Kenneth Oppel
Canadian children's writer
title: "Kenneth Oppel" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["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", "forest-of-reading-award-winners", "st.-michaels-university-school-alumni", "novelists-from-british-columbia"] description: "Canadian children's writer" topic_path: "technology/web" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Oppel" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Canadian children's writer ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox writer "]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| image | Kenneth Oppel at International Literature Festival Berlin on September 9, 2016.jpg |
| imagesize | 200px |
| name | Kenneth Oppel |
| caption | Oppel (2016 at the Berlin International Literature Festival) |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Port Alberni, British Columbia |
| occupation | Writer |
| nationality | Canadian |
| education | Trinity College, Toronto |
| period | 1985–present |
| notableworks | {{plainlist |
| spouse | Philippa Sheppard |
| children | 3 |
| awards | |
| website | |
| :: |
|image = Kenneth Oppel at International Literature Festival Berlin on September 9, 2016.jpg |imagesize = 200px | | name = Kenneth Oppel | caption = Oppel (2016 at the Berlin International Literature Festival) | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Port Alberni, British Columbia | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Writer | nationality = Canadian | education = Trinity College, Toronto | period = 1985–present | genre = | subject = | movement = | notableworks = {{plainlist|
- Matt Cruse series
- The Silverwing Saga | spouse = Philippa Sheppard | partner = | children = 3 | relatives =
| awards =
| signature =
| website =
Kenneth Oppel (born August 31, 1967) is a Canadian children's writer.
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, 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 has also written the Matt Cruse saga, including Airborn (2004), Skybreaker (2005), and Starclimber (2008) and the Overthrow series, including Bloom (2020), Hatch (2020), and Thrive (2021).
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.
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)
- 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)
- 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)
- Inkling (2018)
Adult fiction
- The Devil's Cure (2000)
References
| url = https://www.cbc.ca/books/the-most-exciting-books-coming-out-in-fall-2020-1.5753872 | title = The most exciting books coming out in fall 2020 | work = CBC Books | date = 2020-10-08 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201028104430/https://www.cbc.ca/books/the-most-exciting-books-coming-out-in-fall-2020-1.5753872 | archive-date = 2020-10-28 | access-date = 2020-10-29 | url-status = live | quote = Kenneth Oppel has written numerous acclaimed novels for middle grade and young adult readers. His Silverwing trilogy has sold over a million copies worldwide. ;Other sources
- CM magazine profile of Oppel, incorporating material from a 1996 interview
- Interview by ACHUKA's Canadian Correspondent, Andrea Deakin (2000)
- Kenneth Oppel at CANSCAIP Members (archived 2010-10-17), with short autobiography
- Red Cedar Awards Profile
References
- CBC/Radio-Canada 2014-2024. "Shakespeare Selfie: An Introduction to Shakespeare with Kenneth Oppel and Philippa Sheppard".
- "Kenneth Oppel '89 Answers The Trinity Questionnaire".
- [https://lccn.loc.gov/84025911 "Colin's fantastic video adventure"]. Library of Congress Catalog Record. Retrieved 2014-02-13.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::