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ED2012 Words & Events Reviews
Maggie Fergusson & Michael Morpurgo (Edinburgh International Book Festival / Baillie Gifford)
By Lia Sanders | Published on Friday 31 August 2012
Things almost turn nasty at this discussion about Michael Morpurgo’s life when there is no time for him to read. Morpurgo appeases the mob with a song, getting the mainly grown-up audience to join in. But there is generally great warmth of feeling, partly due Morpurgo’s relationship with his biographer Maggie Fergusson; she is the intellectual foil to his raconteur, asking the more probing questions that perhaps he would not. In addition to the sing-along, we fit in talk of Ted Hughes’ role as a mentor and the state of children’s education nowadays. Yet the best line of the day is from one of his last school reports: “Morpurgo may never be bookish but he has a great rugger future”.
RBS Main Theatre, 18 Aug, 11.30am.
[Lia Sanders]
