Alan Cumyn is the award-winning author of three novels for children. They all revolve around the life of young Owen Skye who is desperately in love with Sylvia Tull, the girl who sits across the classroom from him then moves away to Elgin. Cumyn was born and raised in Ottawa but also lived in New Brunswick as a child. Like Owen, Cumyn has two brothers -- one older, one younger -- and his father worked for a time as an insurance salesman. Cumyn has also lived in China, Indonesia and many parts of Canada, but he settled in Ottawa in the same neighbourhood where he grew up. Together The Secret Life of Owen Skye, After Sylvia, and Dear Sylvia have won or been shortlisted for 11 national awards. Cumyn has also written seven novels for adults, including Burridge Unbound, which was shortlisted for the Giller Prize, and The Famished Lover, longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Cumyn is married and has two daughters. He began writing the first Owen Skye stories for them when they were learning to read more than ten years ago.