Kevin Sylvester

Hi everyone.

My name is Kevin Sylvester and I am an illustrator, writer and broadcaster.

I've got a bunch of books out now. The Hockey Super-Six series has two 2020 books "The Puck Drops Here" and "On Thin Ice".

"The Fabulous Zed Watson!" (with my kid Basil) is out in January 2021.

Some recent titles - Gargantua Jr. Defender of Earth (Grouwndwood) and Follow Your Stuff (Annick).

My sci-fi series MINRs is already a bestseller and critical success. MINRS was a Red Maple and MYRCA Honour Book in 2017. MINRS3 – the final book in the series – was released in May 2018.

You may also have heard about my young chef/detective, Neil Flambé. There are 6 books in his series so far. "Neil Flambé and the Marco Polo Murders" won the prestigious Silver Birch Fiction award in Ontario in 2011.

Book 6 is called "Neil Flambé and the Duel in the Desert." Neil is looking for a lost gold mine and trying to escape from a crazed sheriff.

Super-chef Gordon Ramsay calls the series "Good Fun" and it had garnered critical praise and sales!

There are lots of other books to check out as well.

"Super-Duper Monster Viewer" lets you see the monsters who are right in front of you! Right now! But like all technology, there can be some bugs to work out.

"Basketballogy" and "Baseballogy" have lots of weird and interesting facts about America's two favorite pastimes!

Cindy Winters is the hero of "Splinters", my first picture book. Cindy is a young girl who only wants to play hockey, but the mean coach and her daughters won't let her. Can her fairy goaltender come to the rescue?

"GREAT" tells the story of Taylor, a teammate of a young Wayne Gretzky.

"Game Day" is a look behind the scenes at sporting events. I interviewed twenty fascinating people - from anthem singers to Zamboni drivers. The athletes can't do a darned thing if these people don't do their jobs and do them well.

"Showtime" take a similar look at the world of show business.

"Follow Your Money" takes a look at common financial transactions.

(There's also Mucus Mayhem - part of the Almost Epic Squad series from Scholastic (Canada) - but I'm afraid it's only available in Canada.)

I've been lucky enough to write and illustrate three other best-selling books -"Sports Hall of Weird" and "Gold Medal for Weird" for kids and Shadrin Has Scored for Russia for bigger kids. "Gold Medal" won the 2009 Silver Birch for Non-Fiction.

I'm also a broadcaster and was a regular on national radio in Canada for years and years. I even covered eight Olympic Games. My favourite Games were the 2006 Torino Winter Olympic Games. I fell in love with the city and produced a documentary on Torino called "The Invisible City". I've produced other documentaries on topics ranging from racism in hockey to the history of church bells in Canada.

I now spend most of my time in my attic studio.

As for education, I came to Toronto to study English and Philosophy at the University of Toronto. I've also studied Fine Arts at the Ontario College of Art and Design. I was named a Massey Journalism Scholar in 2007 and used the time to study theology at the University of Toronto.