At 73, and with more than 100 books and millions of sales under his belt, Michael Morpurgo is as enthusiastic as ever about the importance of ‘rattling good yarns’, writes Marjorie Brennan.

It is no longer possible to shield children from the world, according to Michael Morpurgo who tells Colette Sheridan of his journey from schoolteacher to best-selling author and how his stories inform as well as entertain. 

Here’s a round up of some of the best festival line-up’s country-wide, from Ailin Quinlan.

SATURDAY

Check out our spoiler-free guide to the best of tonight's TV.

Now in its ninth year, the Pampers UNICEF campaign has helped to eliminate maternal and newborn tetanus in 15 countries. 

Reading (and being read to) helps your children understand the world around them, and eases them into school, says Mark Evans, and now one bookshop is helping with age-appropriate reading lists

How Are You Feeling Today,

The award-winning and commercially successful show hits Dublin, reports Jo Kerrigan

1|theatre|WAR HORSE

A mix of the old and the new are among the books, plays, and films that young teens can study for the first Junior Cycle Student Award in 2017.

GIVEN the weather we’ve been enduring here lately, you have to envy the Australian lifestyle. They can plan open air events with confidence, and if you were thinking of celebrating the first months of 2014 down under, then Sydney is the place to head for, where on Feb 1 you can enjoy Opera in the Domain free.

THE National Theatre’s staging of War Horse has been universally lauded as a thrilling, magnificent and moving epic.

Film festival celebrates its 65th birthday with typical glamour and glitz, says Don O’Mahony

Some of the biggest names in Hollywood have paraded down the red carpet ahead of the 84th Academy Awards.

The casualties of war extend far beyond the terrible loss of human life.

DID Steven Spielberg really intend ET (1982) to be read as a Christ-like figure?

The Duchess of Cambridge will celebrate her 30th birthday today with a “low-key and private” event.

Jeremy Irvine wasn't told he was auditioning for 'War Horse' for two months.

The Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson has been unveiled as the UK's new Children’s Laureate and said she will “relish” the role.

British actors Mark Rylance and Vanessa Redgrave have been nominated for prestigious Tony awards.

The 63-year-old filmmaker Steven Spielberg will begin working on the World War I movie 'War Horse' in the later summer or early autumn, with a release date planned of August 10, 2011.

There were demands today for the controversial Channel 4 programme 'Boys and Girls Alone' to be taken off air, as a group of leading child experts condemned the TV show as cruel.

THE second volume of a biography of Henri Matisse, which took 15 years to complete, tonight became the surprise winner of the Whitbread Book of the Year prize.

Liz Hurley and David Frost were among seven celebrities named goodwill ambassadors for the Hans Christian Andersen bi-centennial celebrations.