Michael Rouse

His father Harold (1919–2008) was born in Brockton, Massachusetts, but grew up in the East End of London from the age of two, when his mother left Harold's father and returned to Britain. He attended Davenant Foundation School and then Regent Street Polytechnic. Harold was a secondary school Teacher before becoming a professor of English at the Institute of Education in London, and publishing extensively, especially on the teaching of English to children.

His mother was Connie (née Isakofsky) Rosen (1920-1976). She attended Central Foundation Girls' School, then in Spital Square, where she made friends such as Bertha Sokoloff, who went on to lead a significant rent strike. Connie worked as a secretary at the Daily Worker, and later as a primary school Teacher and then a training college lecturer. Both members of the Young Communist League, Harold and Connie met in 1935, aged 15. They participated in the Battle of Cable Street together. As a young couple, they settled in Pinner, Middlesex. They eventually left the Communist Party in 1957. Michael never joined, but this background influenced his childhood, for Example his father's acquaintance (through his mother) with the bohemian literary figure Beatrice Hastings made an impression on him as a child.

After his studies at Wadham College, Oxford, and graduation in 1969, Rosen became a graduate trainee at the BBC. Among the work that he did while there in the 1970s was presenting a series on BBC Schools television called WALRUS (Write And Learn, Read, Understand, Speak). He was also scriptwriter on the children's reading series Sam on Boffs' Island. But Rosen found working for the corporation frustrating: "Their view of 'educational' was narrow. The machine had decided this was the direction to take. Your own creativity was down the spout."

Despite previously having made no secret of his radical left-wing politics when he was originally interviewed for a BBC post, he was asked to go freelance in 1972, though in practice he was sacked despite several departments of the BBC wishing to employ him. In Common with the China expert and Journalist Isabel Hilton among several others at this time, Rosen had failed the vetting procedures which were then in operation. This long-standing practice was only revealed in 1985, and by the time Rosen requested access to his files, they had been destroyed.

In 1974 Mind Your Own Business, his first book of poetry for children, was published. In due course, Rosen established himself with his collections of humorous verse for children, including Wouldn't You Like to Know, You Tell Me and Quick Let's Get Out of Here.

Rosen has been married three times, is the father of five children, and has two stepchildren. Eddie (1980–1999), his second son, died at the age of 18 from meningitis, and his death was the inspiration for Michael Rosen's Sad Book published in 2004. Rosen lives in North London with his third wife, Emma-Louise Williams, and their two children.

We're Going on a Bear Hunt is a children's novel written by Rosen and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury. The book won the overall Nestlé Smarties Book Prize in 1989 and also won the 0-5 years category. The publisher, Walker Books, celebrated the Work's 25th anniversary in 2014 by breaking a Guinness World Record for the 'Largest Reading Lesson'.

In 1993, Rosen gained an M.A. in Children's Literature from the University of Reading; he holds a Ph.D. from the University of North London.

The English Association gave Michael Rosen's Sad Book (2004) an Exceptional Award for the Best Children's Illustrated Books of its year in the 4–11 age range. The book was written by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Quentin Blake. It deals in part with bereavement, and followed the publication of Carrying the Elephant: A Memoir of Love and Loss which was published in November 2002 after the death of his son Eddie (aged 18), who features as a child in much of his earlier poetry. Rosen's This Is Not My Nose: A Memoir of Illness and Recovery (2004), is an account of his ten years with undiagnosed hypothyroidism; a course of drugs in 1981 alleviated the condition.

Rosen was the subject of the BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs programme on 6 August 2006.

Rosen was appointed the sixth British Children's Laureate in June 2007, succeeding Jacqueline Wilson, and held the honour until June 2009, when he was succeeded by Anthony Browne. Rosen signed off from the Laureateship with an article in The Guardian, in which he said: "Sometimes when I sit with children when they have the space to talk and write about things, I have the feeling that I am privileged to be the kind of person who is asked to be part of it". In 2007, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Exeter.

In January 2008, Rosen was presented with an honorary doctorate by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust and the University of East London. In November 2008 he was presented with an honorary master's degree at the University of Worcester, and the Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Literature) at the French ambassador's residence in London.

In April 2010, Rosen was given the Fred and Anne Jarvis Award from the National Union of Teachers for "campaigning for education". In July 2010 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Nottingham Trent University.

In April 2011, Rosen was awarded an honorary doctorate at the Institute of Education, University of London, and in July 2011, honorary doctorate by the University of the West of England. Rosen was selected to be the guest Director of the Brighton Festival in May 2013.

In August 2015, Rosen endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election, Rosen contributed to Poets for Corbyn, an anthology of poems "featuring 20 writers". In the same month, he was a signatory to a letter criticising The Jewish Chronicle's reporting of Corbyn's association with alleged antisemites. In 2016, along with others, he toured the UK to support Corbyn's bid to become Prime Minister.