W.P. Kinsella

Author profile

born

May 25, 1935 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

gender

male

genre

Literature & Fiction, Sports, Nonfiction

About this author

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William Patrick Kinsella, OC, OBC is a Canadian novelist and short story writer. His work has often concerned baseball and Canada's First Nations and other Canadian issues.

William Patrick Kinsella was born to John Matthew Kinsella and Olive Kinsella in Edmonton, Alberta. Kinsella was raised until he was 10 years-old at a homestead near Darwell, Alberta, 60 km west of the city, home-schooled by his mother and taking correspondence courses. "I'm one of these people who woke up at age five knowing how to read and write," he says. When he was ten, the family moved to Edmonton.

As an adult, he held a variety of jobs in Edmonton, including as a clerk for the Government of Alberta and managing a credit bureau. In 1967, he moved to Victoria, British...more William Patrick Kinsella, OC, OBC is a Canadian novelist and short story writer. His work has often concerned baseball and Canada's First Nations and other Canadian issues.

William Patrick Kinsella was born to John Matthew Kinsella and Olive Kinsella in Edmonton, Alberta. Kinsella was raised until he was 10 years-old at a homestead near Darwell, Alberta, 60 km west of the city, home-schooled by his mother and taking correspondence courses. "I'm one of these people who woke up at age five knowing how to read and write," he says. When he was ten, the family moved to Edmonton.

As an adult, he held a variety of jobs in Edmonton, including as a clerk for the Government of Alberta and managing a credit bureau. In 1967, he moved to Victoria, British Columbia, running a pizza restaurant called Caesar's Italian Village and driving a taxi.

Though he had been writing since he was a child (winning a YMCA contest at age 14), he began taking writing courses at the University of Victoria in 1970, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing there in 1974. He travelled down to Iowa and earned a Master of Fine Arts in English degree through the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1978. In 1991, he was presented with an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from the University of Victoria.

Kinsella's most famous work is Shoeless Joe, upon which the movie Field of Dreams was based. A short story by Kinsella, "Lieberman in Love", was the basis for a short film that won the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film – the Oscar win came as a surprise to the author, who, watching the award telecast from home, had no idea the film had been made and released. He had not been listed in the film's credits, and was not acknowledged by director Christine Lahti in her acceptance speech – a full-page advertisement was later placed in Variety apologizing to Kinsella for the error. Kinsella's eight books of short stories about life on a First Nations reserve were the basis for the movie Dance Me Outside and CBC television series The Rez, both of which Kinsella considers very poor quality. The collection Fencepost Chronicles won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour in 1987.

Before becoming a professional author, he was a professor of English at the University of Calgary in Alberta. Kinsella suffered a car accident in 1997 which resulted in the end of his fiction-writing career. He is a noted tournament Scrabble player, becoming more involved with the game after being disillusioned by the 1994 Major League Baseball strike. He currently lives in Yale, British Columbia with his fourth wife, Barbara, and occasionally writes articles for various newspapers.

In the year 1993, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2005, he was awarded the Order of British Columbia.
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Books by W.P. Kinsella

Average rating: 3.90 · 5,403 ratings · 413 reviews · 34 distinct works

	Shoeless Joe 3.92 avg rating — 3,230 ratings — published 1982 — 18 editions	My rating:
	The Iowa Baseball Confederacy: A Novel 3.79 avg rating — 650 ratings — 7 editions	My rating:
	The Thrill of the Grass by W.P. Kinsella, Thomas Kinsella 3.95 avg rating — 196 ratings — published 1984 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Dance Me Outside by W.P. Kinsella, Michael Macklem (Designed by) 4.23 avg rating — 180 ratings — published 1977 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Box Socials 3.42 avg rating — 209 ratings — 6 editions	My rating:
	Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa: Stories 4.11 avg rating — 114 ratings — 4 editions	My rating:
	The Moccasin Telegraph and Other Stories by W.P. Kinsella, Thomas Kinsella 4.08 avg rating — 118 ratings — published 1983 — 5 editions	My rating:
	The Dixon Cornbelt League and Other Baseball Stories 3.76 avg rating — 117 ratings — 4 editions	My rating:
	The Fencepost Chronicles 4.25 avg rating — 88 ratings — published 1986 — 6 editions	My rating:
	The Alligator Report by W.P. Kinsella, Gaylord Schanilec (Illustrator) 3.71 avg rating — 55 ratings — published 1985 — 2 editions	My rating:

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Quotes by W.P. Kinsella

“Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get”
― W.P. Kinsella

tags: happiness , success

1,183 people liked it

“Baseball is the most perfect of games, solid, true, pure and precious as diamonds. If only life were so simple. Within the baselines anything can happen. Tides can reverse; oceans can open. That's why they say, "the game is never over until the last man is out." Colors can change, lives can alter, anything is possible in this gentle, flawless, loving game.”
― W.P. Kinsella, Shoeless Joe

28 people liked it

“Hardly anybody recognizes the most significant moments of their life at the time they happen.”
― W.P. Kinsella

17 people liked it

See all W.P. Kinsella's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

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The Seasonal Read...: Fall Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks (do NOT delete any posts in this thread)	2793	888	Nov 30, 2010 09:03pm
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The Seasonal Read...: Spring Challenge 2011 Completed Tasks (DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS)	2898	731	May 31, 2011 09:01pm
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