Brian Doyle

Brian Doyle (12 August 1935 – 1 January 2026) was a Canadian writer of novels and short stories. His children's books have been adapted into movies and plays. Many of his stories are drawn from his experiences growing up in the Ottawa area. He was awarded the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature in 2005 and was twice a finalist for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. and Easy Avenue are set in Ottawa in the 1940s and 50's; Spud Sweetgrass represents Ottawa in the early 1990s. Uncle Ronald and Covered Bridge draw on Brian Doyle's childhood memories of Ottawa and the Gatineau Valley.

Early life Doyle was born on 12 August 1935 in an ethnically-diverse section of Ottawa, Ontario, where he also grew up. He spent summers with his family at a log cabin on the Gatineau River, near Low, Quebec. His upbringing was made difficult by a father who drank excessively and a mother worn out from caring for his mentally disabled older sister. He attended Glebe Collegiate Institute, During his time at Glebe he wrote and produced a number of original musical productions with his colleague Stan Clark, Head of Glebe's Music Department. They were: Oh My Gods; Labour Pains; To Hull and Back; It's Nicer Inverness'; Chipwagon; Up the Gatineau and One More Time. Doyle retired from teaching in 1991.

Writing Doyle's first book for young readers, Hey, Dad!, written for his daughter Megan, was published by Groundwood Books in 1978. Angel Square is set in the Lower Town area of Ottawa, and portrays the futility of the racial tensions between the neighbourhood's children. One of the characters in the story is based on Doyle's mentally handicapped sister Pamela.

Doyle's continued to write novels for teens and young adults: Uncle Ronald (1996), a story about hundred-year-old "Crazy Mickey"; Easy Avenue, about an impoverished orphan growing up with an elderly relative; and Covered Bridge, a ghost story about moral injustice and historical preservation.

He also wrote two comic mysteries about a half-Irish, half-Ojibway teen, Spud Sweetgrass and Spud in Winter.

Personal life and death Doyle married Jackie Aronson; they had two children, Megan and Ryan. In 2013 he lived in Chelsea, Quebec.

Awards and honors NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature, 2005, for body of work Book of the Year Award, Canadian Library Association (CLA), 1983, Up to Low, and 1989, Easy Avenue Mr. Christie's Book Award, Canadian Children's Book Centre/Communications Jeunesse, 1990, Covered Bridge Vicky Metcalf Award, Canadian Authors Association, 1991, body of work CLA Book of the Year Award, 1997, Uncle Ronald Mr. Christie's Book Award, 1997, Uncle Ronald Hans Christian Andersen Award, finalist 1998, body of work

Works

Hey, Dad! (Groundwood, 1978) You Can Pick Me Up at Peggy's Cove (Groundwood, 1979) Up to Low (Groundwood, 1982) Angel Square (Groundwood, 1984) Easy Avenue (Groundwood, 1988) Covered Bridge (Groundwood, 1990) Spud Sweetgrass (Groundwood, 1992) Spud in Winter (Groundwood, 1995) Uncle Ronald (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1996) – "A Groundwood book." The Low Life: Five Great Tales from Up and Down the River (Groundwood, 1999) Mary Ann Alice (Groundwood, 2001)