About Gary L. Blackwood

Gary Blackwood (born October 23, 1945) is an American author known for The Shakespeare Stealer trilogy.Born in Meadville, Pennsylvania,[citation needed] Blackwood sold his first story when he was nineteen. In 1998, he published The Shakespeare Stealer, a historical fiction novel about an orphan, Widge, who is sent to steal Hamlet from William Shakespeare and The Lord Chamberlain's Men. After it won the 1999 ALA Best Book for Young Adults, Blackwood published two sequels, Shakespeare's Scribe (2000) and Shakespeare's Spy (2003). Since then, he has continued writing historical fiction, such as Around the World in 100 Days (2010), which the Smithsonian named a 2010 Notable Book for Children and Kirkus Book Reviews one of 2010's Best Books for Teens. In 2017, he branched out into adult fiction with a Victorian mystery featuring Charles Frederick Field, Bucket’s List, and followed it with a sequel, Bucket’s Brigade (2019).

Blackwood is also a widely produced playwright. In 2001, the Kennedy Center commissioned him to write a one-act play of The Shakespeare Stealer; two years later, Seattle Children's Theatre commissioned a full-length version that has since been staged by a number of other professional theatres, including Nashville Children's Theatre and Children's Theatre of Charlotte.