Aubrey Davis - Author

I always loved to read. As a boy I had a passion for myths, bible stories, science fiction and Mad magazine. My neighbor was a writer for CBC. Maybe I caught the writing bug from him. I loved to write funny stories. My Grade six teacher liked them. But my Grade eight teacher hated them. So I stopped writing creatively until I was 42.

In 1970, I traveled across Europe and North Africa and discovered a remarkable collection of traditional Teaching stories by Afghan writer Idries Shah. These bottomless tales puzzled, shocked and delighted me. They helped me see the world and myself in fresh, new ways. They made me think like I'd never thought before.

In 1980, I began to tell them, first to my own children, then at weekly gatherings in Toronto. Later I told stories on radio and television, and in schools, libraries and festivals across North America. I created an oral language program for developmentally disabled children. I taught them language through story. They taught me how to tell and write simply and dramatically.

One day I was invited to tell a Chanukah tale to a large and very young audience. I couldn't find a story I liked. In desperation I wrote one myself. The children loved it and so did Kids Can Press. That's how Bone Button Borscht was born.

Over the years, I've worked as a logger, farmer, salesman and teacher. Now I write and tell stories.
Of my four published books, my latest, Bagels for Benny, has won may awards including the Sydney Taylor Award and the Canadian Jewish Book Awards Children's Literature Prize. I have also written the screenplay for Sheldon Cohen's animated film, The Three Wishes. A forthcoming title, A Hen for Izzy Pippik, will be published in 2010.