Sheldon Oberman

As an award-winning writer, teacher, performer, playwright, and filmmaker, Sheldon Oberman was a dynamo of creative activity. An educator for more than twenty years, he was a member of the Manitoba Writers’ Guild; the Manitoba Association of Playwrights; the Winnipeg Film Group; the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators; the Canadian Society for Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers; and the Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada. Sheldon is the author of the many critically-acclaimed books, including The Always Prayer Shawl, By the Hanukkah Light, TV Sal and the Game Show from Outer Space, and The Lion and the Lake: A French English Alphabet Book, which won the International Silver Medal from the Leipsig Book Fair. Sheldon’s fascination with the single white stone in the wall around historic Casa Loma in Toronto led to his wonderful children’s book, The White Stone in the Castle Wall. This book was a finalist for the Ruth Schwartz Children’ s Literature Award, the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award, and the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award. The father of three children, Sheldon lived for many years in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He traveled throughout Canada and the United States as a storyteller and a speaker for schools, communities, and conferences.

Sheldon Oberman died in March, 2004.