Duncan Weller

Duncan Weller (born, October 1975) is a Canadian writer and illustrator of children’s picture books, short stories for adults (Rocket Fish) and poetry ("Tettrennial Drift"). He won two of Canada’s top awards, a Governor General's Award and the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Award, for his picture book The Boy from the Sun.

Duncan Weller
Born1975
Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
OccupationWriter, illustrator
NationalityCanadian
Alma materLakehead University

Early life and education

Weller was born in Sherbrooke, Quebec in 1975 to English immigrants. He graduated from Lakehead University, where he studied English Literature and Fine Art.

Career

After graduation, Weller moved from Thunder Bay to Toronto, then to Victoria, North Vancouver, Montreal and back to Thunder Bay. He worked as a picture framer and illustrator. In Vancouver he worked as a contract sculptor and painter for Delta Play and Klondike Kidstuff, companies that produced play areas and large themed projects for museums and large commercial enterprises. Returning to Thunder Bay he worked in the marketing and promotional department of Magnus Theatre. In 2008 he won the 2007 Governor General's Award in the children's literature for his book The Boy from the Sun, as well the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award. He secured several grants from the Ontario Arts Council to continue work on his paintings and picture books. He writes an arts column for The Chronicle-Journal. He received a Chalmers Arts Fellowship allowing him to do research for an upcoming picture book in Ghana. Due to major breaches of contract by his Canadian publisher, Simply Read Books, Weller obtained the rights to his three previous children's picture books. In 2013 he self-published three hardcover children's picture books, The Love Ant, Big Electric Cat, The Ugg and the Drip with a printing of 3,000 copies of each using Kromar in Winnipeg. In 2015 he printed 5,000 copies of a second expanded edition of The Boy from the Sun. Upcoming books include an expanded version of Night Wall, Lara Wood, and The Chameleon Snake. He also works occasionally as an actor and set decorator for locally produced short films and two full length feature films. In 2017 he opened a small gallery, Rogue Planet Gallery.

Personal life

His father, Geoffrey Weller, became a professor of political studies at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Geoffrey Weller's work in administration and his comparative studies of the political, economic, and health care systems of the Northern Hemisphere helped secure his position as the founding president of the University of Northern British Columbia in 1991. At the time, UNBC was the first university built in Canada in twenty-five years. Geoffrey Weller served two terms as president before succumbing to lung cancer in 2000. Duncan Weller’s mother, Jean, is an award-winning quilter who shows her work regularly, and has exhibited in the United States, Norway, and across Canada. Duncan Weller has two brothers: Eric, who teaches at Confederation College in Thunder Bay and makes films, and Alexander, who operates a retail outlet for martial/fantasy themed arts equipment in Victoria, British Columbia.

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References
  • "Winners of the 2007 Governor General's Literary Awards". Canada Council of the Arts. Archived from the original on June 9, 2011. Retrieved March 5, 2010.
  • "2008 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Childrenís Book Awards Winners Announced". Ontario Arts Foundation. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
  • "Review: The Boy From the Sun". March 6, 2008. Archived from the original on September 7, 2009. Retrieved March 5, 2010.
  • "The Unusual Duncan Weller". Members.shaw.ca. February 11, 2009. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
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