s fiction with titles such as 1989’s We’re Going on a Bearhunt to his credit as well as a plethora of light-hearted poetry, while his commitment to humanitarian principles continues to find expression in his journalism and works for adults.