Sheldon Oberman (May 20, 1949 – March 26, 2004) was 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 ...

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 lived in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Oberman (known to friends as Obie) grew up in the city's North End. After graduating from St. Johns High School, he studied literature first at the University of Winnipeg and then at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Oberman lived and travelled through Canada,

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

before he returned to Winnipeg in 1973, where he received his teaching degree. In 1975, he started working as an English, Drama and Journalism teacher at Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate, a job he held for nearly 30 years. Oberman started writing in the mid-seventies, inspired by bedtime stories he told his children. An important development in his career as a writer was the summer he spent at the

Banff School of Fine Arts Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, formerly known as The Banff Centre (and previously The Banff Centre for Continuing Education), located in Banff, Alberta, was established in 1933 as the Banff School of Drama. It was granted full autonomy as ...

where he studied under

W.O. Mitchell William Ormond Mitchell, (March 13, 1914 – February 25, 1998) was a Canadian writer and broadcaster. His "best-loved" novel is '' Who Has Seen the Wind'' (1947), which portrays life on the Canadian Prairies from the point of view of a smal ...

. Oberman published twelve books, including the award-winning ''Always Prayer Shawl'' (1999), ''The Shaman's Nephew'' (1999; short-listed for the Governor General's Award), ''The Island of the Minotaur'', and "Solomon and the Ant and other Jewish Folktales" (2006), (published posthumously). Oberman acted and directed in both film and stage plays, and toured

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

as a professional storyteller. He wrote columns and freelance articles for the ''

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Winnipeg Free Press'' (or WFP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well as ...

'' and published children's songs, stories and poems in a number of magazines, journals and anthologies. He died of

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a cancer that develops from the lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a number of subtypes, including gastric adenocarcinomas. Lymph ...

on March 26, 2004.

Selected bibliography

*''A Mirror of a People: Canadian Jewish Experience in Poetry and Prose'' (1985) *''TV Sal and the Game Show from Outer Space'' (1993) *''The Business with Elijah'' (1993) *''The White Stone in the Castle Wall'' (1994) *''The Always Prayer Shawl'' (1999) *''By the Hanukkah Light'' (1997) *''The Shaman's Nephew'' (1999) *''The Wisdom Bird: A Tale of Solomon and Sheba'' (2000) *''Island of the Minotaur: Greek Myths of Ancient Crete'' (2003) *''Solomon and the Ant and other Jewish Folktales'' (2006)

Awards

* 1994: National Jewish Book Award in the Children Picture Book category for ''The Always Prayer Shawl''

References

External links

Official Website
1949 births 2004 deaths Canadian children's writers Deaths from stomach cancer Writers from Winnipeg Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Canadian schoolteachers University of Manitoba alumni {{Canada-writer-stub