A York festival is to celebrate renowned author Michael Morpurgo with two special free events.
As part of York Festival of Ideas (31 May – 13 June), it has been announced that there’ll be a Michael Morpurgo Celebration Day on Tuesday 3 June – with thousands of schoolchildren from across the country being invited to take part.
The event is a tribute to the acclaimed author, and will mark his eighth York Festival of Ideas appearance and his first as Patron.
The main feature of the day will be a live online event, hosted by BBC News culture and media editor, Katie Razzall, with schools from across the country joining in.
Michael will read excerpts from his new book Cobweb, and will answer children’s questions about his work, research and love of animals and nature.
Joan Concannon, director of York Festival of Ideas, said: “Michael’s wonderful children’s books and moving stage performances have inspired generations of young people with a love of words, reading and the arts. We’re very excited about welcoming schoolchildren from across the country to what will be a unique and memorable event.
“The Michael Morpurgo Celebration Day is a chance for us to honour Michael’s amazing talent, career and impact, and to thank him for his long-standing support of York Festival of Ideas. We are incredibly grateful to Michael for his shared commitment to delivering inspiring, quality events to diverse audiences for free.”
In addition to the main event, Michael, together with his wife and fellow author Clare Morpurgo and Carol Hughes will present My Heart Was a Tree: The concert at York Theatre Royal on Monday 2 June.
The free event will feature poetry readings will be interspersed with music by Elgar, Haydn, Max Richter and Vaughan Williams, performed by the Iddesleigh String Quartet.
Free tickets for the performance of My Heart Was a Tree: The Concert will be bookable when the 2025 York Festival of Ideas programme goes live on 2 May 2025.
Michael said: “I am hugely honoured to be invited to become Patron of York Festival of Ideas. Over the years, having the opportunity to perform and share my stories as part of a festival that enables everyone to come who wants to come, has been incredibly inspiring.
“York Festival of Ideas’ commitment to making ideas accessible to all by offering free events is something I would love to see happen more often. I strongly believe that there should be no barriers to ideas.
“I’m very much looking forward to returning to York in June and to sharing my stories online with my friends in schools and in person at York Theatre Royal.”
Find out more about York Festival of Ideas and what’s to come at their website here.