Brian Doyle (writer)

Brian Doyle (writer)

Brian Doyle (born 12 Aug 1935 in Ottawa, Ontario) is a well known Canadian author, whose children's books have been adapted into both movies and plays. He lives in Ottawa and the stories are drawn from his experiences growing up in Ottawa and the surrounding area.

Among Canada's most distinguished authors of middle-grade and young-adult novels, Brian Doyle is acclaimed as an exceptional storyteller as well as a talented writer whose works reflect both insight and sensitivity in depicting the moral dilemmas of young people. Doyle's books take place in both historical and contemporary periods and his sense of humour is considered one of his most appealing features. His writings evoke a strong sense of location, reflecting urban Ottawa and the Ottawa Valley. Angel Square 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 Bridgedraw on Brian Doyle's childhood memories of the Ottawa Valley.

Writing in Books for Young People, Eva Martin called Doyle "one of the most daring and experimental writers of young-adult novels. He deals with the most sensitive of issues—race, violence, anti-social activity of all sorts—with a tongue-in-cheek humor that never denigrates the human spirit." Writing in Magpies, Agnes Nieuwenhuizen concluded, "Perhaps Doyle's most extraordinary feat is that there is never a sense of design or message or moralising. What shines through his work is a breath of vision and tolerance and a quirky exuberance and curiosity even in the face of adversity and resistance." Many of Doyle's most popular early novels are collected in the 1999 anthology The Low Life.