W.P. Kinsella

William Patrick Kinsella

• School University of Victoria, University of Iowa

• Born May 25, 1935 in Edmonton, AB CAN
• Died September 16, 2016 in Hope, BC CAN

Biographical Information

W.P. Kinsella is a Canadian author most famous for Shoeless Joe (1982), the book that was made into the movie Field of Dreams. He has written several books involving baseball, and also several involving Native North Americans, although he points out he is neither a baseball player nor a Native North American. Among his other baseball books are The Thrill of the Grass (1984), The Iowa Baseball Confederacy (1986), Box Socials (1992) and Butterfly Winter (2011).

He is a member of the magic realist school of novelists, made most famous by Latin American writers such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Many of his baseball books are set in the state of Iowa.

While he came to the public's attention quite quickly due to the Kevin Costner movie, he states: "I beat my head against the walls of North American literature for twenty years to become an overnight sensation".

One source says that he was once a scout for the Atlanta Braves, although it was an honorary title and he never actually discovered anyone who was signed by the team.

Kinsella was awarded the Jack Graney Award in 2011 for the book that was later made into the "Field of Dreams" movie and more generally for his contributions to baseball literature.

Further Reading

• Michael Clair: "W.P. Kinsella: The voice behind 'Field of Dreams'. The movie -- and book -- that 'should never have been made'", mlb.com, August 11, 2021. [1]
• W.P. Kinsella: Shoeless Joe, Turtleback Books, St. Louis, MO, 1999 (originally published in 1982). ISBN 978-0785729020
• W.P. Kinsella: The Thrill of the Grass, Penguin Books, New York, NY, 1984. ISBN 0-14-007386-8
• W.P. Kinsella: The Iowa Baseball Confederacy, Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin, New York, NY, 2003 (originally published in 1986). ISBN 978-0618340804
• W.P. Kinsella: Box Socials, HarperCollins Canada, Toronto, ON, 1992. ISBN 978-0006473886
• W.P. Kinsella: The Dixon Cornbelt League and Other Baseball Stories, Bison Books, Winnipeg, MB, 2004 (originally published in 1994). ISBN 978-0803278165
• W.P. Kinsella: Butterfly Winter, Enfield & Wizenty, Winnipeg, MB, 2011. ISBN 978-1926531168
• Matt Schudel: "W.P. Kinsella, 'Shoeless Joe' novelist who inspired 'Field of Dreams,' dies at 81", The Washington Post, September 17, 2016. [2]
• William Steele: Going the Distance: The Life and Works of W.P. Kinsella, Douglas & McIntyre, Madeira Park, BC, 2018. ISBN 978-1-77162-194-6