Richard Kennedy (author)

Jerome Richard Kennedy (born December 23, 1932, in Jefferson City, Missouri), is an American writer of children's books and a supporter of the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship. He was the first to suggest that John Ford was the author of the 578-line poem A Funeral Elegy which in 1995 had been touted by Donald Foster as being written by William Shakespeare.^[1]

Life

He was educated at Portland State University (B.A., liberal arts, 1958) and earned a teaching certificate in elementary education from the University of Oregon.^[2] Teaching elementary school proved unsatisfactory, so he tried other jobs, including bookstore owner, deep sea fisherman, moss picker, custodian, cabdriver, and archivist, before turning to writing.^[3][4]

Shakespeare authorship question

Kennedy has been a long-time advocate of the theory that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, was the person actually responsible for writing the works of William Shakespeare. He is a founding member of the Shakespeare Fellowship, and in 2005 he proposed that Shakespeare's Stratford monument was originally built to honor John Shakespeare, William's father, who by tradition was a "considerable dealer in wool".^[5]

Works

• The Parrot and the Thief, illustrated by Marcia Sewall, 1974.
• The Contests at Cowlick, illustrated by Marc Simont, 1976.
• The Porcelain Man, illustrated by Sewall, 1976.
• Come Again in the Spring, illustrated by Sewall, 1976.
• The Blue Stone, illustrated by Ronald Himler, 1976.
• Oliver Hyde's Dishcloth Concert, illustrated by Robert A. Parker, 1977.
• The Dark Princess, illustrated by Donna Diamond, 1978.
• The Rise and Fall of Ben Gizzard, illustrated by Sewall, 1978.
• The Mouse God, 1979.
• Delta Baby and Two Sea Songs (poetry), illustrated by Lydia Dabcovich and Charles Mikolaycak, 1979.
• The Lost Kingdom of Karnica illustrated by Uri Shulevitz, 1979.
• The Leprechaun's Story, illustrated by Sewall, 1979.
• Inside My Feet: The Story of a Giant, illustrated by Himler, 1979.
• Crazy in Love, illustrated by Sewall, 1980.
• The Song of the Horse, illustrated by Sewall, 1981.
• The Boxcar at the Center of the Universe, illustrated by Jeff Kronen, 1982.
• Amy's Eyes, illustrated by Richard Egielski, 1985.
• Richard Kennedy: Collected Stories, illustrated by Sewall, 1987.
• Little Love Song (poetry), illustrated by Petra Mathers, 1992.

Kennedy also is the co-author of two musicals with Mark Allen Lambert, The Snow Queen, (published as a Laura Geringer Book in 1996, with pictures by Edward S. Gazsi), and Camelot, God Wot! or What a Woman Wants, 1989.

Awards

• American Library Association Notable Book List, 1976, for The Blue Stone.
• American Library Association Notable Book List, 1978, for The Dark Princess.
• Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award, 1976, for The Blue Stone and The Porcelain Man.
• Association of Logos Bookstores Award, 1985, for Amy's Eyes.
• German Rattenfänger (Rat Catcher, i.e. Pied Piper) award as best foreign book translated in 1988 for Amy's Eyes.

References

External links

• Camelot, God wot! or: What a Woman Wants.
• The Snow Queen, a Christmas Musical.
• Come Again in Spring, an animated telling of Come Again in the Spring. Directed, designed and animated by Belinda Oldford, produced by the National Film Board of Canada.
• "The Woolpack Man".