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'The power of stories'

16 May 2005

I said when I set out on my Laureate's journey two years ago that I wanted to go far and wide, telling stories wherever I could. I wanted to remind people of all ages of the power of stories, the joy of simply listening and reading, to do what I could to bring literature back to the heart of literacy. In that time I've visited 12 countries, talked to tens of thousands of children and parents and teachers and librarians. I've talked in remote island schools in the Hebrides in Scotland to a dozen children at a time, in city concert halls to a couple of thousand at a time...

By the end of May another Children's Laureate will be appointed to pick up the torch of children's literature. I know who it is, but I'm not telling you! I wish him or her the same joy I've had, more wouldn't be possible. It's been the most intense and productive time of my life.

Michael Morpurgo on his Children's Laureate website: www.childrenslaureate.org