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Iain Lawrence
Born 1955 (age 68–69)
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Alma mater Langara College
Notable awards

Iain Lawrence (born 1955) is a Canadian author for children and young adults. In 2007 he won a Governor General's Literary Award in Children's Literature for Gemini Summer, and in 2011, he was presented with the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People.

Biography

Lawrence was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, in 1955. He has lived on Gabriola Island since 2000. Lawrence attended Langara College in Vancouver studying journalism. After school he worked for the Prince Rupert Daily News and other newspapers in northern British Columbia. In his free time he wrote a number of unpublished children's fiction books, and was able to publish two non-fiction books about sailing, his hobby. A Chicago agent encouraged him to concentrate on children's fiction so he reworked one of his earlier books, The Wrecker, and sold it to Random House in 1994. Since then he has published many more books, in 2007 Random House reported he had sold more than one million books in North America.

List of books

Month and year Series Title Awards
January 2005 Far-Away Places: 50 Anchorages on the Northwest Coast
May 1998 The High Seas trilogy The Wreckers
May 1999 The High Seas trilogy The Smugglers
October 2000 Ghost Boy
August 2001 The High Seas trilogy The Buccaneers
October 2001 Lord of the Nutcracker Men
September 2002 The Lightkeeper's Daughter
June 2004 B for Buster
April 2005 The Curse of the Jolly Stone trilogy The Convicts
November 2005 The Curse of the Jolly Stone trilogy The Cannibals
October 2006 Gemini Summer
November 2007 The Curse of the Jolly Stone trilogy The Castaways
July 2008 The Seance
November 2009 The Giant-Slayer
November 2011 The Winter Pony
January 2016 The Skeleton Tree
March 2021 Deadman's Castle
August 2022 Fire on Headless Mountain

Gemini Summer

The book was reviewed in Publishers Weekly, Quill and Quire, Kirkus Reviews, CM Magazine, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, The Horn Book Magazine, School Library Journal, Booklist, Library Media Connection, Resource Links, and Books in Canada.

Awards and honours

Nine of Lawrence's books are Junior Library Guild selections: The Wreckers (1998), Lord of the Nutcracker Men (2001), B for Buster (2004), The Convicts (2005), The Cannibals (2006), The Castaways (2008), The Séance (2008), The Skeleton Tree (2016), and Deadman's Castle (2021).

In 2007, the Bank Street College of Education included Gemini Summer on their list of the best children's books of the year.

In 2011, Lawrence received the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People, an award presented to Canadian authors whose "body of work ... demonstrates the highest literary standards."

Awards for Lawrence's writing
Year Title Award Result Ref.
1999 The Wreckers ALA Best Books for Young Adults Selection
Geoffrey Bilson Award Winner
Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers Selection
2000 The Smugglers ALA Best Books for Young Adults Selection
2001 Ghost Boy ALA Best Books for Young Adults Selection
2003 The Lightkeeper's Daughter ALA Best Books for Young Adults Selection
2005 B for Buster ALA Best Books for Young Adults Top 14
2006 The Convicts Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize Finalist
2007 Gemini Summer Governor General's Award for English-Language Children's Literature Winner
Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award Winner
Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize Finalist
2009 The Seance Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize Finalist
2010 The Giant-Slayer ALSC Notable Children's Books Selection
2011 Chocolate Lily Young Readers’ Choice Award Winner
2017 The Skeleton Tree Canadian Children's Book Centre Awards: Fan's Choice Award Winner
Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize Winner
TD Canadian Children's Literature Award Finalist
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