PATIENCE is a virtue for writers and some things are definitely worth waiting for – especially when it happens to be a phone call from Steven Spielberg.
No one was more surprised than Devon author Michael Morpurgo when one of the most influential film personalities in the history of film asked to turn his book War Horse into a movie.
Up until then the book had received only small scale success since its release more than 30 years ago. Michael owes the renewed interest in it to the National Theatre who brought it to the London stage.
It has now been two years since Spielberg released his hugely successful film version of War Horse. Home for Michael has continued as always at his Devon farm in Iddesleigh – as far removed from Hollywood as you could get.
"I write in a hut down the bottom of my garden where I can hide away," reveals Michael, who turns 70 this year. "It's lovely as the setting is mostly woods so I can sit there and be very peaceful.
"I've been living here for nearly 40 years and feel my roots are here, so many of my stories are set here."
Michael sets aside six months of the year to focus on his writing, and the rest of his "retirement" is spent doing concerts, readings and events up and down the country.
His next public appearance is at Sidmouth Folk Festival on Friday, August 2, with Coope, Boyes & Simpson in the Ham Marquee at 3pm.
Billed as a pre-festival special, the performance will be based on Michael's award-winning book Private Peaceful which has toured as a play everywhere from Exeter Northcott Theatre to Broadway.
Its story will be told combining Michael's evocative readings with songs written and arranged by the folk trio.
"It's kind of a concert with a story along with it," explains Michael. "I did a similar thing with War Horse last year and it was really successful so I was invited back this year to do another book.
"Private Peaceful is also a story about the First World War. There will be wonderful songs about, and of, the First World War. I will read some of my story and then there will be another song and so forth.
"I love doing them, and what's lovely is the mixed audience you get, from 10-year-olds to 90-year-olds.
"It's a very intense and desperately sad story about the last night of a soldier's life before he is going to be shot at dawn. He wants the night to be as long as possible so he spends the whole night reliving his life from his childhood onwards.
"It's also strangely a positive story which is why children really like it."
Michael is a former children's laureate and has been known as a children's writer for the last 40 years, but reveals he doesn't create his stories with them specifically in mind.
"The moment you start trying to write for children is when you patronise them," he says. "I write stories which interest me and which tends to be about children because I was a child once – albeit a long time ago – and I have been a father, grandfather and teacher.
"So I know children very well and it interests me the way they look at the world and feel about it, and their enthusiasm.
"War Horse appeals to children because they long for the horse to survive and find his master again. They long for the right thing to happen and for the war to end."
In total, Michael has penned more than 120 books and won more awards than he can probably list.
Michael's latest book is A Medal for Leroy, inspired by the true story of Walter Tull, the first black officer in the British army.
"It is very difficult to pick a favourite," admits Michael. "My wife's favourite is War Horse. She thinks it's my best book.
"I think Private Peaceful is probably my best book, but my favourite book I'd choose if I had to put my hand on my heart is Butterfly Lion or Farm Boy, the sequel of War Horse which most people don't know about."
Initially, Michael admits he wanted to be an actor – both his parents were thespians who met at RADA – and he has appeared in the stage adaptation of War Horse once, as an extra in the crowd, which fulfilled some earlier aspirations.
Both War Horse and Private Peaceful have been turned into hugely successful plays. The ongoing tour of War Horse arrives at Plymouth's Theatre on September 27, and its entire run until October 12 is already a sell-out.
Before it opens there, the National Theatre will be bringing a life-sized puppet of Joey the war horse to Michael's village where Joey was born, so to speak.
"Each time a story is turned into a play or film it moves the story on a bit and tells it in a different way," says Michael.
"It was certainly unusual when I got that call from Steven Spielberg. It's the sort of thing a writer dreams of. It's kind of flattering and what's really lovely is the book gets out there a bit more.
"I wrote War Horse 35 years ago and it was still in print when Spielberg heard about it, but frankly it had never got beyond selling a couple of thousand copies a year.
"Then along came the National Theatre and it started selling 5,000 to 10,000 a year; then Spielberg comes along and I sold millions, and it was on the New York Times and Sunday Times bestsellers list."
Trusting someone else with his stories is something Michael admits he does worry about, but says he has always been happy with the outcome.
"You are always worried about what they will do to the story," he says. "You're always critical, and you have to be, but I have been very lucky compared with many writers in recent years and I've had really wonderful productions made of my stories."
Out of all those Michael can pick from, he chooses Exeter-based company Theatre Alibi as his favourite.
"They have to take a lot of credit because they did a play 15 years ago of my book called Why the Whales Came," recalls Michael. "It is set in the Isles of Scilly so it's very local.
"Theatre Alibi did probably the most amazing production that's been done. It went to the West End and had a really good run, and now they're about to do another book of mine – I Believe in Unicorns.
"It's touring for three to four months all over the Westcountry as of this month and will then be going up to London. For me it's very important to have that local connection."
Michael's latest book is called Lucy Lost which will be out next year, and he still has plenty more ideas to keep him going for a long time to come.
"I'm like an egg-laying hen with lots of little eggs queuing up a various stages of development," says Michael.
"I feel a bit like that because I've got a story I'm planning at the moment and then there are lots of other smaller ones, down to the mutt of an egg which is a story to write in three or four years' time."
For more details about Michael's appearance at Sidmouth Folk Festival – running from August 2 to 9, and details of other events, visit ww.sidmouthfolkweek.co.uk