Robert Weaver (January 6, 1921 – January 26, 2008) was an influential Canadian editor and broadcaster. Born in

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

and educated at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

, Weaver served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. From 1948 to 1985, Robert Weaver worked at the

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

where he created a series of shows that identified and featured then unknown Canadian writers such as

Alice Munro Alice Ann Munro ( ; ; 10 July 1931 – 13 May 2024) was a Canadian short story writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013. Her work tends to move forward and backward in time, with integrated short story cycles. Munro's ...

Mordecai Richler Mordecai Richler (January 27, 1931 – July 3, 2001) was a Canadian writer. His best known works are ''The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (novel), The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz'' (1959) and ''Barney's Version (novel), Barney's Versi ...

Timothy Findley Timothy Irving Frederick Findley, (October 30, 1930 – June 20, 2002) was a Canadian novelist and playwright.

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...

, and

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...

. In 1956 Weaver founded the '' Tamarack Review'', a Canadian literary magazine, focus of a literary revival which led to Toronto's overhauling Montreal as the literary capital of English Canada; for example, Weaver annually visited Canadian universities where he had literary friends (mostly from the

) to encourage undergraduates to publish new poems and stories. Over the course of his career at the CBC, Weaver edited more than a dozen anthologies and initiated the annual CBC Literary Awards in 1979. In order to maintain his direct contact with writers, Weaver turned down his promotions at the CBC. He accepted the appointment to the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

in 2000 after declining it multiple times, stating he was critical of the "three-tier" nature of the award.

Works

*''Canadian short stories''. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1952. (with Helen James) *''Canadian Short Stories''. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1960. Number 573 in The World's Classics series. *''The first five years : a selection from the Tamarack review''. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1962. *''Canadian short stories, second series''. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1968. *''The Oxford anthology of Canadian literature''. Toronto : Oxford University Press, 1973. (with William Toye) *''Canadian short stories, third series.'' Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1978. *''Small wonders: new stories by 12 distinguished Canadian authors''. Toronto: CBC, 1982. *''The Oxford book of Canadian short stories in English''. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1983. (with Margaret Atwood) *''The Anthology anthology: a selection from thirty years of CBC-Radio's "Anthology"''. Toronto : Macmillan of Canada, 1984. *''Canadian short stories, fourth series''. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1985. *''Canadian short stories, fifth series''. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1991. *''The New Oxford book of Canadian short stories in English''. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1995. (with Margaret Atwood) *''Emergent voices: CBC Canadian Literary Awards stories, 1979-1999''. Fredericton: Goose Lane, c1999.

References

Canadian literary editor, anthologist Robert Weaver dies
(Retrieved January 29, 2008) *Coates, Donn
"Robert Weaver"
. ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. (Retrieved January 29, 2008) * *Fulford, Rober

(Retrieved January 29, 2008) *Kalman Naves, Elaine. ''Robert Weaver: Godfather of Canadian Literature'' (2008) *Kubacki, Mari

(Retrieved January 29, 2008) 1921 births 2008 deaths Canadian book editors Canadian magazine editors Canadian radio personalities {{Canada-radio-bio-stub