I had never heard of Robert Weaver until a couple of days ago. I was plugged into my ipod while I did housework, the Ideas podcast came on and I learned Robert Weaver had devoted over fifty years of his life to nurturing the development of Canadian literature. As I listened I realized almost all of Canada’s literary talent had been influenced by this men.
I felt almost jealous as I listened to Alice Munro or Alice Laidlaw as she was known back in 1951, tell her story about her business relationship with Weaver.
Munro had heard Weaver was looking for short stories to read aloud on his CBC radio program, Anthology. She wrote him a letter and included two of her stories. He wrote back suggesting ways she could improve them and subsequently bought them both. Munro says, "That was probably the greatest moment of my life," appearing in print and being paid for the privilege.
From then on Weaver wrote her occasional letters asking what she was working on and telling her to keep writing. He also bought lots of her stories.
Why can’t I have a mentor, someone encouraging me to write, showing me ways I can improve my writing and paying me for the privilege to print it?
I recommend this podcast. Go to the best of ideas podcast page to listen to part one or subscribe in itunes.
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