Kenneth Oppel

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

Kenneth Oppel
Oppel (2016 at the Berlin International Literature Festival)
Born	(1967-08-12) August 12, 1967 (age 57) Port Alberni, British Columbia
Occupation	Writer
Nationality	Canadian
Education	Trinity College, Toronto
Period	1985–present
Notable works	Matt Cruse series The Silverwing Saga
Notable awards	Governor General's Literary Award 2004 Airborn The Times Children's Novel 2005 Skybreaker
Spouse	Philippa Sheppard
Children	3
Website
kennethoppel.ca

Biography

Oppel was born in Port Alberni, and spent his childhood in Victoria, British Columbia and Halifax, Nova Scotia. He also lived in Newfoundland and Labrador, England, and Ireland.

In 1985, Oppel wrote his first book Colin's Fantastic Video Adventure,^[1] 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 and Flickr founder Stewart Butterfield. Oppel forwarded the newly completed manuscript to a family friend who knew Roald Dahl, 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, 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, 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 (2005), and Starclimber (2008).

Oppel has 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 Children's Novel of 2005 (for Skybreaker, named a 2006 Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association).

Oppel is married to Philippa Sheppard, a Shakespeare scholar and instructor at the University of Toronto.^[2][3]

Selected works

Young adult fiction Half Brother (2011) The Boundless (2014) The Nest (2015) 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 The novel series was adapted into a TV series titled Silverwing. Airborn series Airborn (2004) Skybreaker (2005) Starclimber (2008) Overthrow series Bloom (2020) Hatch (2020)[4] 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)[1] Cosimo 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) Adult fiction The Devil's Cure (2000)[5]