Story highlights
Kinsella's final book will be published next year
"He was ... outrageously opinionated," his agent says
Canadian author W.P. Kinsella, whose book inspired the film “Field of Dreams,” has died. He was 81.
His agent Carolyn Swayze confirmed his death in a statement, but did not provide details on his health or when he died.
“He was a unique, creative and outrageously opinionated man,” Swayze said. “He was a dedicated story-teller, performer, curmudgeon, an irascible and difficult man. His fiction has made people laugh, cry, and think for decades and will do so for decades to come.”
Kinsella was born in Edmonton, Alberta, on May 25, 1935.
Swayze said Kinsella and his wife, Ann Knight, were her first friends when she moved to White Rock, British Columbia, in 1984. Kinsella persuaded her to become a literary agent in 1994 and to represent his work, she said.
Her agency described Kinsella as one of North America’s most prolific and popular authors who published almost 30 books of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, which were translated into many languages around the world.
Swayze said the author’s final book, “Russian Dolls,” will be published next year.
Kinsella became a household name after publication of his novel “Shoeless Joe,” which inspired the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams,” starring Kevin Costner.
CNN’s Steve Visser contributed to this report