If anyone was ever born to be a writer or poet, I suppose I was. Born one of 13 children and 17 dogs, I spent my childhood wandering around forgotten fields, climbing trees and falling into rivers in pursuit of damselflies. I caught one once. Oh, and reading. I could read before I knew my alphabet, and read everything that I could find. I was Lancelot, Peter Pan and Jim Hawkins by turns, until I found that being myself was the awfully biggest adventure of all.
In 1984 I began my career as a writer and designer of children’s books, working most closely with the illustrator, June Goulding. Our first book, Peter and the Bogeyman, remains my favourite. I think it is because it is the one that bears closest relationship to the old Grimm’s Fairy-Tales. Other favourites are Jessica Harriet’s New Neighbours, The Togg and Leftover Books and, The Ghost Train - a pop-up book published by Hutchinson. The Jellymonster, Jenny’s Bear and Togg and Leftover have all been televised.
The best thing about being a writer is being able to share my love of stories and poetry with audiences – and doing it noisily! People use too few words, and make far too few noises. It is a wonderful feeling to be published, but it can never match the excitement and unpredictability of workshops and performances, and it is for these that I am best remembered. As well as sharing my own stories and poetry, and showing how books are created - often using June’s original sketches and illustrations - I bring my energetic (and often manic) interpretations of myths and legends from a wide range of cultures. Thor, Anansi and Native American heroes are quite likely to appear in implausible succession. My aim is to inspire audiences with my child-born love of words, and the wondrous worlds to which they transport us. In this aim I have I have performed in many schools as well as colleges, supermarkets, army-bases and even up to my waist in the sea (in suitable lobster armour, of course).
I have worked in association with The Bristol Addiction Dependency Unit, The Bristol Small Island Initiative, The Bath Theatre Royal and I have been a long-term contributor to The Threshold Prize.
Workshops
My writing workshops are particularly well-suited to KS2 classes, but I am equally happy to work with or entertain groups of any kind, with content suitable for all. If invited for performance, then the larger the groups the better! I offer up to four one-hour workshops per visit, as I like to see as many people as possible.
By the way, I can now say the alphabet backwards in five seconds.
Feedback
During half term week 19-23 February 2007 Mike Ratnett ran poetry workshops with four diverse groups of children in libraries across the city as part of the ‘Great Reading Adventure’ celebrating cultural diversity and migration. The children, ranging in age from 5 to 12, explored themes of language and travel and produced between them a stunning variety of work. Similar workshops were successfully run by Mike in Bristol schools. He manages to hold the attention of disparate groups and put the child at the centre of the creative process, supporting self confidence and concentration whilst at the same time encouraging children to have a marvellous time and enjoy poetry.
This is the most recent series of many writing workshops Mike has held for Bristol Libraries. All have been successful all have been quite different and I hope to continue working with him for many years to come.
Janet Randall
Outreach Officer; Children & Young People
Bristol Libraries
Publications include
Peter and the Bogeyman. Hutchinson.
The Jellymonster. O.U.P.
Togg and Leftover Books. Collins.
Horrible Holly’s Pet Raptor. Troll, USA.
Marmaduke and the Scary Story. Collins.
Dracula Steps Out. Hutchinson.
Jenny’s Bear. Hutchinson.
The Ghost Train.  Hutchinson.
Monsters of Class 7. Cool Hand Press.
Jessica Harriet’s New Neighbours. Hutchinson.
And poems in one or two anthologies.