Esteemed Canadian writer W. P. Kinsella passed away at the age of 81 on Friday.
According to his literary agent, the Edmonton-born author’s life ended through a medically-assisted death in Hope, B.C.
READ MORE: W.P. Kinsella, ‘Shoeless Joe’ author, dead at 81 through doctor-assisted death
The following is a summary of the work Kinsella published before his death:
— Dance Me Outside (1977). A series of stories narrated by a young Cree man from what was then called Hobbema in central Alberta, and is now called Maskwacis; it was made into a Bruce McDonald film in 1994.
— Scars (1978). Another series of short stories about characters living in Hobbema.
— Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa (1980). More short stories, including Kinsella’s first time writing about his most famous character.
— Born Indian (1981). More from Kinsella’s Hobbema characters, this time causing a riot on a nude beach in Vancouver and chit-chatting with the Queen in her bedroom.
— Shoeless Joe (1982). Kinsella’s best-known work, it spawned a Kevin Costner film called “Fields of Dreams” and the immortal line, “If you build it, he will come.”
—The Moccasin Telegraph (1983), The Thrill of the Grass (1984), The Alligator Report (1985). Three more books of short stories.
— The Iowa Baseball Confederacy (1986). A novel returning to Kinsella’s love of baseball.
— The Fencepost Chronicles (1987), The Further Adventures of Slugger McBatt (1988), The Miss Hobbema Pageant (1989), Red Wolf, Red Wolf (1990). Short stories revisiting Kinsella’s favourite characters and passions.
— Rainbow Warehouse (1990). A book of poetry written with Ann Knight.
— Box Socials (1992). Another baseball novel.
— The Dixon Cornbelt League and Other Baseball Stories (1993), Brother Frank’s Gospel Hour (1994).
— The Winter Helen Dropped By (1995). A novel about a young man and woman that included one of Kinsella’s mantras: “Every story is about sex or death, or sometimes both.”
— If Wishes Were Horses (1996). A novel that revisits Shoeless Joe’s protaganist in a tale about a newspaper writer on the run from the FBI.
— Diamonds Forever: Reflections from the Field, the Dugout & the Bleachers (1997). A non-fiction collection of stories told by baseball insiders.
— Magic Time (1998). A baseball novel.
— The Secret of the Northern Lights (1998), Japanese Baseball (2000). A return to short stories.
— Even at This Distance (2002). More poems with Ann Knight.
— Ichiro Dreams: Ichiro Suzuki and the Seattle Mariners (2002). A biography published only in Japan.
— Butterfly Winter (2011). A baseball novel.
— The Essential W.P. Kinsella (2015). A career retrospective.
-With files from Phil Heidenreich.
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