Michael Morpurgo, V&A

To mark the centenary of World War I, children's writer Michael Morpurgo comes to the V&A to discuss his best-selling novel War Horse.

The novel tells a tear-jerking tale of triumph, with the travesty of war as a backdrop. Young readers experience the war through the eyes of Joey, a farm horse who is sold to a soldier and goes on a journey across war-torn France, capturing hearts and narrowly dodging danger. Former Children’s Laureate Morpurgo describes how he was inspired to write the story after befriending three war veterans near his Devon home.

This charming story of on animal’s courage has since been adapted for the National Theatre in an award-winning display of puppetry, which transferred to both the West End and Broadway and then into a Spielberg directed blockbuster, in 2011. The transformation from page to stage will be explored as set designer Rae Smith, who devised the spectacular staging in the National Theatre production of War Horse, joins the discussion and offers a theatrical insight.

As a special surprise, Rae’s iconic model of Joey the horse will leave the V&A display for the evening to join the discussion. Children will delight in seeing the ‘real life’ Joey while discovering the inspiration behind both the story itself and the aesthetic innovations of the play.