Alice Kuipers

Alice Kuipers
Born London, United Kingdom
Occupation Novelist
Nationality British & Canadian
Alma mater Manchester University
Period 2007–present
Genre Young adult, children's
Notable works 40 Things I Want To Tell You, Life on the Refrigerator Door, The Worst Thing She Ever Did (Lost For Words in the U.S.)
Website
www.alicekuipers.com

Alice Kuipers is a British-born author living in Saskatchewan, Canada who is best known for her young adult novels. 40 Things I Want To Tell You won a Saskatchewan Book Award for Young Adult Literature in 2013. The Worst Thing She Ever Did (Lost For Words in the U.S.) won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile/YA Crime Book in 2011 and Life on the Refrigerator Door won the Grand Prix de Viarmes, the Livrentête Prize, the Redbridge Teenage Book Award in 2008 and the Saskatchewan First Book Award in 2007.

Early life

Alice Kuipers was born the first of three children in London, England[1][2][3] and is of Dutch and English descent. She attended the Westminster School in London, before receiving a Bachelors of Science in Psychology from Manchester University. She later graduated with Distinction with a Master of Arts degree in Writing from Manchester Metropolitan University.[1] Her mother is Head of the Department of Psychology at King's College in London, England and a Professor of Clinical Psychology. Her father works as an advisor to local and central government on criminal and civil justice systems, and was previously a Chair of Governors and troubleshooting at OFSTED.

At eighteen, Kuipers traveled alone for a year with an itinerary that included the Cook Islands, New Zealand, Cambodia, Australia, Vietnam and the U.S.,[2] which she has stated has had a significant influence on her work. In an interview with Chatelaine magazine, Kuipers said, "I could spend my whole life exploring it [the world] and never come close to seeing everything there is to see... I learned not to worry too much if I took a wrong step. Something would come of whichever route I chose."[4]

She moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and settled there in 2003.[1][2][3][4]

Career

Alice Kuipers’ debut young adult novel in 2007, Life on the Refrigerator Door,[1] sold in twenty-nine countries and was the winner of the Saskatchewan First Book Award,[5] the Sheffield Libraries Choice Award and the Grand Prix de Viarmes.[3] It was long-listed for the Carnegie Medal.[6] The audio version of the novel was narrated by Dana Delany in 2007. Life on the Refrigerator Door is told through a series of notes and post-its written from a mother to her fifteen-year-old daughter before and during a family crisis.

Kuipers' second young adult novel in 2010, The Worst Thing She Ever Did (Lost For Words in the U.S.), won the Arthur Ellis Award, Best Juvenile/YA Crime Book 2011 and the OLA White Pine Official Selection 2011.[3][7][8][9] This novel deals with confronting past tragedy and is set in London, England.

40 Things I Want To Tell You was published in 2012.[10] It won a Saskatchewan Book Award for Young Adult Literature in 2013[11][12] and was a 2013 Young Adult Honour Book for the Canadian Library Association.[13][14] Kuipers' third novel is about a teenage writer of an on-line advice column for teenagers, who is unable to follow her own good advice.

In 2014, two books by Kuipers were published: Death of Us, a young adult novel, and The Bookworm Book, by Violet and Victor Small, a book for children. Death of Us is a coming of age story about two young girls involved in a deadly car accident.[15][16]

Kuipers' non-fiction has been published in Easy Living Magazine, the Sunday Telegraph and the Bristol Review of Books.[2][3] She has also written for the children’s market.[3]

Since 1999, Kuipers has led writing workshops in Hong Kong, the UK, Australia, Canada and the USA, including a workshop in the Yukon in 2004.[2][17][18] She has been an invited lecturer and workshop leader at several festivals, including Montreal Blue Met Festival, Brisbane Festival of Literature, The Word on the Street Saskatoon, and Wordfest Calgary, and was keynote presenter at the Saskatchewan Festival of Words in 2010.[6][19]

In 2008, she won the Saskatchewan Lieutenant Governor’s Artists Award ‘30 Below’ for young artists.[3][20] In 2010, she spent a year as Saskatoon Public Library Writer in Residence,[3][4][21] working with community groups, individuals,[3] teaching workshops and visiting schools.[22]

Kuipers worked with software developer, Rich Lowenberg, to create the first Writing Tips App for iPhone, which went on to be the second bestselling app in the Educational Apps Listings in both the US and Canada in 2010.[4]

Published works

Awards

Influences

In various interviews and Q and A sessions, Kuipers has named Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Emily Brontë, Elizabeth Strout, Valerie Martin, Dr. Seuss, Mo Willems and Louisa May Alcott as having positively influenced her work.[3] In an interview with Novel Matters, Kuipers said the novel she "most loved is called The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse" and that she admired Tennessee Williams’ ability to write dialogue.[3]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Panmacmillan website, Author Profile: Alice Kuipers. Retrieved July 21, 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Harper Collins website, Author Profile: Alice Kuipers. Retrieved July 21, 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 Grove, Bonnie (March 26, 2012). Novel Matters, Interview with Alice Kuipers. Novel Matters. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Black, Grant (May 27, 2011). Alice Kuipers: "A Woman of Style and Substance". Chatelaine Magazine, Canada. Retrieved July 21, 2013.
  5. ↑ Saskatchewan First Book Award 2007. Saskatchewan Book Awards, Canada. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Word on the Street, Author Alice Kuipers. National Book & Magazine Festival, Saskatoon, September 22, 2012. Retrieved July 21, 2013.
  7. ↑ Medley, Mark (June 3, 2011). Winners of Arthur Ellis Awards. National Post, Canada. Retrieved July 21, 2013.
  8. ↑ Arthur Ellis Awards, Best Juvenile or Young Adult Crime Book 2011. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
  9. ↑ Crime Writers Canada Awards, Arthur Eliis Awards, Past Winners 2011. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
  10. ↑ Harper Collins Canada page, 40 Things I Want To Tell You. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
  11. ↑ Writers Honoured at Saskatchewan Book Awards, CBC News: Regina, Saskatchewan, April 28, 2013. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
  12. ↑ Saskatchewan Book Awards Official website, 20th Anniversary Book Awards Winners, 2013. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
  13. ↑ Shortlist, Young Adult Book Awards, Canadian Library Association 2013. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
  14. ↑ Canada Library Association, Canadian Literature for Little Canadians Awards 2013. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
  15. ↑ Doerksen, Karen (July 31, 2014). Children’s Book Review: The Death of Us. National Reading Campaign. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  16. ↑ Duggan, Charlotte (October 17, 2014). Book Review: The Death of Us. The Manitoba Library Association. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  17. ↑ Saskatchewan Writers Coop, Workshops 2009-2010. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
  18. ↑ Sage Hill Writing, Canada: Alumni Teen Writing Experience 2008, 2010. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
  19. ↑ Wordfest Calgary, Alice Kuipers. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
  20. ↑ Saskatchewan Lieutenant Governors Arts Awards. Retrieved July 21, 2013.
  21. ↑ Saskatoon Library, Historical List, Writers in Residence. Retrieved July 21, 2013.
  22. ↑ Saskatoon Library Writer in Residence Profile, Alice Kuipers. Retrieved July 21, 2013.

External links