Latest News
Updated 9th March, 2026
New Books
The Big Journey
Little Bear and Big Bear have to go on a big journey but Little Bear doesn’t want to go. What advice does he pick up from the other animals? And what happens when they get lost on the way?
Illustrated by Daniel Egnéus, published by Bloomsbury.
Where Are You Eddie?
Michael wonders if he’s lost Eddie forever. Meg the cat tells Michael to go out and see if he can find Eddie, even though they both know that Eddie has died.
Illustrated by Gill Smith, published by Walker.
Hot Food: NICE!
The famous meme of Michael Rosen saying ‘NICE!’ brought into a picture book with riotous pictures from Neal Layton.
Illustrated by Neal Layton, published by Walker.
Adventures in Wonderland
Michael Rosen’s introduction to students studying the history and theory of children’s literature. There are 12 of his lectures plus two essays.
Edited by John Richmond, published by Goldsmiths.
New Show for 2026
I am celebrating my 80th birthday this year with a brand-new live show.
I’ll be looking back at a lifetime in poetry, performing favourites such as Hot Food, No Breathing, and Chocolate Cake, along with never-before-heard poems from my upcoming collection 80 Years Young
NICE! is a show for all ages, from the young to the young at heart.
The tour kicks off on the 4th May. Find out more…
David Rosenberg’s Walks
In September, I joined one of David Rosenberg’s Walks round the East End of London, covering the very same ground that my parents walked on when they were children and teenagers. David is fantastically knowledgeable about the history and culture of the East End, and it was great for me to see the streets that my father writes about in his memoir, Are You Still Circumcised? (Five Leaves Press).
Find out more about David’s walks…
By the way, I’ve narrated an Audio Book of Are You Still Circumcised?, word for word, unabridged, and it’s available through Audible.
Morag Styles
I was very sorry to hear that Morag Styles died. She was a friend, scholar, story-teller and a great person to work with, or just hang out with. She organised poetry festivals in Cambridge and I worked with her on various projects including an exhibition at the British Library about how artists have illustrated poems for children. There was a commemoration of Morag’s work. One of her many books tells the history of poetry for children From the Garden to the Street. It’s a great book for anyone interested in finding out about his fascinating history.
I can well remember Morag’s excitement when she discovered the hidden history of (in particular) some radical women poets from the early 19th century who not only wrote for children but were also anti-slavery abolitionists. She was also pleased to ‘save’ some women from being forgotten: very often people put ‘Twinkle twinkle little star’ and ‘Mary had a little lamb’ in books without saying who wrote them. ‘Twinkle twinkle little star’ was written by Jane Taylor, while ‘Mary had a little lamb’ was written by Sarah Josepha Hale. Why are these women’s names so often not given as the authors of such popular little rhymes?
MC Grammar
I’ve been working with the great MC Grammar on a new book of Ridiculous Raps and Rhymes. He’s amazing. He can turn any book into a rap and now we’ve got together and we’ve written a brand new book. I think it’s fizzy, wild, crazy and fantastic fun. It’ll be out soon.
We also have some dates lined up for later this year, including an event at the Brighton Festival on Sunday 3 May, 2026. Look out for more details soon.
Chicken Tikka Tagore
I’ve become the Ambassador for my local Asian restaurant, The Taste of Nawab. They’ve turned me into a cartoon and I recommend dishes. They’re near to where I live and I really love their food. My favourite dish is Chicken Tikka Tagore.
As it happens, it’s fun that I like a dish names after Tagore. He was a great Bengali poet who I’ve long admired, Rabindranath Tagore, who lived not far from where I live. There’s a plaque on the wall for him. Anyway, I love the idea that I really like eating a dish named after him. I suppose it’s a bit like eating something called Fish and Chips Shakespeare! Or Cottage Pie Dickens!
One Day in Paris
In February, I went to Paris to give two talks about the book I did with the illustrator Benjamin Phillips. It’s called One Day and it’s about the men who managed to escape from the Nazis during WW2. My link with them is that they escaped from the same train that was deporting my father’s uncle and aunt to Auschwitz, the extermination camp they never came back from.
For the first talk I was on a panel with a writer called Murielle Szac who talked about her books set in WW2 as well. The next talk was for children who had read One Day as it’s been translated into French.
The talks took place at the Mémorial de la Shoah, in Drancy, right by the transit camp that the Nazis used to put my relatives and the men who escaped from the train. It was then, and still is, a housing estate, just outside Paris.
Before I went, I was getting a bit nervous about whether my French was good enough to manage the discussions, but in the end it was fine. I know I make mistakes but my accent is OK and I usually find ways to understand what people are saying, to say what I want and to make myself understood! What’s odd is that once I get going in French, I don’t even know how I do it. It’s as if there is some kind of secret box in my head and when I start to speak, the words just come out, without me telling them to! I’m by no means bilingual but there’s enough French in my ‘secret box’ for it all to work. It sometimes feels very strange to me.
One story: after I finished the discussion with the children who were about 10 years old, I could see that they wanted to ask me something that had nothing to do with the book, One Day. I heard one of them say ‘Nice!’ and then I knew straightaway that meant that they had seen the meme of me saying ‘Nice!’ and they wanted me to do it, right there in the lecture hall before they went back to school.
So I did! And they filmed me on their phones.
OLDER NEWS
To browse my older news stories, visit the News Archive.
