Guess what percentage of kidlit/YA authors are male? The answer is 14%. Why does that matter? Well, given how essential they are as role models in getting boys to read, it’s important that educators and parents know who they are, schools and libraries hire them as presenters, and everyone explores their books.

I’ve just made that easy! Below is a comprehensive list (I hope!) of male Canadian authors for kids and young adults. Yes, many female authors write books with a male protagonist. Some (like me) even specialize in “boy books.” And of course male authors like to produce the occasional female-protagonist book. But still, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that males are more likely to write what boys like (the topics, heavy-on-dialogue style, humour, high action, and tendency to spare the reader too many touchy-feely emotions). Then there’s the role-model factor.

Anyway, why not create a list of male authors just so it’s officially out there in the readersphere?

Please let me know if I’ve missed anyone, misspelled anyone’s name, or need a better contact address for someone. A shout-out to the following websites, from which I built large portions of my list: Cwill-BC, Canscaip, Canadian Children’s Book News, The Ontario Library Association’s Forest of Reading lists, and Authors Booking Service.

“Comfort with reading begins at home, and boys—especially in their preteens, the age where their reading may slump—are all too aware of male versus female role models.” — Jump-Starting Boys: Help Your Reluctant Reader Find Success in School and Life

131 Canadian male authors of books for

children and young adults

Don Aker, www.donaker.com

Jonathan Auxier, https://www.thescop.com/

Graham Annable, www.grickle.com

David Anderson, www.dandersonillustration.com

Cale Atkinson, https://www.cale.ca

Davis Aubrey, www.aubreydavis.com

Alain M. Bergeron, https://www.auzou.ca/auteur/alain-m-bergeron

Dan Bar-el, https://danbarel.com

Bob Barton, www.bobbartonstoryteller.com

Tim Beiser, https://www.facebook.com/tim.beiser.54

William Bell (R.I.P.), https://www.fitzhenry.ca/william-bell

Mike Boldt, www.mikeboldt.ca

Ian Boothby, https://www.facebook.com/canadiancontent

James Bow, http://bowjamesbow.ca

Richard Brignall, www.richardbrignall.com

Sigmund Brouwer, www.sigmundbrouwer.com

Glenn Brucker, http://Www.instagram.com/towherethewildthingsare

David Carroll, www.writerunrepeat.com

Sean Cassidy, www.seancassidyauthorillustrator.com

Marty Chan, www.martychan.com

Lesley Choyce, www.lesleychoyce.com

Richard Clark, https://www.mybestfriendsecretagent.com

Paul Coccia, www.paulcoccia.com

Pierre Collet-Derby, https://www.pierrecolletderby.com/

John Corr, www.johncorr.ca

Alexandre Courteau, https://ca.linkedin.com/in/alexandre-courteau-48a3a32b

Kevin Craig, https://ktcraig.com

Alan Cumyn, www.alancumyn.com

Christopher Paul Curtis, www.nobodybutcurtis.com

Marcus Cutler, www.marcuscutler.com

Lorenzo del Bianco, .www.lorenzodelbianco.com

Charles de Lint, https://g.co/kgs/BTRtdB

Cory Doctorow, https://craphound.com/

Mike Erskine-Kellie, www.spikeandtoody.com

Cary Fagan, www.caryfagan.com

Eric and Terry Fan, http://www.thefanbrothers.com/

Andre Fenton, https://twitter.com/andrefenton95

Lee Edward Fodi, http://www.leefodi.com

Dennis Foon, http:/dennisfoon.com

Matt Forsythe, http://www.comingupforair.net

Brian Francis, http://www.brian-francis.com/

Darren Groth, http://www.darrengroth.com

Hetxw’ms Gyetxw, www.bretthuson.ca

Clayton Hanmer, https://www.claytonhanmer.com

Kevin Harkness, www.kevinharkness.ca

Robert Heidbreder, https://www.robertheidbreder.com/

Steven Heighton, www.stevenheighton.com

James Heneghan, https://jamesheneghanauthor.wordpress.com/

Ben Hodson, www.benhodson.ca

Eric Howling, www.erichowling.wordpress.com

Glen Huser, www.glenhuser.com

Michael Hutchinson, https://secondstorypress.ca/authors-list/michael-hutchinson

Zachary Hyman, https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/authors/178151/zachary-hyman

John Ibbitson, https://twitter.com/johnibbitson

Chris Jackson, www.chrisjackson.ca

George M Johnson, https://georgemjohnson.com/

Adam Garnet Jones, www.adamgarnetjones.com

Andy Jones, https://runningthegoat.com/andy-jones/

Wesley King, https://www.facebook.com/WesleyKingAuthor/

Andrew Katz, https://www.facebook.com/andrew.katz.100

Jon Klassen, https://twitter.com/burstofbeaden?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Gordon Korman, www.Gordonkorman.com

Andrew Larsen, www.andrewlarsen.ca

Rob Laidlaw, www.roblaidlawbooks.com

Mark Leiren-Young, https://leiren-young.com

Mike Levitt, https://www.facebook.com/mike.levitt.509

Oleg Lipchenko, www.Lipchenko.com

Chad Lucas, https://www.chadlucaswrites.com/

Bruce McBay, https://tradewindbooks.com/authors/bruce-mcbay/

James McCann, https://jamesmccann.info/

Angus MacCaull, www.angusmaccaull.com

Roy MacGregor, https://muckrack.com/roymacg

Kevin Major, https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fg.co%2Fkgs%2FQBdBxz&text=Kevin%20Major

Alister Mathieson, https://blossombookspress.com/contact.html

Evan Munday, http://www.idontlikemundays.com

Raymond Nakamura, http://www.raymondsbrain.com

Hasan Namir, https://www.facebook.com/hasannamir/

William New, http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/whnew

Wayne Ng, https://waynengwrites.com

Alex O’Brien, https://www.facebook.com/alexobrienauthor/

Kenneth Oppel, www.kennethoppel.ca

Shane Peacock, www.shanepeacock.ca

Dom Pelletier, https://www.facebook.com/BDDomPelletier/

Ben Philippe, www.benphilippe.com

Jeff Pinkney, www.jeffpinkney.com

David Poulsen, https://www.davidapoulsenauthor.com/

Sean Qitsaulik-Tinsley, https://www.portageandmainpress.com/authors/sean-and-rachel-qitsualik-tinsley/

Danny Ramadan, www.dannyramadan.com

Gary Rasberry, www.garyrasberry.com

Raziel Reid, https://www.instagram.com/razielreid/

Peter H. Reynolds, www.peterhreynolds.com

Pat Riccardi, http://www3.telus.net/happygoluck

Scot Ritchie, https://childrensillustrators.com/scotritchie/portfolio
David Robertson, https://www.facebook.com/davidalexanderrobertson/

Tom Ryan, http://www.tomryanauthor.com/about

Jamal Saeed, https://www.annickpress.com/Contributors/S/Saeed-Jamal

Doug Savage, http://www.dougsavage.com

Richard Scarsbrook, www.richardscarsbrook.com

René Schmidt, www.reneschmidt.ca

Richard Scrimger, www.scrimger.ca

Shyam Selvadurai, https://shyamselvadurai.com/

Ken Setterington, https://www.facebook.com/ken.setterington

Wali Shah, www.Lifeaswali.com

Rob Shapiro, www.robshapiro.ca

Brent Sherrard, https://www.facebook.com/brent.sherrard

David Skuy, http://davidskuy.com/

Arthur Slade, arthurslade.com

David J. Smith, https://g.co/kgs/EezepJ

Mark David Smith, http://www.marksmithbooks.com

Sydney Smith, https://www.sydneydraws.ca/#/small-in-the-city/

Ted Staunton, www.tedstauntonbooks.com

Aaron Nels Steinke, https://www.mrwolfsclass.com/

Michael Stewart, www.michaelfstewart.com

Allan Stratton, www.allanstratton.com

Bill Swan, www.billswan.ca

Jeff Szpirglas, https://www.jeffszpirglas.com/

Kevin Sylvester, www.kevinsylvesterbooks.com

Jeremy Tankard, www.jeremytankard.com

Mark Thurman, https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/authors/58989/mark-thurman

J. Torres, https://www.jtorrescomics.com/

Richard Ungar, www.richard-ungar.com

Brent van Staalduinen, https://www.brentvanstaalduinen.com/

Larry Verstraete, www.larryverstraete.com

Ian Wallace, www.ian-wallace.com

Holman Wang, http://www.holmanwang.com

Eric Walters, www.ericwalters.net

Dave Whamond, http://davewhamond.com/

Russ Willms, http://www.russwillms.com/  

John Wilson, www.johnwilsonauthor.com

Alan Woo, http://www.kidscanpress.com/creators/alan-woo/749

Tim Wynn-Jones, www.timwynne-jones.com

Paul Yee, www.paulyee.ca

Eric Zweig, www.ericzweig.com

Maybe introducing more boys to male authors will help alter some of these stats:

• Boys read less than girls do.
• Parents read to boys for shorter periods of time than they read to girls.
• Teen girls read almost twice as much as boys on a per-hour basis.
• Some 37% of male college freshmen, and only 23% of female college freshmen, say they spend no time reading for pleasure.
• More boys than girls struggle with reading and writing.
• The average 11th-grade American boy writes at the same level as the average eighth-grade girl.
• Boys start school with a considerable verbal and psycho-social developmental lag (up to 18 months), behind girls. They often do not catch up until into their late teens—if then.
• The majority of reluctant readers are boys.
• While 70% of children learn to read with no special support, most of the rest—those with problems—are male, non-white, and economically deprived.
• Boys get most of the D’s and F’s in school grades.
• Adolescent males are significantly more likely than adolescent females to be left back a grade.
• Boys have a harder time finding books on their own.
• Adolescent girls outscore adolescent boys in reading and writing—the gender gap being equivalent to a year and a half of school. In other words, the average high school freshman girl is reading as well as the average high school junior boy.
• Boys are four times more likely than girls to be in learning disability programs.
• The gender gap in literacy is worldwide. Even in Finland, which boasts the top-ranked students in literacy, girls scored much higher than boys.
• Adolescent males drop out of high school at four times the rate of adolescent females (this includes females who drop out to have babies).
• Boys have more attitude and are less active in the school community. Males are more likely to view schooling in general (and specifically literacy) as artificial, even unmanly.
• Ninety percent of adolescent discipline problems in schools involve males, as do most expulsions and suspensions.
• Boys are the primary victims of violence in schools, and comprise the majority of dead, injured, mentally ill, and substance-abusing adolescents.
• The majority of salutatorians and valedictorians now are female. Adolescent females also dominate school clubs, yearbooks, and student government.
• Boys are four times more likely to be referred to a school psychologist.

There’s a direct link between comfort with reading and attitude. “Once they begin to fall behind, they act out because they are bored or disengaged, and a really difficult downward spiral results. Poor reading among boys leads to antisocial behavior. Low literacy is related to crime, poverty, and unemployment.”

“Given that a growing number of boys lack attentive males in their home life, it’s unfortunate that only twenty-four percent of teachers in the U.S. are male. In elementary school, it’s only seventeen percent. “Of all the theories offered to explain why boys trail girls in academics, the lack of male role models tends to lead the pack,” concluded a series of articles in The Globe and Mail.

(All sources for these statistics are footnoted in Jump-Starting Boys: Help Your Reluctant Reader Find Success in School and Life.)