Richard Kennedy (author)

Richard Jerome Kennedy (December 23, 1932 – July 24, 2025) was an American writer of children's books and a supporter of the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship. He was the first to suggest that John Ford was the author of the 578-line poem A Funeral Elegy which in 1995 had been touted by Donald Foster as being written by William Shakespeare.^[1]

Life

Kennedy attended Portland State University, where he graduated with a B.A. in liberal arts in 1958. He additionally earned a teaching certificate in elementary education from the University of Oregon.^[2] However, he found teaching elementary school unsatisfactory, so he tried other jobs, including bookstore owner, deep sea fisherman, moss picker, custodian, cab-driver, and archivist, before turning to writing.^[3][4]

Kennedy died on July 24, 2025, at the age of 92.^[5]

Shakespeare authorship question

Kennedy has been a long-time advocate of the theory that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, was the person actually responsible for writing the works of William Shakespeare. He was a founding member of the Shakespeare Fellowship, and in 2005 he proposed that Shakespeare's Stratford monument was originally built to honor John Shakespeare, William's father, who by tradition was a "considerable dealer in wool".^[6]

Notable works

• The Porcelain Man, illus. Marcia Sewall, 1976
• The Blue Stone, illus. Ronald Himler, 1976
• The Dark Princess, illus. Donna Diamond, 1978
• Amy's Eyes, illus. Richard Egielski, 1985

Awards

• American Library Association Notable Book List, 1976, for The Blue Stone
• American Library Association Notable Book List, 1978, for The Dark Princess
• Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award, 1976, for The Blue Stone and The Porcelain Man
• Association of Logos Bookstores Award, 1985, for Amy's Eyes
• German Rattenfänger (Rat Catcher, i.e. Pied Piper) award as best foreign book translated in 1988 for Amy's Eyes