WILL WEAVER

BIOGRAPHY I BOOKS I PRESENTATIONS I BOOK ORDERING

Will Weaver writes fiction for adults and young adults. He was born in northern Minnesota in 1950 and grew up on a dairy farm. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1972 (B.A., English) and finished his M.A. in English/Creative Writing at Stanford University. His novels and short stories have drawn praise of reviewers coast-to-coast. Weaver's story "Dispersal" was voted by the Library of Congress as one of the top ten stories of 1985. Several of his stories have been produced for National Public Radio.

Mr. Weaver's debut novel, Red Earth, White Earth, was published in 1986 by Simon & Schuster, and was produced as a CBS television movie in 1989. A Gravestone Made of Wheat & Other Stories (Simon & Schuster 1989) won many awards, including the Minnesota Book Award for Fiction. The New York Times Book Review called it "a graceful collection, one that views America's heartland with a candid but charitable eye." The title story was recently produced as a feature film called Sweet Land, starring John Heard, Elizabeth Reaser, Tim Guinee, Lois Smith, Alex Kingston, and Ned Beatty and it premiered in movie theaters in October 2006. For further details, see www.sweetlandmovie.com. Sweet Land: New & Selected Stories by Will Weaver will also release in October 2006.

Will Weaver has also written several works for young adults. His series Striking Out, Farm Team and Hard Ball (HarperCollins 1993/95/98) were chosen as American Library Association "Best Books" for young adults. Striking Out won a "Pick of the Lists" from the International Reading Association. His novel Memory Boy (2001) is used widely in schools across the United States and was chosen as a YALSA teen "top ten" books for 2002 as well as a New York Public Library Book award. Following Claws (2001), his novel Full Service (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2005) has earned starred reviews and is a 2006 American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults.

Mr. Weaver lives in northern Minnesota, a region he writes from and loves. He is an avid outdoorsman, and enjoys hunting, fishing, canoeing and hiking with his family and friends. Before he retired, he taught writing at Bemidji State University.