Weaver, Robert, 1921-2008

1921-2008

Robert Leigh Weaver was born on January 6, 1921, in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

He was a Canadian anthologist, editor, and radio broadcaster. From 1942 to 1945, he served first in the Royal Canadian Air Force and then in the Canadian Army. After his discharge, he enrolled at the University of Toronto and studied Philosophy and English. In 1948, he was hired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as a program organizer in the Talks and Public Affairs Department and in this role, he was associated with a number of the most important cultural programs on Canadian radio, including Critically Speaking, Canadian Short Stories, Stories with John Drainie (1959-1965), and Anthology (1953-1985). Through these shows, he worked tirelessly to discover, nurture and sustain several generations of Canadian writers such as Alice Munro, Mordecai Richler, Timothy Findley, Margaret Atwood, and Leonard Cohen. He founded the literary journal The Tamarack Review (1956-1982) and created the CBC Literary Awards in 1979. He retired from CBC in 1985. He edited numerous anthologies, including the five Oxford volumes "Canadian Short Stories: First series (1960), Second series (1968), Third series (1978), Fourth series (1985), and Fifth series (1991)," "The Oxford Anthology of Canadian Literature" (16 editions, 1973-2004), and "Small Wonders: New Stories by Twelve Distinguished Canadian Authors" (1982). Weaver also wrote for the Toronto Star, making his first contribution in 1969 and writing a regular column reviewing murder mysteries from 1972 to 1979. In 2007, Elaine Kalman Naves published Robert Weaver’s biography, "Robert Weaver: Godfather of Canadian Literature."

In 1950, he married Mary Isabel McKellar (1924–2008). After their divorce in 1965, he remarried Audrey Marlene McKellar (1935–2014) in 1966. He died on January 26, 2008, in Toronto, Ontario.