Ken Roberts (born 1946) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

and

children's writer Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

who lives in Nanaimo, BC.

Biography

Ken Roberts is the former Chief Librarian of the

Hamilton Public Library The Hamilton Public Library (HPL) is the public library system of Hamilton, Ontario. Services HPL services include the Local History and Archives department (formerly called Special Collections), which houses an extensive collection of local his ...

. His hobby is writing. Ken Roberts has taught Public Library Children's Services at UBC, Children's Literature at Simon Fraser University and Storytelling/Puppetry at the University of Lethbridge. He has been Storyteller in Residence for the Vancouver School Board and Games Master for the World Improvisation Championships. Ken Roberts was also a two-time All-American distance runner, having attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

as an undergraduate and both McMaster University and

UWO The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

for master's degrees.

Awards/recognitions

Ken Roberts has won a CanPro award for television writing and co-wrote a comedic play for adults (Suspect) that received a very positive review in Variety and has played regularly, with performances on three continents. His book ''Past Tense'' was nominated for the prestigious

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

for Children's Literature in 1994. He has also been a finalist for the Christie Book Award and for the Canadian Children's Book of the Year. His book ''The Thumb in the Box'' received a starred review in ''The Horn Book''. Another children's novel, ''Hiccup Champion of the World'', has been translated into a number of languages. Ken won the Canadian Association of Public Libraries' Outstanding Service Award in 2001 and the Hamilton Public Library system won the Ontario Library Association's President's Award for Exceptional Achievement in 2002. Ken is a past president of the Canadian Library Association.

Works

*''Crazy Ideas'' - 1984 *''Pop Bottles'' - 1987 *''Hiccup Champion of the World'' - 1988 *''Jacques Cartier'' - 1988 *''Nothing Wright'' - 1991 *''Past Tense'' - 1994 (nominated for a

) *''The Thumb in the Box'' - 2001 *''Thumb on a Diamond'' - 2006 *''Thumb and the Bad Guys'' - 2010

References

External links

Hamilton Public Library website
1946 births Living people Canadian librarians Canadian children's writers {{Canada-writer-stub