Alan Cumyn

 

by Nicholas,age10
Holy Spirit School
Stittsville,Ontario

Biography:

Alan Cumyn was born in Ottawa, Ontario  in 1960. He had an interesting career all over Canada, China and Indonesia. He worked a lot. He was an English teacher, a geologist's assistant, a group home manager and a tai chi instructor. He has published many books but they are mainly for adults.

Why he became a writer for children:

In 2002 he published his first novel for children because  he wanted to write a book for his two daughters who had no brothers. And he did that very well. It's called  The Secret Life of Owen Skye and in this book 3 brothers have lots of adventures and all kinds of unusual things happen to them.

Achievements/Awards:

For The Secret Life of Owen Skye, Mr. Cumyn won  won the Mr. Christie's Book Award and was shortlisted  for: the Governor-General's Award for Children's Literature , the Ruth Schwartz Award, and the Hackmatack Award.

Sources:
Photo: http://www.writersunion.ca/c/cumyn.htm
http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag002/
http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag002/acumyn.htm