Richard Jerome Kennedy (born December 23, 1932, in Jefferson City, Missouri), is 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.
He was educated at Portland State University (B.A., liberal arts, 1958) and earned a teaching certificate in elementary education from the University of Oregon. Teaching elementary school proved unsatisfactory, so he tried other jobs, including bookstore owner, deep sea fisherman, moss picker, custodian, cabdriver, and archivist, before turning to writing.
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 is 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".
The Parrot and the Thief, illustrated by Marcia Sewall, 1974
The Contests at Cowlick, illus. Marc Simont, 1976
The Porcelain Man, illus. Sewall, 1976
Come Again in the Spring, illus. Sewall, 1976
The Blue Stone, illus. Ronald Himler, 1976
Oliver Hyde's Dishcloth Concert, illus. Robert A. Parker, 1977
The Dark Princess, illus. Donna Diamond, 1978
The Rise and Fall of Ben Gizzard, illus. Sewall, 1978
The Mouse God, illus. Stephen Harvard, 1979
Delta Baby and Two Sea Songs, illus. Lydia Dabcovich, Charles Mikolaycak, and Jim Arnosky, 1979 – poetry
The Lost Kingdom of Karnica, illus. Uri Shulevitz, 1979
The Leprechaun's Story, illus. Sewall, 1979
Inside My Feet: The Story of a Giant, illus. Himler, 1979
Crazy in Love, illus. Sewall, 1980
The Song of the Horse, illus. Sewall, 1981
The Boxcar at the Center of the Universe, illus. Jeff Kronen, 1982
Amy's Eyes, illus. Richard Egielski, 1985
Richard Kennedy: Collected Stories, illus. Sewall, 1987
Little Love Song, illus. Petra Mathers, 1992 – poetry
Musicals by Kennedy and Mark Lambert:
Camelot, God Wot! or What a Woman Wants, 1989
Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen: A Christmas Pageant, adapted by Kennedy, music by Mark Lambert, illus. Edward S. Gazsi (Laura Geringer Books, 1996), LCCN 95-52211
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
