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 o ...

, 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 St. Michaels University School (abbreviated SMUS) is an independent day and boarding school in the municipality of Saanich, the largest and most populous municipality in the Capital Regional District and on Vancouver Island. Previous headmasters i ...

. He attended at the same time as actors

Andrew Sabiston Andrew Sabiston is a multi-award nominated Canadian children's television series developer, story editor, writer and actor with over 1100 episodes to his credit. His mother is artist Carole Sabiston. Early career An early start as a stage actor ...

and

Leslie Hope Leslie Ann Hope is a Canadian actress and director, best known for her role as Teri Bauer on the Fox television series '' 24'' and prosecutor Anita Gibbs on ''Suits''. Personal life Hope was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Ann and Frank Hop ...

, fellow writers John Burns and

Bert Archer Bert Archer is a Canadian author, journalist, travel writer, essayist and critic. Archer was born in Montreal and lived in Calgary and Vancouver. He attended St. Michael's University School in Victoria, British Columbia, and then went to the Uni ...

, 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 professional ...

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 be ...

, who in turn recommended it to his agent. Oppel went on to receive his Bachelor of Arts degree in

cinema studies Film theory is a set of scholarly approaches within the academic discipline of film or cinema studies that began in the 1920s by questioning the formal essential attributes of motion pictures; and that now provides conceptual frameworks for und ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

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 Sunwing Airlines Inc. is a Canadian low-cost airline headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Sunwing Airlines offers scheduled and charter services from Canada and the United States to destinations within the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, ...

'', '' 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 mo ...

'' (2005) and '' Starclimber'' (2008). Oppel won numerous literary awards, including the 2004

Governor General's Literary 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 English language children's literature, a

Printz Honor Award The Michael L. Printz Award is an American Library Association literary award that annually recognizes the "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit". It is sponsored by ''Booklist'' magazine; administered by the ALA's y ...

from the American Library Association (both for ''Airborn'') and ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily 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 sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' Children's Novel of 2005 (for ''Skybreaker'', named a 2006

Best Book for Young Adults The American Library Association's Best Fiction for Young Adults, previously known as Best Books for Young Adults (1966–2010), is a recommendation list of books presented yearly by the YALSA division (Young Adult Library Services Association Th ...

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 a ...

). 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 ancho ...

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) *''

'' (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