Not to be confused with the American author of historical novels, Kenneth Lewis Roberts

Ken Roberts (born 1946) is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 librarian

Librarian

A librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs...

 and children's writer who lives in Brantford, Ontario

Brantford, Ontario

Brantford is a city located on the Grand River in Southern Ontario, Canada. While geographically surrounded by the County of Brant, the city is politically independent...

.

Biography

Ken Roberts is the Chief Librarian of the Hamilton Public Library. His hobby is writing.
Ken Roberts has taught Public Library Children's Services at UBC, Children's Literature at Simon Fraser University and Storytelling/Puppetry at the University of Lethbridge.
He has been Storyteller in Residence for the Vancouver School Board and Games Master for the World Improvisation Championships. Ken Roberts was also a two-time All-American distance runner, having attended UCLA as an undergraduate and both McMaster University

McMaster University

McMaster University is a public research university whose main campus is located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land in the residential neighbourhood of Westdale, adjacent to Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens...

 and UWO for master's degrees.

Ken lives just outside Brantford, Ontario. He is married to Jo-Anne Westerby and has four children, ranging in age from thirty-six to fourteen years old.

Awards/Recognitions

Ken Roberts has won a CanPro award for television writing and co-wrote a comedic play for adults (Suspect) that received a very positive review in Variety

Variety (magazine)

Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

and has played regularly, with performances on three continents.

His book Past Tense was nominated for the prestigious Governor General's Award

Governor General's Award

The Governor General's Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields. The first was conceived in 1937 by Lord Tweedsmuir, a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction who created the Governor...

 for Children's Literature in 1994. He has also been a finalist for the Christie Book Award and for the Canadian Children's Book of the Year. His book The Thumb in the Box received a starred review in The Horn Book. Another children's novel, Hiccup Champion of the World, has been translated into a number of languages.

Ken won the Canadian Association of Public Libraries

Canadian Library Association

The Canadian Library Association is a national, predominantly English-language association which represents 57,000 library workers across the country. It also speaks for the interests of the 21 million Canadians who are members of libraries...

' Outstanding Service Award in 2001 and the Hamilton Public Library system won the Ontario Library Association

Ontario Library Association

Ontario Library Association , established in 1900, is the oldest continually operating library association in Canada. With 5,190  members as of January 1, 2007, OLA is the largest library association in Canada....

's President's Award for Exceptional Achievement in 2002.

Ken is a past president of the Canadian Library Association.

Works

• Crazy Ideas - 1984
• Pop Bottles - 1987
• Hiccup Champion of the World - 1988
• Jacques Cartier - 1988
• Nothing Wright - 1991
• Past Tense - 1994 (nominated for a Governor General's Award
  1994 Governor General's Awards
  Each winner of the 1994 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit received $10 000 and a medal from the Governor General of Canada. The winners were selected by a panel of judges set up by the Canada Council for the Arts.-Fiction:Winner:...
  
  )
• The Thumb in the Box - 2001
• Thumb on a Diamond - 2006
• Thumb and the Bad Guys - 2010

External links

• Hamilton Public Library website