Michael Morpurgo to meet readers at Okehampton book signing
Okehampton independent bookshop Dogberry & Finch Books is to host a special book signing event with beloved children's author Sir Michael Morpurgo this autumn.
Morpurgo will visit Fairplace Church in Okehampton on Saturday 31 October to sign copies of his new memoir, Down Burrow Lane: Life and Love on the Farm.
The long-awaited book tells the story of Michael and his wife Clare, who 50 years ago left London with their young family and moved to a remote farm in rural Devon, reached by a narrow track called Burrow Lane.
It was there that Morpurgo, then a young schoolteacher, began his writing career. The farm would go on to inspire many of his best-known books, including War Horse and Private Peaceful.
Over the following five decades, Michael and Clare raised their family on the farm and established the charity Farms for City Children in 1976. The charity has since welcomed more than 100,000 children from towns and cities to experience life in the countryside.
Down Burrow Lane explores the couple's life together, the joys and challenges of running a farm and the impact of the children who visited through their charity.
The memoir has already been described as "A warm, rich, generous book. A pleasure from first page to last," by author Katherine Rundell, while Rory Stewart called it "A moving, vulnerable portrait of love, nature and a life well-lived". Actress and author Joanna Lumley described the story as "Touching and extraordinary, this true story seems like a fairy tale".
Morpurgo will sign copies of Down Burrow Lane purchased at the Okehampton event or pre-ordered through Dogberry & Finch Books.
The book is published on 17 September, giving local readers the opportunity to reserve a copy ahead of the signing.
The bookshop says it will also have other new titles by Morpurgo available at the event, with further details to be announced.
The signing will take place from 4.30pm to 5.30pm on Saturday 31 October at:
Fairplace Church, 3 Fairplace Terrace, Okehampton, EX20 1DT
Copies can be reserved for signing by contacting Dogberry & Finch Books by email at [email protected] or by calling 01837 657563.