Deborah Kerbel is a critically-acclaimed, award-winning Canadian author of more than thirty books for children of all ages. Her young adult and middle grade novels have been shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Canadian Library Association’s YA Book Award, the Green Earth Book Award, the Rocky Mountain Book Award, and the Manitoba Young Reader’s Choice Award, among many others. Her middle grade novel, Iggy Included, was a 2025 Forest of Reading Silver Birch Fiction Honour Book, a 2026 Red Cedar Fiction Award Winner, and a finalist for the 2025 SYRCA Diamond Willow Award, the IODE Violet Downey Award, and a CCBC 'Best Books for Kids and Teens starred selection. Her debut graphic novel, Fred & Marjorie; a Doctor, a Dog, and the Discovery of Insulin, is an ALA Best Graphic Novel selection, a Junior Library Guild ‘Gold Standard’ selection, an NSTA & CBC ‘Outstanding Science Trade Book’ selection, an OLA ‘Best Bets’ Honourable Mention, and a 2023 BC Red Cedar Award and Forest of Reading ‘Yellow Cedar Award’ Winner. Her debut picture book, Sun Dog, was a 2019 Forest of Reading 'Blue Spruce Award' Honour Book, the winner of the 2019 IODE Jean Throop Book Award, and finalist for the 2020 Snow Willow Book Award. Her picture books Rainy Days and Next Door were Toronto Public Library’s ‘First and Best’ 2022 and 2023 selections. She’s also the recipient of the City of Vaughan’s 2011 R.A.V.E. Award for her work as a Literary Arts Educator and Mentor. She’s been a visiting author at numerous libraries across Ontario, a guest speaker at both national and international literary festivals across Canada (Wordfest; Word on the Street; the Festival of Trees; Luminato, Eden Mills Writer’s Festival, Inkwell Writer's Festival), conferences (Packaging Your Imagination; Words, Words, Words; DSBN Writes), the inaugural writer-in-residence at Vaughan Public Libraries, as well as judge and juror for provincial book awards and national youth writing competitions. Deborah's books have been translated into five languages (French, German, Turkish, Korean, and Standard Chinese). Currently, she has five more books scheduled for publication between 2026 - 2028.
In 1993, she graduated from Western University with a degree in English literature. Born in London, England, Deborah currently lives and writes in Thornhill, Ontario with her family.
