Alice Kuipers (born 29 June 1979) is a British author living in Saskatchewan, Canada, who is best known for her young adult novels. Life on the Refrigerator Door won the Grand Prix de Viarmes, the Livrentête Prize, the Redbridge Teenage Book Award in 2008 and the Saskatchewan First Book Award in 2007, was narrated as an audio book by Amanda Seyfried and Dana Delany, and has been adapted for theater in England, France and Japan. 40 Things I Want To Tell You won a Saskatchewan Book Award for Young Adult Literature in 2013. The Worst Thing She Ever Did (Lost For Words in the U.S.) won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile/YA Crime Book in 2011.
Early life Kuipers was born the first of three children in London, England,Panmacmillan website, Author Profile: Alice Kuipers . Retrieved 21 July 2013.Harper Collins website, Author Profile: Alice Kuipers. Retrieved 21 July 2013.Grove, Bonnie (26 March 2012). Novel Matters, Interview with Alice Kuipers. Novel Matters. Retrieved 21 July 2012. and is of Dutch and English descent. She attended Westminster School in London, before receiving a Bachelor of Science in psychology from the University of Manchester. She later graduated with Distinction with a Master of Arts degree in Writing from Manchester Metropolitan University. Her mother is Head of the Department of Psychology at King's College London, and a Professor of Clinical Psychology. Her father works as an advisor to local and central government on criminal and civil justice systems, and was previously a Chair of Governors and troubleshooting at OFSTED.
At the age of 18, Kuipers travelled alone for a year with an itinerary that included the Cook Islands, New Zealand, Cambodia, Australia, Vietnam and the U.S., which she has stated had a significant influence on her work. In an interview with Chatelaine magazine, Kuipers said, "I could spend my whole life exploring it [the world] and never come close to seeing everything there is to see... I learned not to worry too much if I took a wrong step. Something would come of whichever route I chose."Black, Grant (27 May 2011). Alice Kuipers: "A Woman of Style and Substance". Chatelaine Magazine, Canada. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
Kuipers moved to Saskatchewan, Canada and settled there in 2003. She lives in Saskatoon, with her husband, the writer Yann Martel, and their four young children.
Career Kuipers' debut young adult novel in 2007, Life on the Refrigerator Door, sold in 28 countries and was the winner of the Saskatchewan First Book Award,Saskatchewan First Book Award 2007 . Saskatchewan Book Awards, Canada. Retrieved 22 July 2013. the Sheffield Libraries Choice Award and the Grand Prix de Viarmes. It was long-listed for the Carnegie Medal.The Word on the Street, Author Alice Kuipers . National Book & Magazine Festival, Saskatoon, 22 September 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2013. The audio version of the novel was narrated by Amanda Seyfried and Dana Delany in 2007.Amazon. Amazon listing USA. Retrieved 22 March 2016. It was adapted for theatre and staged in London, England, in 2014 and in Paris, France, in 2016.Schedule for the Théâtre de Paris, Paris France, 2016 . Retrieved 19 March 2016.L'Officiel des Spectacles, Paris France, 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016. Life on the Refrigerator Door is told through a series of notes and post-its written from a mother to her fifteen-year-old daughter before and during a family crisis.
Kuipers' second young adult novel in 2010, The Worst Thing She Ever Did (Lost For Words in the U.S.), sold in 9 territories and won the Arthur Ellis Award, Best Juvenile/YA Crime Book 2011 and the OLA White Pine Official Selection 2011.Medley, Mark (3 June 2011). Winners of Arthur Ellis Awards . National Post, Canada. Retrieved 21 July 2013.Arthur Ellis Awards, Best Juvenile or Young Adult Crime Book 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2013.Crime Writers Canada Awards, Arthur Eliis Awards, Past Winners 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2013. This novel deals with confronting past tragedy and is set in London, England.Bell, Meghan (Spring 2013). Interview with Alice Kuipers: On Style, Crime Writing, and the Expansion of Genre . Room Magazine, Canada. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
40 Things I Want To Tell You was published in 2012 and rights were sold in Germany, Greece, Denmark and Croatia.Harper Collins Canada page, 40 Things I Want To Tell You . Retrieved 31 July 2013. It won a Saskatchewan Book Award for Young Adult Literature in 2013Writers Honoured at Saskatchewan Book Awards, CBC News: Regina, Saskatchewan, 28 April 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2013.Saskatchewan Book Awards Official website, 20th Anniversary Book Awards Winners , 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2013. and was a 2013 Young Adult Honour Book for the Canadian Library Association.Shortlist, Young Adult Book Awards , Canadian Library Association 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2013.Canada Library Association, Canadian Literature for Little Canadians Awards 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2013. Kuipers' third novel is about a teenage writer of an on-line advice column for teenagers, who is unable to follow her own good advice.
In 2014, three books by Kuipers were published. The Death of Us, a young adult novel, is a coming of age story about two young girls involved in a deadly car accident.Doerksen, Karen (31 July 2014). Children's Book Review: The Death of Us . National Reading Campaign. Retrieved 30 October 2014.Duggan, Charlotte (17 October 2014). Book Review: The Death of Us. The Manitoba Library Association. Retrieved 30 October 2014. As well, The Best Ever Bookworm Book, by Violet and Victor Small, a book for children illustrated by Bethanie Murguia,Hachette Book Group: The Best Ever Bookworm Book. Hachette Book Group. Retrieved 22 March 2016. and Lost and Curious Things, an interactive ebook, were published.Fiction Express: Alice Kuipers . Fiction Express. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
In 2015, Kuipers' short story, Ten Minutes, "the raw, beautiful story of a young woman's journey towards self-awareness and wellness" was released.Fierce Ink Press: Alice Kuipers . Fierce Ink Press. Retrieved 22 March 2016. Two more books by Kuipers were published in 2016: Violet and Victor Write the Most Fabulous Fairytale, again with illustrator Bethanie Murguia,Hachette Book Group: Author Entry . Hachette Book Group site. Retrieved 22 March 2016."Violet and Victor Write the Most Fabulous Fairytale". Kirkus Reviews, 5 October 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2016. as well as Secrets of the Badlands, an interactive ebook.Fiction Express: Secrets of the Badlands. Fiction Express. Retrieved 22 March 2016. In 2017, Kuipers released another young adult novel, Me (and) Me, about a rising rock star, forced to make a terrible choice "and in that moment her world splits into two distinct lives".Harper Collins Canada: Alice Kuipers. Harper Collins Canada. Retrieved 28 June 2017.Regret, indecision explored in Saskatoon author's upcoming novel. CBC News. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
Kuipers' non-fiction has been published in Easy Living Magazine, the Sunday Telegraph and the Bristol Review of Books. She has also written for the children's market.
Since 1999, Kuipers has led writing workshops in Hong Kong, the UK, Australia, Canada and the US, including a workshop in the Yukon in 2004.Saskatchewan Writers Coop, Workshops 2009-2010 . Retrieved 22 July 2013.Sage Hill Writing, Canada: Alumni Teen Writing Experience 2008, 2010 . Retrieved 22 July 2013. She has been an invited lecturer and workshop leader at several festivals, including Montreal Blue Met Festival, Brisbane Festival of Literature, The Word on the Street Saskatoon, Wordfest Calgary, and The Vancouver Writers Fest, and was keynote presenter at the Saskatchewan Festival of Words in 2010.Wordfest Calgary, Alice Kuipers. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
In 2008, she won the Saskatchewan Lieutenant Governor's Artists Award '30 Below' for young artists.Saskatchewan Lieutenant Governors Arts Awards. Retrieved 21 July 2013. In 2010, she spent a year as Saskatoon Public Library Writer in Residence,Saskatoon Library, Historical List, Writers in Residence . Retrieved 21 July 2013. working with community groups, individuals, teaching workshops and visiting schools.Saskatoon Library Writer in Residence Profile, Alice Kuipers . Retrieved 21 July 2013.
Kuipers worked with software developer, Rich Lowenberg, to create the first Writing Tips App for iPhone, which went on to be the second bestselling app in the Educational Apps Listings in both the US and Canada in 2010.
She is a writing coach at The Novelry.
Published works Life on the Refrigerator Door (2007) ("ne t'inquiéte pas pour moi", French translation, 2008) 'You Today' (Short Story) (2008) The Worst Thing She Ever Did (Lost For Words in the U.S.) (2010) Writing Tips App for iPhone (co-written with Rich Lowenberg in 2010) 40 Things I Want to Tell You (2012) Death of Us (2014) Violet and Victor Write the Best Ever Bookworm Book (2014) Lost and Curious Things (Interactive eBook) (2014) 'Ten Minutes' (Short Story) (2015) Violet and Victor Write the Most Fabulous Fairytale (2016) Secrets of the Badlands (Interactive eBook) (2016) Me (and) Me (2017) Polly Diamond and the Magic Book (2018) Always Smile: Carley Allison's for Laughing, Loving and Living (2019) Polly Diamond and the Super Stunning Spectacular School Fair (2019) Pia's Plans (2020) The World's Worst Parrot (2020) Polly Diamond and the Topsy-Turvy Day (2023) Dropped! (2024) Spark: On Writing for Kids and Young Adults (2024)
Awards Life on the Refrigerator Door A New York Public Library "Book for the Teen Age" (US) 2008New York Public Library, Book for the Teen Age 2008. New York Public Library, USA. Retrieved 26 March 2016. Winner of the Redbridge Teenage Book Award (UK) 2008Redbridge Teenage Book Award 2008 . Redbridge Teenage Book Award, UK. Retrieved 26 March 2016. Winner of the Sheffield Libraries Choice Book Award (UK) 2008 Winner of the Grand Prix de Viarmes (France) 2008 Winner of the Prix Livrentête, Prix Livrentête, (France) 2008 Winner of the Sweyne Park School Year 7 Book Award (UK) 2008Sweyne Park School Past Events . Sweyne Park School online, London, UK. Retrieved 26 March 2016. Winner of the Saskatchewan First Book Award (Canada) 2007 Shortlisted for the Coventry Inspiration Book Award (UK) 2008 Shortlisted for the Oxfordshire Book Awards (UK) 2008 Shortlisted for the Salt Lake City County Library System Reader's Choice Award (US) 2008 Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal (literary award) (UK) 2008 Winner of Saskatchewan Lieutenant Governor's Artists Award for young artists '30 Below' in 2008 'You Today' Shortlisted for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Literary Awards for Short Stories (Canada) 2009 Writing Tips App for iPhone (co-written) Number 2 bestselling app in the Educational Apps Listings in US and Canada in 2010 The Worst Thing She Ever Did Winner of the Arthur Ellis Award, Best Juvenile/YA Crime Book (Canada) 2011 White Pine Award of the Ontario Library Association, Official Selection, (Canada) 2011 Bank Street College of Education's Best Children's Books of the Year selection (Canada) for 2011 The Canadian Children's Book Centre's Best Books for Kids and Teens, 2011 selection 40 Things I Want To Tell You Winner of the Saskatchewan Book Award for Young Adult Literature (Canada) 2013 Young Adult Honour Book for the Canadian Library Association 2013 Shortlisted for the Stellar Book Award - British Columbia's Teen Readers' Choice Award (Canada) 2014/2015 cycle Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) list of "100 YA Books That Make you Proud to be Canadian" 2017 The Death of Us Nominated for the 2015 SaskEnergy Young Adult Literature AwardNominees for the 2015 SaskEnergy Young Adult Literature Award . Saskatchewan Book Awards. Retrieved 23 March 2016. Shortlisted for the Canadian Library Association 2015 Young Adult Book Award Me (and) Me Canadian Children's Book Centre Best Books for Kids and Teens 2017