Michael Bedard (born June 26, 1949) is a Canadian children's writer. He was born and raised in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada. He graduated from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

in 1971 with a BA in philosophy and English. He began writing when his former high school teacher showed him works of

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

and

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

. Bedard currently lives in Toronto with his wife Martha. He has four children and six grandchildren.

Works

* ''Woodsedge and Other Tales: A Gathering of Tales'' (Toronto: Gardenshore Press, 1979), stories * ''Pipe and Pearls'' (Gardenshore, 1980), stories * ''A Darker Magic'' (Atheneum, 1987) * ''The Lightning Bolt'', illustrated by Regolo Ricci (1989) * ''Redwork'' (Atheneum, 1990) * ''The Tinder Box'', illus. Ricci (1990) – retelling Hans Christian Andersen's "

The Tinderbox "The Tinderbox" () is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a soldier who acquires a magic tinderbox capable of summoning three powerful dogs to do his bidding. When the soldier has one of the dogs transport a sleeping princess ...

" * ''The Nightingale'', illus. Ricci (1991) – retelling Andersen's " The Nightingale" * ''Emily'', illus.

Barbara Cooney Barbara Cooney (August 6, 1917 – March 10, 2000) was an American writer and illustrator of 110 children's books, published for over sixty years. She received two Caldecott Medals for her work on ''Chanticleer and the Fox'' (1958) and ''Ox-Cart ...

(1992) – biographical fiction, featuring

* ''Painted Devil'' (Atheneum, 1994) – sequel to ''A Darker Magic'' * ''Glass Town: The Secret World of the Brontë Children'', illus. Laura Fernandez and Rick Jacobson (1997) – biographical, featuring the

Brontë family The Brontës () were a 19th century literary family, born in the village of Thornton, West Yorkshire, Thornton and later associated with the village of Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte Brontë, Charlott ...

* ''The Divide'', illus.

Emily Arnold McCully Emily Arnold McCully (born July 1, 1939) is an American people, American writer and illustrator who is best known for children's books. She won the annual Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration in 1993 recognizing ''Mirette on the High ...

(1997) – biographical, featuring

Willa Cather Willa Sibert Cather (; born Wilella Sibert Cather; December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947) was an American writer known for her novels of life on the Great Plains, including ''O Pioneers!'', ''The Song of the Lark (novel), The Song of the Lark'', a ...

* Sitting Ducks (1998) * ''The Clay Ladies'', illus. Les Tait (1999) * ''The Wolf of Gubbio'', illus. Murray Kimber (Stoddart Kids, 2000) – "based on a legend of St. Francis of Assisi", * ''Stained Glass'' (Tundra, 2001) * ''The Painted Wall and Other Strange Tales: Selected and Adapted from the Liao-Chai of Pu Sung-ling'' (Tundra, 2003) – retelling of ''Liaozhai Zhiyi'' (

Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio ''Liaozhai zhiyi'', sometimes shortened to ''Liaozhai'', known in English as ''Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'', ''Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio'', ''Strange Tales from Make-Do Studio'', or literally ''Strange Tales from a Studio o ...

) by

Pu Songling Pu Songling ( zh, t= , 5 June 1640 – 25 February 1715) was a Chinese writer during the Qing dynasty, best known as the author of '' Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' (''Liaozhai zhiyi''). Biography Pu was born into a poor merchant famil ...

* ''William Blake: The Gates of Paradise'' (2006) – biographical, featuring

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...

* ''The Green Man'' (Tundra, 2012) – sequel to ''A Darker Magic''

''A Darker Magic''

Bedard's first novel, ''A Darker Magic'' (1987), is about an old teacher (Miss Potts) who discovers a handbill for a magic show which reminds her of the death of a friend from her childhood which she blames on the magic show. With the help of a student (Emily), they are able to prevent the show from happening. Dale Gale calls the work "rich in language and riveting in tone: it brims with a sense of foreboding that is sustained throughout" and a "well-crafted eerie novel that demands to be read again".

''Redwork''

Bedard's second novel, ''Redwork'' (1990), won the

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 ...

, the

Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award The Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award was a literary award given annually to recognize a Canadian children's book. The award was given to a book written in English by a citizen or permanent resident of Canada and pub ...

and the IODE Violet Downey Book Award. According to Margaret A. Chang, the novel "falls short of the high standard set by

Margaret Mahy Margaret Mahy (21 March 1936 – 23 July 2012) was a New Zealand author of children's and young adult books. Many of her story plots have strong supernatural elements but her writing concentrates on the themes of human relationships and growi ...

's ''Memory'', the consummate tale of interaction between young and old". Another reviewer said that Bedard was "working on a new level" and that "everything is described in detail and every point is made through dialogue".

''The Painted Devil''

''The Painted Devil'' is a sequel to ''A Darker Magic'', set in the same town of Caledon 28 years later. The story features Emily and her niece Alice.

''The Green Man''

''The Green Man'' is a sequel to ''A Darker Magic''. The story follows Emily's niece, Ophelia, as she battles the next generation of the same dangerous magic her Aunt Emily faced as a child. The publisher blurbed, "At once an exploration of poetry, a story of family relationships, and an intriguing mystery, ''The Green Man'' is Michael Bedard at his finest."

Awards and honors

''Redwork'' * Governor General's Literary Award, Canada, 1990 * Canadian Library Association Book of the Year Award for Children, 1991 * IODE Violet Downey Book Award, 1991 ''The Nightingale'' * IODE Children's Book Award, 1991 (Bedard and Regolo Ricci) ''The Clay Ladies'' * IODE Children's Book Award, 1999 (Bedard and Les Tait)"IODE Children's Book Award"
. ''Literary Awards in Canada, 1923–2000''. Litawards.library.mun.ca. Retrieved 2015-07-22. ''The Green Man'' * IODE Violet Downey Book Award, 2013
(homepage featuring 2014 and 2013 winners). IODE Canada (iode.ca). Archived 2015-03-23. Retrieved 2015-07-22.

References

External links

* *
LAC 0101H6833 (Michael John Bédard, born 1949)
– Library and Archives Canada data at

VIAF The Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) is an international authority file. It is a joint project of several national libraries, operated by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). History Discussions about having a joint int ...

.org– "not the same person as author of '' Sitting Ducks'' (Windsor, Ontario-born Los Angeles poster artist) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bedard, Michael 1949 births Canadian children's writers University of Toronto alumni Novelists from Toronto Canadian male novelists 20th-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists Living people 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers