Kenneth Oppel
Kenneth Oppel (born August 31, 1967) is a Canadian writer. Born in Port Alberni, British Columbia, he spent his childhood in Victoria, British Columbia and Halifax, Nova Scotia. He has also lived in Newfoundland and Labrador, England and Ireland. Oppel's first book, Colin's Fantastic Video Adventure, published by E.P. Dutton in 1985, was written while he was a high school student at St. Michaels University School in Victoria. (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, that 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. Oppel worked as an editor at Quill and Quire, the trade magazine of the Canadian publishing industry, from 1995 to 1996. He is probably best known for his trilogy of Silverwing, Sunwing, and Firewing. A fourth entry, Darkwing, serves as a prequel to the trilogy. Another recent series is Airborn (2004), its sequel, Skybreaker (2005), and Skybreaker's sequel, Starclimber (2008). They are set in a parallel Earth of dirigible travel, following the adventures of the main characters Matt Cruse and Kate de Vries. Starclimber, the third book in the series, was released in Canada in September 2008, in the United States in December 2008, and in the United Kingdom in May 2009. 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. They have three children, Sophia, Nate and Julia, and live in Toronto, Ontario.