Kenneth Oppel is a renowned Canadian children's writer born on August 31, 1967, in Port Alberni, a mill town on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. He spent much of his childhood in Victoria, B.C., and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

His writing journey began at around twelve years of age when he aspired to become a writer after considering careers in science and architecture. He initially explored writing sci-fi epics and swords and sorcery tales. During a summer holiday when he was fourteen, he started working on a humorous story about a boy addicted to video games, which eventually became his first book, Colin's Fantastic Video Adventure (1985). Through a family friend, Oppel had the manuscript forwarded to Roald Dahl, who recommended it to his agent, leading to its publication.

Oppel earned a Bachelor of Arts in Cinematography and English from Trinity College, University of Toronto, where he wrote his second book, Live Forever-Machine (1992). He later moved to Oxford, England, with his wife, Felipa Sheppard, who was pursuing a doctorate on Shakespeare. Oppel worked as an editor for Quill and Quire from 1995 to 1996.

His most acclaimed works include the Silverwing series, with over a million copies sold, and Airborn, which won the Governor General's Award for children's literature in 2004 and became a Michael L. Printz Honor Book.

Oppel currently resides in Toronto, Ontario, with his wife and three children, Sofia, Nate, and Julia.