I was born in Stephenville, Newfoundland & Labrador, and there I spent my childhood. Stephenville at the time was the site of a U.S. Air Force base, so mine wasn’t a typical Newfoundland upbringing. We were freshly Canadian, but still very much Newfoundlanders, living under the umbrella of American culture. After high school I was off to Memorial University in St. John’s. With a BSc in hand I taught school for a number of years, all the while veering more and more toward writing.
Since 1989 I have been a full-time author. I live in St. John’s with my wife, Anne. We have two grown sons.
I’m the author of about 15 books, for both young people and adults. The first, Hold Fast, won several awards in Canada and was placed on the Hans Christian Andersen Honour List. The second, Far From Shore, was the winner of the first Canadian Young Adult Book Award. Others which followed include Blood Red Ochre and Eating Between the Lines, winner of the CACL Book-of-the-Year Award.
In 1992 I was honoured to receive the Vicky Metcalf Award, for an outstanding body of work of significance to young people. The languages into which my work has been translated include French, Danish, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Hebrew.
An adult novel, No Man’s Land, about the Newfoundland Regiment in World War I, was published in 1995. I adapted it for the stage, and it has been performed each summer for the past 10 years by Rising Tide Theatre in Newfoundland. My more recent books include The House of Wooden Santas, and a history of Newfoundland and Labrador: As Near To Heaven By Sea (a Canadian best-seller and finalist for the Pearson Non-Fiction Prize). Ann and Seamus, released in 2003 was shortlisted for a total of eight awards. It has since been turned into a chamber opera. Performed by Shallaway Choir, it has toured nationally and internationally.
A new play for Rising Tide Theatre, Lead Me Home, went on stage in 2009, and in July of 2010 was back again for several performances. It centres on the sinking of the Cabot Strait ferry, the S.S. Caribou, by a German U-boat in October of 1942.
A new adult novel, New Under the Sun was released by Cormorant Books in 2010.
John Moss, writing in “A Reader’s Guide to the Canadian Novel,” has said, “Kevin Major is among the best Canadian writers of his generation. He has established himself as a figure of singular importance in our literature.”
That’s good to hear.
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I can be reached at: kmajor@nl.rogers.com
