Related to: 'Magda Brol'

Michael Wayne Rosen (born 7 May 1946)[1] is a broadcaster, children's novelist and poet and the author of 140 books. He was appointed as the fifth Children's Laureate in June 2007, succeeding Jacqueline Wilson, and held this honour until 2009. Michael Rosen was born in Harrow, London. The family background is Jewish, "from the Jewish East End tradition" as Rosen puts it.[2] Rosen's father Harold (1919–2008) was born in Brockton, Massachusetts, in the United States to Communist parents and settled in the East End of London at the age of two, when his mother returned to the country of her birth.[3] While a member of the Young Communist League he met Connie Isakofsky, his future wife and Michael Rosen's mother, in 1935. Harold was a secondary school teacher before becoming a professor of English at the Institute of Education, London,[4] and Connie a primary school teacher before becoming a training college lecturer; she also broadcast for the BBC. Producing a programme featuring poetry, she persuaded her son to write for it, and used some of the material he submitted.[5] Their ancestors came from Poland, Russia and Romania.[2] Michael Rosen was brought up in Pinner, Middlesex, and went to various state schools in Pinner, Harrow, and then Watford Grammar School for Boys,[2] and, having discovered the range of Jonathan Miller, thought: "Wouldn't it be wonderful to know all about science, and know all about art, and be funny and urbane and all that."[6] Subsequently, in his own words: After graduating from Wadham College, Oxford, in 1969, Rosen became a graduate trainee at the BBC. Among the work that he did while there in the 1970s was presenting a series on BBC Schools television called WALRUS (Write And Learn, Read, Understand, Speak). He was also scriptwriter on the children's reading series Sam on Boffs' Island. But Rosen found working for the corporation frustrating: "Their view of 'educational' was narrow. The machine had decided this was the direction to take. Your own creativity was down the spout."[7] Despite previously having made no secret of his radical politics he was asked to go freelance in 1972, though in practice he was sacked despite several departments of the BBC wishing to employ him. In common with the China expert and journalist Isabel Hilton among several others at this time, Rosen had failed the vetting procedures which were then in operation. This long-standing practice was only revealed in 1985.[8] In 1974 Mind Your Own Business, his first book of poetry for children, was published. In due course, Rosen established himself with his collections of humorous verse for children, including Wouldn't You Like to Know, You Tell Me and Quick Let's Get Out of Here. Educationalist Morag Styles has described Rosen as "one of the most significant figures in contemporary children's poetry". He was, says Styles, one of the first poets "to draw closely on his own childhood experiences ... and to 'tell it as it was' in the ordinary language children actually use".[7] Rosen played a key role in opening up children's access to poetry: both through his own writing and with important anthologies such as Culture Shock. He was one of the first poets to make visits to schools throughout the UK and further afield in Australia, Canada and Singapore.[7] His tours continue to enthuse and engage school children about poetry in the present.[9] In 1993, he gained an M.A. in Children's Literature from the University of Reading; he also holds a Ph.D. from the University of North London.[10] He is well established as a broadcaster, presenting a range of documentary features on British radio. He is the presenter of BBC Radio 4's regular magazine programme Word of Mouth which looks at the English language and the way it is used.[11] The English Association has given Michael Rosen's Sad Book an Exceptional Award for the Best Children's Illustrated Books of 2004, in the 4–11 age range. The book was written by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Quentin Blake. It deals in part with bereavement, and followed the publication of Carrying the Elephant: A Memoir of Love and Loss which was published in November 2002 after the death of his son Eddie, who features as a child in much of his earlier poetry. In 2004, Rosen published This Is Not My Nose: A Memoir of Illness and Recovery, an account of his ten years with undiagnosed hypothyroidism; a course of drugs in 1981 alleviated the condition.[7] Rosen has also been involved in campaigning around issues of education and for the Palestinian cause. He has written columns for the newspaper of the Socialist Workers Party (Socialist Worker)[12] and spoken at their conferences.[13] He has also stood for election in June 2004 in London as a Respect Coalition candidate.[5] He is also a supporter of the Republic campaign.[14] Rosen was the subject of the BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs programme on 6 August 2006.[15] He is currently Visiting Professor of Children's Literature at Birkbeck, University of London, where he teaches Children's Literature and has devised an MA in Children's Literature, which commenced in October 2010.[16] In August 2010 Rosen contributed to an eBook collection of political poems entitled Emergency Verse - Poetry in Defence of the Welfare State edited by Alan Morrison[17] In 2011, he collaborated with his wife, Emma-Louise Williams to produce the film 'Under the Cranes'; he provided the original screenplay (a 'play for voices' called 'Hackney Streets') which Williams took as a basis with which to direct the film. It premiered at the Rio Cinema, Dalston, London on April 30, 2011 as part of the East End Film Festival[18] Rosen was appointed as the fifth Children's Laureate in June 2007, succeeding Jacqueline Wilson,[19] and held this honour till 9 June 2009, being succeeded by Anthony Browne.[20] Rosen signed off from the Laureateship with an article in The Guardian,[21] in which he said, poignantly: "Sometimes when I sit with children when they have the space to talk and write about ... things, I have the feeling that I am privileged to be the kind of person who is asked to be part of it". In summer 2007, Rosen was awarded an Honorary D.Litt at the University of Exeter.[22] On 19 January 2008, Rosen was presented with an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust and the University of East London at a ceremony held at the Institute of Education.[23] On 5 November 2008, he was presented with an Honorary Masters degree at the University of Worcester.[24] On 18 November 2008, he was presented with the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Literature) by the Government of France at the French Ambassador's residence in London.[25] On 2 April 2010 he was given the Fred and Anne Jarvis Award by the National Union of Teachers for "campaigning for education".[26] On 22 July 2010, Michael Rosen was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Education (DEd) by Nottingham Trent University.[27] On April 5, 2011, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate at the Institute of Education, University of London.[28] On 20 July 2011, Michael Rosen was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of the West of England.[29] Rosen has been married three times, and is the father of five children and two stepchildren. With his first partner, Susannah, he had two sons: Joe (born 1976) and Eddie (born 1980, died 1999). His second partner, whom he does not name, had two daughters from her previous relationship: Naomi (born 1978) and Laura (born 1983).[30] He had one son with her: Isaac (born 1987). Rosen currently lives in Dalston, Hackney, London with his wife Emma-Louise Williams and their two children, Elsie (born 2001) and Emile (born 2004).[31][32]

Saviour Pirotta (born 1958, Naxxar, Malta) is a children's book author based in England.[1] The second of five brothers, he grew up speaking both English and Maltese. He attended Naxxar Primary School and later won a scholarship to St Aloysius' College (Malta), one of the most prestigious schools on the island. He developed a love of literature early on in life when he discovered the works of Maltese folklorist Manuel Magri, the legends of Father Peter Delia, the works of C.S. Lewis and a children's adventure story by local author Guze Galea called Ragel Bil-Ghaqal (A Serious Man). His first short novel, The Pirates of Pudding Beach, paid tribute to it. The author's parents, both extremely devout Catholics, discouraged his interest in the arts and censored most television programmes. The family did watch Italian television series, however, and the RAI adaptations of Emilio Salgari's novels about the Asian pirate Sandokan made a big impression on the young Pirotta, as did frequent reruns of neorealist classics, in particular Vittorio De Sica's Shoeshine and Miracle in Milan. Pirotta also cites as visual influences the works of legendary film animator Ray Harryhausen and Alexander Korda, who produced the 1940 fantasy film The Thief of Baghdad, starring the South Asian actor Sabu. Rare visits to the cinema to watch Biblical epics like Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments were also to prove of lasting influence, which later led to an interest in the sword and sandal genre of movies and historical novels, especially the works of Rosemary Sutcliff. Having finished his secondary education at St. Aloysius, Pirotta enrolled in a hotel management course, but left during the second year, mainly due to bullying from fellow students, although during an interview with a local newspaper two years later he claimed that 'in a world where people are still dying of hunger and fighting for basic human rights, I don't want to waste my life deciding which wine goes with which fish.' He had a variety of jobs while attending a two year evening course at the Manoel Theatre Academy of Dramatic Arts, Malta's national drama school. While in his second year, he wrote a children's radio play which he sold to a local station for £5. After graduating, he directed various plays at the Manoel Theatre and helped set up Malta's first youth theatre company, for which he adapted and produced several works. By now he had decided that his future lay in writing and in October 1981, he moved to the UK. His first job was directing three short plays for Moonshine Community Arts Workshop in London, an off-shoot of Brian Way's pioneering Theatre Centre. He also wrote a children's play based on a Maltese folk tale which toured various venues around London, including the Oval House and Jacksons Lane Community Centre.[2] This brought him to the attention of the Commonwealth Institute, where he worked as a workshop leader and storyteller till 1989 alongside other artists from the Commonwealth including the Guyanese poet John Agard. The children's play was subsequently published by Samuel French and Pirotta has since concentrated on writing. His first efforts were picture books but he soon moved into non-fiction, specialising in pirates and religious festivals. His Pirates and Treasure, published in the UK, the US, Russia and Sweden in 1995 is widely considered to be the first children's book about sea-robbers with a multi-cultural viewpoint. For a while he also wrote science books for the very young using the pen name Sam Godwin. A Seed In Need - a first look at life cycle of a flower - won him the 1998 English Association Award for best non-fiction picture book. After the success of his next two books, Turtle Bay and The Orchard Book of First Greek Myths, Pirotta decided to write solely under his own name. Turtle Bay, published by Frances Lincoln in the UK and Farrar, Strauss, Giroux in the United States was selected by members of a book review panel appointed by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and assembled in cooperation with The Children's Book Council (CBC) as a Notable Science Trade Book of 1998. He has since concentrated on retelling folktales, producing The Sleeping Princess with illustrator Emma Chichester Clarke in 2002; The Orchard Book Of First Greek Myths with Jan Lewis in 2003 (both books for Orchard Books, an imprint of Hachette Livre); Aesop's Fables [2006];Around the World in 80 Tales [2007], both illustrated by Richard Johnson and published by Kingfisher in the UK and the US. In 2008 he performed at the Edinburgh International Book Festival for the first time where his show was sold out. He writes in English and his books are produced mainly for the English-speaking market but they have been successfully published by major companies in various countries, including the United States, Italy, France, Spain, Holland, Portugal, Rumania, Belgium, Sweden, Brazil, Thailand, Greece, Estonia, Poland, Russia and Korea. The author is now a British citizen and lives in Saltaire, Yorkshire. He is very much committed to empowering children to write and still performs workshops and story-making sessions in schools around the UK. He is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the SCBWI and the Scattered Authors' Society. In November 2010, Firebird was awarded an Aesop Accolade by the American Folklore Society. It shared the honour with Eric A. Kimmel's Joha Makes a Wish: A Middle Eastern Tale and Cloud Tea Monkeys by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham. ANTHOLOGIES Storyworld [illustrated by Fiona Small], Blackie & Sons, 1988 [re-issued as Tales From Around the World in 1994] Joy To The World - Christmas Stories from Around the Globe[illustrated by Sheila Moxley], Frances Lincoln/Harpercollins, 1998 The Sleeping Princess and other Fairy Tales from Grimm [illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark], Orchard Books 2002 [titled The MacElderry Book of Grimm's Fairy Tales in the US] The Orchard Book Of First Greek Myths [illustrated by Jan Lewis], Orchard Books, 2003 Once Upon A World[illustrated by Alan Marks], Watts/Sea to Sea Publications, 2004 Aesop's Fables [illustrated by Richard Johnson], Kingfisher 2005 Around The World in 80 Tales [illustrated by Richard Johnson], Kingfisher 2007 Children's Stories from the Bible (illustrated by Ian Andrew and Anne Yvonne Gilbert), Templar 2008 The Giant Book of Giants, Egmont Books, October 2011 PICTURE BOOKS Solomon's Secret [illustrated by Helen Cooper], Methuen/Dial 1989 Little Bird [illustrated by Steve Butler], Frances Lincoln/Tambourine 1992 Turtle Bay [illustrated by Nilesh Mistry], Frances Lincoln/Farrar Straus Giroux, 1998 [reissed as Turtle Watch, 2008] Patrick Paints A Picture [Illustrated by Linz West], Frances Lincoln 2008 Firebird [illustrated by Catherine Hyde], Templar Sept 2010 FORTHCOMING BOOKS The Orchard Book of Ballet Stories for the Very Young, Orchard Books, 2013 Grimm's Fairy Tales, a six-books series from Orchard Books, January 2012 October to March 2012