Bio and Press Kit

Short Bio

Will Weaver’s new novel Power & Light (October ’23) was a finalist for the 2024 Minnesota Book Award and the Midwest Independent Publishers’ Award. Kirkus Review called it “A consuming work of  profound poetical depth and moral power.”  Reviewed nationally from  The New Yorker to The Los Angeles Times, his fiction includes Sweet Land (short story collection and film), and his enduring novel of the Midwest, Red Earth, White Earth. He lives near Bemidji, Minnesota on the upper Mississippi River.

Author Will Will grew up on a farm in Minnesota. His interest in literature took him to the University of Minnesota and Stanford University. His firsts collection of short stories, A Gravestone Made of Wheat won the the Minnesota Book Award. The title story was adapted in the award-winning indie feature film Sweet Land.  He followed with his enduring novel of the Midwest, Red Earth, White Earth, which became a CBS television movie. He has written several novels for young adults, including Memory Boy and Saturday Night Dirt. Both are widely read in middle- and high schools across America. His latest novel for adults, Power & Light (2023), returns to his themes of swirling, generational changes in the upper Midwest. He lives in near Bemidji, Minnesota, on the Mississippi River.

Long Bio

Author Will Will grew up on a farm in Minnesota. A couple of good English teachers turned his attention to literature, which took him to the University of Minnesota and Stanford University. In the Stanford Writing Program he worked with Raymond Carver, Alice Hoffman, and other top writers. He completed his M.A. in Creative Writing at Stanford, focusing on short stories, the genre that launched his career as a writer.

A PEN award winner, his short story collections and novels have earned the praise of reviewers from coast-to-coast. The New York Times Book Review called A Gravestone Made of Wheat, “a graceful collection, one that views America’s heartland with a candid but charitable eye.”

Red Earth, White Earth, Mr. Weaver’s debut novel, was published by Simon & Schuster and produced as a CBS television movie. A Gravestone Made of Wheat (Simon & Schuster) won the Minnesota Book Award for Fiction. Several of the stories were performed on National Public Radio. The title story was produced as the independent feature film Sweet Land starring Ned Beatty and Alan Cumming. Sweet Land earned rave reviews in its national theater release. “A triumph…a movie of extraordinary tenderness” (Entertainment Weekly). It is available streaming and on DVD.  Sweet Land: The Musical debuted April 28, 2017 at The History Theatre, Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Will Weaver has also written several successful novels for young adults. Striking Out (HarperCollins) was honored as Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association. Full Service (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005) won starred reviews and was also listed as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Defect won the 2008 Minnesota Book Award. His MotorNovel Series focused on small town stock car racing, includes Saturday Night Dirt, Super Stock Rookie, and Checkered Flag Cheater. Memory Boy is widely used in schools, grades six through eight, and in 2016 was produced as a full length opera by the Minnesota Opera. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VQBGQhiUnE&t=91s

In addition to writing, Will also taught creative writing and literature at Bemidji State University in northern Minnesota, where he and his wife live on the Upper Mississippi River. Will writes full time and travels widely, speaking at schools and conventions on all matters related to writing and reading, literature and literacy.
 If you’re an aspiring fiction writer–or just like hearing about the writing life–be sure to check out his “In The Write” blog. In it he shares what he’s learned about writing and publishing, with a goal of helping other aspiring writers.