Glen Downey (writer)

Last updated
Glen Downey
G. Downey at Toronto Fan Expo, 2012.jpg
Glen Downey at Toronto Fan Expo, 2012.
BornGlen Downey
(1969-10-15) October 15, 1969 (age 53)
Hamilton, Ontario
OccupationChildren's Author, Teacher, Reviewer, Ludologist
LanguageEnglish, French
NationalityFlag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
EducationB.A., M.A. (McMaster), Ph.D. (Victoria), B.Ed. (Western)
Period2002 - present
GenreGraphic Novel
Notable workGraphic Poetry
Website
www.glendowney.ca

Glen Downey (born October 15, 1969) is a Canadian children's author, teacher, and academic from Oakville, Ontario. His publications include more than ninety books for young people across a variety of genres that focus specifically on the development of child and adolescent literacy and numeracy. Downey is best known as the series editor of Graphic Poetry, winner of both the 2010 "Texty" Award from the Text and Academic Authors Association, [1] and the 2011 Teachers' Choice Award for Children's Books from Learning magazine. [2] Downey came up with the concept for Graphic Poetry as a way of making poetry engaging for 21st century readers. Several of Downey's books are for award-winning educational series developed by Rubicon Publishing. These include Boldprint, The 10, Boldprint Graphic Readers, and Boldprint Graphic Novels. [3] [4]

Contents

Biography

Downey was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and from an early age took an interest in reading. Although he was routinely encouraged by teachers to read books that would challenge him, Downey's formative reading consisted almost exclusively of comic books, Choose Your Own Adventure novels, Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, and the manuals and rulebooks of fantasy and science-fiction role-playing games, specifically Dungeons & Dragons and BattleTech . [5]

Downey's interest in games eventually served to direct the course of his education. He received his B.A. from McMaster University in 1991, and his M.A. a year later, writing his Masters’ Thesis on the chess problem in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass. He earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of Victoria in 1998, expanding on his previous graduate work in examining the development of the chess motif in the Victorian novel. [6]

After teaching at both the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia, where he won the Ian Fairclough Prize for Teaching in 2000, [7] Downey left to pursue a B.Ed. in English and Mathematics Education at the University of Western Ontario’s Althouse College. While in the program, he submitted the manuscript for his first book, The Fifty Fatal Flaws of Essay Writing, which Althouse published in 2002. [8] Since then, he has held a variety of teaching and administrative positions at public and private institutions, and has taught courses in Children’s Literature and Twenty-First Century Literacies in the graduate education program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

Children’s writing

Downey’s interest in writing for children and young adults was motivated by his own formative reading experiences. [5] He was introduced to Rubicon by David Boyd while the two were colleagues at Appleby College. [5] Downey’s first book for Rubicon was Games for the award-winning Boldprint series. His most prolific year to date was 2009, with 47 books published across three different series. Recent work includes the Rubicon/Oxford series, Interface, a combination of texts and online platforms designed to "help students build the skills of critical inquiry." [9]

Works

Boldprint

Timeline

The 10

Graphic Poetry

Boldprint Graphic Novels

Boldprint Graphic Readers

The 10 Discovery

Remix

Issues 21

Boldprint Inquiry

Other works

Awards

Downey's books have been part of series that have won the following awards:

AwardSeries
2014 Moonbeam Children's Books (Gold) AwardIssues 21
2011 "Texty" Award Interface
2011 TCA for Children's BooksGraphic Poetry
Boldprint Graphic Novels
2010 "Texty" Award Graphic Poetry
Boldprint Graphic Novels
Boldprint Graphic Readers
2009 TCA for Children's BooksThe 10
2009 TCA for Classroom MagazinesBoldprint

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graphic novel</span> Book with primarily comics contents

A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term graphic novel is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics scholars and industry professionals. It is, at least in the United States, typically distinct from the term comic book, which is generally used for comics periodicals and trade paperbacks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Downey Jr.</span> American actor (born 1965)

Robert John Downey Jr. is an American actor. His career has been characterized by critical and popular success in his youth, followed by a period of substance abuse and legal troubles, before a resurgence of commercial success later in his career. In 2008, Downey was named by Time magazine among the 100 most influential people in the world, and from 2013 to 2015, he was listed by Forbes as Hollywood's highest-paid actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Foglio</span> American cartoonist (born 1956)

Philip Foglio is an American cartoonist and comic book artist known for his humorous science fiction and fantasy art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alternative comics</span> Independent comic publications

Alternative comics or independent comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream superhero comics which in the past have dominated the American comic book industry. Alternative comic books span a wide range of genres, artistic styles, and subjects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drawn & Quarterly</span> Canadian publishing house

Drawn & Quarterly is a publishing company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, specializing in comics. It publishes primarily comic books, graphic novels and comic strip collections. The books it publishes are noted for their artistic content, as well as the quality of printing and design. The name of the company is a pun on "drawing", "quarterly", and the practice of hanging, drawing and quartering. Initially it specialized in underground and alternative comics, but has since expanded into classic reprints and translations of foreign works. Drawn & Quarterly was the company's flagship quarterly anthology during the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moonstone Books</span> American comic book publisher

Moonstone Books is an American comic book, graphic novel, and prose fiction publisher based in Chicago focused on pulp fiction comic books and prose anthologies as well as horror and western tales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jock (cartoonist)</span> British comics artist

Mark Simpson, known by the pen name Jock, is a Scottish cartoonist, best known for his work in 2000 AD, The Losers, and more recently Batman and Wolverine. He is also known for Wytches by Image Comics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Crow</span> Comic book series created by James OBarr

The Crow is a supernatural superhero comic book series created by James O'Barr revolving around the titular character of the same name. The series, which was originally created by O'Barr as a means of dealing with the death of his fiancée at the hands of a drunk driver, was first published by Caliber Comics in 1989. It became an underground success, and was later adapted into a film of the same name in 1994. Three film sequels, a television series, and numerous books and comic books have also been subsequently produced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike W. Barr</span> American writer

Mike W. Barr is an American writer of comic books, mystery novels, and science fiction novels. Barr has written for every one of the first four incarnations of Star Trek: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, in either comic book or other media.

Clem Arnold Lawrence Arre is a Filipino comic book writer, artist and self-taught animator best known for his graphic novels The Mythology Class (1999) and Ang Mundo ni Andong Agimat (2006). He was born in Metro Manila, Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MXR</span> Music effects company

MXR is a New York-based manufacturer of effects pedals from Rochester. The company was co-founded in 1972 by Keith Barr and Terry Sherwood and incorporated as MXR Innovations, Inc. in 1974. The MXR trademark is now owned by Jim Dunlop, which continues to produce the original effects units along with new additions to the line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trevor Von Eeden</span>

Trevor Von Eeden is a Guyanese-American comics artist, actor and writer known for his work on such titles as Black Lightning, Batman, Green Arrow, Power Man and Iron Fist, and the biographical series The Original Johnson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Platinum Studios</span> US media company

Platinum Studios, Inc. is a media company based in the United States. It controls a library of thousands of comic-book characters, which it seeks to adapt, produce, and license for all forms of media. The company has released films and/or television programming with Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, MGM, Showtime, and Lions Gate. Platinum has developed film or television with others, including Disney's 20th Century Studios, WarnerMedia's New Line Cinema and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derek McCulloch (comics)</span> Comics writer (born 1964)

Derek McCulloch is a writer, known for graphic novels such as Stagger Lee, Gone to Amerikay, Pug, and Displaced Persons. He was born in Ottawa, Ontario, raised in Grande Prairie, Alberta, and lives in Oakland, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antony Johnston</span> British writer

Antony Johnston is a British writer of comics, video games, and novels. He is known for the post-apocalyptic comic series Wasteland, the graphic novel The Coldest City, and his work on several Image Comics series. In May 2023, Johnston enters the cozy-mystery genre with the publication of The Dog Sitter Detective, the first in a series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francesco Francavilla</span> Italian comic book artist

Francesco Francavilla is an Italian comic book artist known for his creator-owned series The Black Beetle and pulp-inspired comic covers. Other notable works include The Black Coat, Dynamite's Zorro series, and his recent run on Detective Comics with Scott Snyder and Jock.

Papercutz Graphic Novels is an American publisher of family-friendly comic books and graphic novels, mostly based on licensed properties such as Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and Lego Ninjago. Papercutz has also published new volumes of the Golden Age-era comics series Classics Illustrated and Tales from the Crypt. In recent years they have begun publishing English translations of European all-ages comics, including The Smurfs and Asterix. They publish several titles through their imprint Super Genius.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Appignanesi</span> Canadian writer and editor

Richard Appignanesi is a Canadian writer and editor. He was the originating editor of the internationally successful illustrated For Beginners book series, as well as the author of several of the series' texts. He is a founding publisher and editor of Icon Books. He was founding editor of the Manga Shakespeare series. He is a former executive editor of the journal Third Text, and reviews editor of the policy studies journal Futures.

The American Library Association's Great Graphic Novels for Teens, established in 2007, is an annual list presented by Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) division of graphic novels and illustrated nonfiction geared toward individuals ages 12–18.

References

  1. "TextyAward | Rubicon Publishing". Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2010-10-17.
  2. 2011 TCA Press Release, October 1, 2010 http://www.theeducationcenter.com/Images/learning/2010/oc10images/common/2011-Annual-winners-PR.pdf
  3. "Home". glendowney.ca.
  4. "Home".
  5. 1 2 3 "About Glen".
  6. AMICUS provides the dissertation as a pdf http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape15/PQDD_0006/NQ34258.pdf
  7. "UBC Department of English". Archived from the original on 2015-02-14. Retrieved 2015-02-14.
  8. "Book". Archived from the original on 2007-08-22. Retrieved 2010-10-15.
  9. "INTERFACE: (9 Academic): Vol 1.2 | Janine d'Ippolito | 9781554778218 | Oxford University Press Canada".