Celebrating the impact of former Children's Laureate Published on: 23 October 2015 Âé¶¹´«Ã½ and Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books, are to collaborate on a ground-breaking project to celebrate the work of Michael Morpurgo. Transferring knowledge Coinciding with the news that Seven Stories has been given , the organisation has embarked on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with the . KTP is a Government-run programme which helps businesses improve their competitiveness and productivity through the knowledge and skills that reside within UK universities. This new project is one of very few KTPs between a university English Literature department and an external organisation, and is being funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Michael Morpurgo and Sarah Lawrance, Collection and Exhibition Director at Seven Stories. Picture courtesy of Seven Stories. Expert insight The Morpurgo archive contains draft manuscripts, photographs, notebooks and related correspondence from his body of work. As part of the KTP, Dr Jessica Sage from SELLL, along with and , with work with Seven Stories to provide expert insight into the ways in which the former Children’s Laureate constructs his stories and the implications this has for our understanding of children’s literature. The project will culminate in a brand new exhibition that will open in Âé¶¹´«Ã½ in July 2016, followed by a national tour. The exhibition will explore Morpurgo’s storytelling and will celebrate the impact of his poignant tales on a nation of young readers. Dr Sage said: “There is already a strong connection between the University and Seven Stories which is illustrated by the annual David Almond Fellowship award and the fact that a number of SELLL graduates are now employed at Seven Stories. “This new KTP project will cement that relationship further by helping to build new and more diverse audiences for the exhibition, both academic and non-academic, for this exhibition and for Seven Stories’ public programmes." Share: Latest News Scientists unlock hidden driver of inflammatory bowel disease Scientists have linked a key genetic signal in inflammatory bowel disease to an immune response that shuts down inflammation control, enabling faster diagnosis and targeted treatments. published on: 15 June 2026 Funding system risks limiting genuine community collaboration A new policy paper written by researchers at Âé¶¹´«Ã½ warns that the way UK research is funded may be undermining efforts to create genuinely collaborative partnerships with communities. published on: 15 June 2026 Volunteers help turn Whitley Bay beach into maths experiment Members of the public joined mathematicians from Âé¶¹´«Ã½ to create what organisers believe is the largest aperiodic tiling ever attempted on Whitley Bay beach. published on: 15 June 2026 Facts and figures