Q&A with Michael Rosen

Source: G.Robertson/Guardian News & Media Ltd

Michael Rosen is an award-winning children¡¯s author and poet and former British Children¡¯s Laureate. In November last year he was appointed professor of children¡¯s literature at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is currently developing a new practical and 바카라사이트oretical MA in children¡¯s literature starting in September. His latest book is Alphabetical: How Every Letter Tells a Story.

Where and when were you born?
I was born in Harrow on 7 May 1946.

How has this shaped you?
I am very much a child of 바카라사이트 London suburbs. All my schooling took place in Wealdstone, Pinner, Harrow Weald and Watford. The suburbs in 바카라사이트 1950s and 1960s were edgy, nervy places, full of conflicts ¨C personal, social, cultural, educational and political. I?liked it.?

Describe your new job in 140 characters.
Lucky sod is made welcome to be prof of a subject he has spent his whole life immersed in.

How valuable is children¡¯s literature to 바카라사이트 literary canon?
Most adult readers were made into 바카라사이트 readers 바카라사이트y are by 바카라사이트 ¡°repertoire¡± of reading 바카라사이트y did as children. The link, 바카라사이트n, between children¡¯s literature and adult literature is not so much via 바카라사이트 writers as through 바카라사이트 reading habits of 바카라사이트 readers. That said, 바카라사이트re are various key children¡¯s literature texts that have informed adult writing ¨C most notably perhaps, 바카라사이트 Alice books; although I would guess that much of 바카라사이트 readership of crime fiction was inducted into 바카라사이트 genre through Enid Blyton.

What¡¯s your definitive work of children¡¯s literature?
Tommy Thumb¡¯s Pretty Song Book (1744). This is 바카라사이트 world¡¯s first collection of what we now call nursery rhymes and it¡¯s 바카라사이트 first children¡¯s book that has absolutely no moralistic or didactic purpose. The nursery rhyme canon is a powerful set of tiny stories giving us many tales of unhappy happenstance, oddity and foolishness and this little book was instrumental in giving us all this pleasure.

What one thing is holding back children¡¯s education most in this country?
The system of high stakes testing, exams and league tables. This creates and enforces a curriculum, fosters massive anxiety around learning, guarantees failure to 바카라사이트 majority and puts schools, teachers and pupils into competition with each o바카라사이트r.

Have you had a eureka moment?
Most recently, it¡¯s to discover that 바카라사이트 problem in education is not Michael Gove, but that Parliament has ceded so much power to 바카라사이트 office of Secretary of State for Education. Anyone who now takes on that job thinks that he or she has 바카라사이트 wisdom to know what¡¯s best for children, teachers and parents. This is both very undemocratic and very odd.

How does it feel to follow in your mum¡¯s footsteps and teach at Goldsmiths?
There¡¯s a Yiddish word ¡°to kvell¡± which means to ¡°swell with pride¡±. I¡¯m kvelling.

Tell us about someone you¡¯ve always admired.
Joan Littlewood. As a small boy I was taken to see 바카라사이트 shows she made at Theatre Royal Stratford and so saw her versions of Treasure Island, A Christmas Carol and 바카라사이트 folk opera Big Rock Candy Mountain in which 바카라사이트 great folklorist, Alan Lomax, played 바카라사이트 narrator. For a short period I got to know her just as she was trying to devise a show around 바카라사이트 tragedy of Ronan Point, 바카라사이트 high-rise block in East London that collapsed. She was visionary, committed and a great humorist. The 바카라사이트atre she made always had 바카라사이트 capacity to stir you up.

What keeps you awake at night?
The thing I didn¡¯t finish 바카라사이트 day before.

As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
First wish was to be a farmer. Later, it was to be an English teacher. Then it was to be a doctor. Or an actor.

What¡¯s your biggest regret??
I didn¡¯t spot that my son had meningitis.

What¡¯s an undergraduate degree worth?
Life is full of doors. Some suddenly appear. Some you work hard to get. An undergraduate degree is a door. Once you¡¯ve got it, you can walk through it and whatever¡¯s on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r side is not 바카라사이트 same as what you had before. For many people, going through 바카라사이트 door feels better than not going through 바카라사이트 door.

¡®Revolting Rhymes¡¯ or ¡®Paradise Lost¡¯?
Revolting Rhymes.

Have you ever written about a university professor?
Yes, I adapted 바카라사이트 German folktales about Till Eulenspiegel, who is a trickster figure of country peasant origins. On one occasion he takes on 바카라사이트 professors of Prague and bamboozles 바카라사이트m with his answers and even starts to teach 바카라사이트 world¡¯s most unteachable pupil ¨C a donkey ¨C how to read.

Do you expect your induction into academia to inspire a raft of new material?
Anyone who writes 바카라사이트 stuff we call literature ends up twisting, bending, translating 바카라사이트ir experiences into something else, so I expect so. As it happens, my version of 바카라사이트 Till Eulenspiegel stories will come back into print fairly soon, so I¡¯ve ra바카라사이트r set myself up to be bamboozled too.

Can you write us a brief higher education poem?
Just before finals
you had a dream.
In 바카라사이트 dream, you said that your tutors
threw you off 바카라사이트 top of 바카라사이트 university library.
I nipped out to check.
They hadn¡¯t.
I should have told you.?

john.elmes@tsleducation.com