Kenneth Oppel (born August 31, 1967) is a Canadian children's writer.

Biography

Oppel was born in

Port Alberni Port Alberni () is a city located on Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The city lies within the Alberni Valley at the head of the Alberni Inlet, Vancouver Island's longest inlet. It is the location of the head offices ...

, and spent his childhood in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

and

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

. He also lived in

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, England, and Ireland. In 1985, Oppel wrote his first book ''Colin's Fantastic Video Adventure'', while at St. Michaels University School. He attended at the same time as actors Andrew Sabiston and Leslie Hope, fellow writers John Burns and Bert Archer, and just before the NBA's

Steve Nash Stephen John Nash (born 7 February 1974) is a Canadian professional basketball coach and former player who most recently served as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 18 seasons in the NBA, ...

and

Flickr Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and profession ...

founder

Stewart Butterfield Daniel Stewart Butterfield (born Dharma Jeremy Butterfield; March 21, 1973) is a Canadian billionaire businessman, best known for co-founding the photo-sharing website Flickr and the team-messaging application Slack. Early life and education In ...

. Oppel forwarded the newly completed manuscript to a family friend who knew

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has b ...

, who in turn recommended it to his agent. Oppel went on to receive his Bachelor of Arts degree in cinema studies and English at Trinity College in the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, writing ''The Live-Forever Machine'' (1992) during his final year. Oppel moved to England and wrote a number of books during that period, gleaning several ideas while working at typing students' papers. From 1995 to 1996, Oppel worked as an editor at ''

Quill & Quire ''Quill & Quire'' is a Canadian magazine about the book and publishing industry. The magazine was launched in 1935 and has an average circulation of 5,000 copies per issue, with a publisher-claimed readership of 25,000. ''Quill & Quire'' reviews ...

'', the trade magazine of the Canadian publishing industry. He wrote four books for the Silverwing novel series: '' Silverwing'', '' Sunwing'', '' Firewing'' and '' Darkwing''. He also wrote another series, the ''Matt Cruse'' saga, including '' Airborn'' (2004), ''

Skybreaker ''Skybreaker'', sequel to '' Airborn'', is a young adult fantasy novel written by Canadian author Kenneth Oppel. It continues the adventures of young airship student Matt Cruse, and Kate de Vries, a budding scientist. Plot summary Using reward ...

'' (2005) and '' Starclimber'' (2008). Oppel won numerous literary awards, including the 2004 Governor General's Literary Award for English language children's literature, a Printz Honor Award from the American Library Association (both for ''Airborn'') and ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its s ...

'' Children's Novel of 2005 (for ''Skybreaker'', named a 2006 Best Book for Young Adults by the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

). Oppel married Philippa Sheppard, a Shakespeare Scholar and Instructor at the University of Toronto. They now live in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anc ...

with three children, Sophia, Nate and Julia.

Selected works

Young adult fiction

*''Half Brother'' (2011) *''The Boundless'' (2014) *''Every Hidden Thing'' (2016) *''Ghostlight'' (2022)

The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein

*''This Dark Endeavor'' (2011) *''Such Wicked Intent'' (2012)

Silverwing series

*'' Silverwing'' (1997) *'' Sunwing'' (1999) *'' Firewing'' (2002) *'' Darkwing'' (2007); UK title, ''Dusk'' – prequel to the trilogy

Airborn series

*'' Airborn'' (2004) *''

'' (2005) *'' Starclimber'' (2008)

Overthrow series

*''Bloom'' (2020) *''Hatch'' (2020) *''Thrive'' (2021)

Other

*''The Live-Forever Machine'' (1990) *''Dead Water Zone'' (1992)

Children's fiction

Barnes and the Brains

*''A Bad Case of Ghosts'' (1993) *''A Strange Case of Magic'' (1994), or ''A Bad Case of Magic'' *''A Crazy Case of Robots'' (1994), or ''A Bad Case of Robots'' *''An Incredible Case of Dinosaurs'' (1994), or ''A Bad Case of Dinosaurs'' *''A Weird Case of Super-Goo'' (1997), or ''A Bad Case of Super-Goo'' *''A Creepy Case of Vampires'' (2002)

Other

* ''Colin's Fantastic Video Adventure'' ( E. P. Dutton, 1985)"Colin's fantastic video adventure"
Library of Congress Catalog Record. Retrieved 2014-02-13. *''Cosmos Cat'' (1990) *''Follow That Star'' (1992) *''Cosmic Snapshots'' (1993) *''Galactic Snapshots'' (1993) *''Emma's Emu'' (1995) *''Peg and the Whale'' (2000) *''Peg and the Yeti'' (2004) *''The King's Taster'' (2009) *''The Nest'' (2015)

Adult fiction

*''The Devil's Cure'' (2000)

References

;Other sources

incorporating material from a 1996 interview

(2000)

at CANSCAIP Members (archived 2010-10-17), with short autobiography

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oppel, Kenneth 1967 births Living people Canadian children's writers Canadian fantasy writers Canadian male novelists Canadian science fiction writers Governor General's Award-winning children's writers Steampunk writers People from Port Alberni Trinity College (Canada) alumni University of Toronto alumni Writers from British Columbia