Will Weaver

Will Weaver (born William Weller; 1950 in Park Rapids, Minnesota), is an American author.[1]

For the basketball coach, see Will Weaver (basketball).
Will Weaver
BornWilliam Weller
1950 (age 69–70)
Park Rapids, Minnesota
OccupationNovelist, College Professor
GenreYoung Adult, Fantasy, Baseball

Background

Weaver was raised on a dairy farm near Park Rapids, Minnesota, where his parents, who were of Scandinavian descent, farmed 150 acres. In Weaver's youth, he enjoyed fishing and participating in sports (he was the captain of his high school basketball team). At 16 years of age, he once finished second in a demolition derby.[2] One of three children, he attended the local country school. Weaver attended Saint Cloud State University, 1968–69; University of Minnesota, B.A., 1972; Stanford University, M.A., 1979.

Career

His debut was Red Earth, White Earth, about a native Minnesotan returning to his home town due to conflicts between white farmers and local Native Americans. It was made into a CBS-TV movie in 1989. His 1989 short story collection, A Gravestone Made of Wheat and Other Stories, won many awards, including the Minnesota Book Award for Fiction. The title story was produced in 2006 as the independent feature film Sweet Land, featuring Ned Beatty.

Weaver has also written many stories for young adults, including the Billy Baggs baseball novels. These include Striking Out, Farm Team, and Hard Ball. He has also written Memory Boy, Claws, Full Service, and Defect. Saturday Night Dirt, the first of a series on dirt-racers, was released in 2008 followed by Super Stock Rookie. He is the winner of both the McKnight Foundation and the Bush Foundation prizes for fiction.[3]

In addition to writing, Weaver became a creative-writing teacher at Bemidji State University in Bemidji, Minnesota, he has since retired from teaching.[4] He resides in the Bemidji area with his wife Rose, who is formerly a professor at Bemidji State, and his teenage children. In April 2014, he recorded an interview with Peter Shea in which he talked about his life and work.[5]

Bibliography

Novels and novellas
  • The Survivors (2013)
  • Checkered Flag Cheater (2010)
  • Super Stock Rookie (2009)
  • Saturday Night Dirt (2008)
  • Defect (2007)
  • Full Service (2005)
  • Claws (2003)
  • Memory Boy (2001)
  • Hard Ball (1998)
  • Farm Team (1995)
  • Striking Out (1993)
  • Red Earth, White Earth (1986)

Short story collections
  • Sweet Land (2006)
  • A Gravestone Made of Wheat and Other Stories (1989)
  • WWJD

Nonfiction
  • Barns of Minnesota (with Doug Ohman) (2005)
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References
  1. Brief Biographies entry for Will Weaver. Retrieved January 22, 2010.
  2. Authors for Teens entry for Will Weaver. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  3. Will Weaver (HarperCollins Publishers)
  4. Bemidji State University English Department faculty page. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  5. Interview with Peter Shea, April, 2014
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