Mike Barfield

Mike Barfield is an award-winning UK writer and cartoonist. His book 'A Day in the Life of a Poo, a Gnu, and You' - illustrated by Jess Bradley and published by Buster Books - won the Blue Peter Book Award for Best Book with facts in 2021. Its follow-up, 'A Day in the Life of a Caveman, a Queen and Everything In-Between' was shortlisted for the LaughOutLoud Book Awards 2023. A third title, 'A Day in the Life of an Astronaut, Mars and the Distant Stars' was published in February 2023. A fourth title, 'A Day in the Life of Fossils, Fire and Other Fantastic Finds' is due on shelves soon! This series of books has been hugely popular both in the UK and the USA, and all around the world, including China and Korea. Another funny non-fiction title from Buster Books, The Wild Life of Animals, illustrated by Paula Bossio, was published in March 2023, and a prehistoric sequel - The Wild Life of Dinosaurs - came out in 2024. Also last year, Buster published 'Planet Earth: My Life So Far', an autobiography of our planet, illustrated by Jess Bradley. A companion volume, 'Invisible Worlds', will be published in 2026. 2024 also saw his first fun- and fact-filled collaboration with Templar Books. 'The World's First Rollercoaster' - with hilarious cartoon style drawings by Franziska Hollbacher - is shortlisted for the Spark Book Awards 2025, and also long-listed for the Children's Literature Festival Book Awards 2025. Mike is also the author of a fact-filled, funny and beautifully illustrated children's guide to the Periodic Table -'The Element in the Room' - published by Laurence King/Hachette. With drawings by Lauren Humphrey, the book encourages readers to hunt for the elements hiding in their homes, in the company of scientific detective Sherlock Ohms. It was shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Award in 2019 and has since become a go-to book for budding young chemists. A biology-based sequel, That's Life!, followed soon after and a physics-based title - Feel the Force - was published by LK/Hachette in September 2023. Very excitingly, 'Keith's Big Leap' - his first picture book for younger readers with beautiful illustrations by Momoko Abe- will be published by Andersen Press in September 2025. Mike has written extensively for TV and radio - with credits as diverse as Spitting Image, The Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Show and five years on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. His cartoon feature Apparently has appeared in the pages of Private Eye for over 27 years, and his drawings have been on display in the Cartoon Museum, the V & A, the Museum of London and Nigella Lawson's downstairs loo. His Destroy This Book series (published by Buster Books) has also been sold around the world, starting with the Destroy This Book In The Name of Science!: Einstein Edition 2017. The Galileo and Brainiac editions were hot on its heels, and Destroy This Book in the Name of Maths and Destroy This Book in the Name of Art are both on the horizon. All of them are unique activity books where the reader doodles on, colours, and cuts up the pages, making over a dozen amazing working models in the process! Every page, including the cover, is an interactive experience - as well as being huge fun! Mike is also the author of a series of hilarious random insult making books published by LK/Hachette. 'The Ultimate Insult Generator' (aka The Ultimate Wisecrack Generator' in the USA) was a huge Christmas hit, and by 'The Ultimate Spell-caster' - and 'The Ultimate Excuse Generator'. Mike has a first class degree in botany and zoology from King's College, London, and his ever first book many years ago was also a children's science title - a tie-in for the ITV kids' science series Panic Station. His second was the Oldie's Dictionary for Our Time. He also edited the last great Beachcomber collection: 'Cram Me With Eels!'. His comic dictionary This Septic Isle was published by Ebury. He has five poems in the children's poetry selection When Granny Won Olympic Gold, edited by Graham Denton. He has only one poem in the poetry collection, Best of Enemies, Best of Friends (compiled by Brian Moses) but they did at least put it on the cover. His more recently published poetry can be found in the collections A First Poetry Book by Pie Corbett and Gaby Morgan, and Is This A Poem, by Roger Stevens, and Midnight Feasts, edited by A F Harrold. All are highly recommended for use in primary schools. He still cartoons for Private Eye, and writes and performs funny family shows based on his books.