Vernon Oickle was born and raised in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, where he continues to reside with his wife, Nancy, and their family. Growing up in a small town in rural Nova Scotia, Vernon had always wanted to pursue a career as a newspaper reporter.After completing high school in 1979, he attended Lethbridge Community College in Alberta. He graduated in 1982 with an honours diploma in Journalism and returned to Liverpool, where he worked at the local weekly newspaper, The Advance, for 13 years before becoming the editor of the Bridgewater Bulletin. His community newspaper career spanned 33 years.Vernon is an award-winning journalist and editor, and is the author of 46 books, many of which collect and preserve the heritage and culture of Atlantic Canada. His best-selling books include Ghost Stories of the Maritimes, Ghost Stories of Nova Scotia, More Ghost Stories of Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Outstanding Outhouse Reader, South Shore Facts and Folklore, Strange Nova Scotia, The Bluenosers' Book of Slang, Red Sky at Night, Forerunners: Harbingers of Death in Nova Scotia and Grandma's Home Remedies. He also writes fiction in the popular "Crow" series, based on the old Maritime poem One Crow Sorrow.

In 2024, the seventh book in the series, Seven Crows for a Secret Yet to be Told, won an International Impact Book Award, taking first place in the Historical Mystery/Thriller category. In addition to his long list of newspaper awards, in 2012 Vernon received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, recognizing his contributions to his community, province and country; and in 2015 he received a Distinguished Alumni Award (Community Leader) from Lethbridge College. He was inducted into the Atlantic Journalism Awards Hall of Fame in the spring of 2020.As a testimony to his outstanding career, in 2014 the South Queens Middle School in his hometown, Liverpool, announced the creation of the Vernon Oickle Writer's Award, to be given annually to a student who excels in the art of writing, either fiction or non-fiction.