Gary Blackwood

Gary Blackwood, born on October 23rd, 1963, in Meadville, Pennsylvania, is a talented American author, who wrote the popular Young Reader's series Shakespeare's Spy and Shakespeare Stealer. He grew up in rural Cochraton, Western Pennsylvania. He loved books even as a young child. He believed them as treasures and still does. He attended school in a one room schoolhouse. This schoolhouse had only one small bookcase. He graduated with a B.A. in English from Grove City College in Pennsylvania. While a college student, Blackwood published his first short story, "Cliffs of Gold," in Twelve/ Fifteen magazine. He quickly learned that writing alone would not support him and turned to other sources for income. His work experience varies from copy-writing, teaching, creating advertising art, and managing a book store, to working in a cannery, loading meat trucks, and carpentry.Blackwood's first book was The Lion and the Unicorn, which he published when he was nineteen.Blackwood sets his tale of theatrical intrigue against the backdrop of Elizabethan London in 1601. With careful attention to details of the time, the author re-creates a swashbuckling world where men duel with swords if their honor is questioned, where females disguise themselves as males if they want a life on the theater stage, and where servants do not question the word of their masters.

He has sold dozens of stories to children's magazines. He has published twenty-one novels for young adults and middle readers. Over the years, he has traveled all over the country, spreading his stories and answering the questions of youg readers about his books.In the recent 2005 and 2006 school year, he recently visited Thompson Middle School in Alabaster, Alabama. Gary has even written half a dozen plays. His plays have been produced in regional and universities theatres. Blackwood actually said in an interview: "While I was still young enough to be sleeping in a crib, I struck a deal with my mother: I'd give up sucking my thumb if she bought me a series of Gene Autry comics I'd seen advertised on a cereal box."

Works

* The Lion and the Unicorn (1983)
* Wild Timothy (1987)
* The Dying Sun (1989)
* Beyond the Door (1991)
* Time Masters (1995)
* The Shakespeare Stealer (1998)
* Moonshine (1999)
* Shakespeare's Scribe (2000)
* The Year of the Hangman (2002)
* Shakespeare's Spy (2003)
* Second Sight (2005)

Awards

* Friends of American Writers Best YA Novel 1989 for The Dying Sun
* Ozark Creative Writers Conference 1st prize for Attack of the Mushroom People
* Missouri Scriptworks 1st prize for Dark Horse
* Best Book of Young Adults American Library Association 1998 for The Shakespeare Stealer