Will Weaver grew up in northern Minnesota on a farm. The landscape of small town life figures strongly in much of his writing. He has gained a national audience for his unflinching realism, and for what one reviewer called ". . . the humanity and decency that runs through all of Weaver's work" ( St. Paul Pioneer Press). His short story collection A GRAVESTONE MADE OF WHEAT was a New York Times "notable book." His books have been adapted for radio, stage and film. SWEET LAND, the feature film adaptation of his story "Gravestone Made of Wheat", starring Ned Beatty, premiered in October of 2006. SWEET LAND is also the title of his collection of short stories, which includes the film-inspiring story. A recent new direction is a memoir, THE LAST HUNTER: AN AMERICAN FAMILY ALBUM, a closely described look at the arc of his family from tiny, immigrant homestead farm in North Dakota to post-modern America.Weaver is also known for his young adult fiction. MEMORY BOY, a post-apocalyptic novel based on environmental collapse, is widely used in junior and senior high schools across the United States. THE SURVIVORS, just out from HarperCollins, is the long-awaited sequel, and received a "Starred" review from Kirkus. Other young adult novels include CLAWS, set in northeastern Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and featuring outdoor survival with a strong family back-story. FULL SERVICE won starred reviews from Kirkus and Horn Books for its focus on a young man struggling with matters of religious faith and doubt. DEFECT is a novel about a teenager born with a miraculous birth abnormality, and his struggle to fit in (or not). His STRIKING OUT, FARM TEAM and HARD BALL baseball series for young adults has a lasting place in school libraries across the country. As an author, Mr. Weaver is particularly concerned with youth literacy, and young men in particular. His Motornovel Series includes SATURDAY NIGHT DIRT and its sequel, SUPER STOCK ROOKIE (2009), which focus on dirt track stock car racing. The series starts with a small town speedway and a diverse cast characters who come there, for different reasons, every Saturday night. CHECKERED FLAG CHEATER is the third in this popular series. Reviewed on "Good Morning America," the Motornovels were described as "great teen reads, and not just for boys."An avid outdoorsman and popular public speaker, Will Weaver lives with his wife on the Mississippi River in northern Minnesota.