avg_rating: 3.47
name: Lori Weber
about: I was born and raised in Montreal, in a neighbourhood called ParkExtension. This was a great place for a writer to grow up because therewere lots of colourful characters around, lots of street life, and lots ofdifferent ethnicities to be curious about. The predominant ethnic group atthe time (the 60s) was Greek. I grew up hearing as much Greek asFrench and English, and I learned to love the food and customs of myGreek friends. It was, however, early training in being more of anobserver than a participant. When I was 13 my parents bought a house inVille St-Laurent, a suburb of Montreal. Perhaps because of my Park Exdays, I found myself hanging out mostly with a group of Armenian friendsthe first few years. I was just comfortable being differ I was born and raised in Montreal, in a neighbourhood called ParkExtension. This was a great place for a writer to grow up because therewere lots of colourful characters around, lots of street life, and lots ofdifferent ethnicities to be curious about. The predominant ethnic group atthe time (the 60s) was Greek. I grew up hearing as much Greek asFrench and English, and I learned to love the food and customs of myGreek friends. It was, however, early training in being more of anobserver than a participant. When I was 13 my parents bought a house inVille St-Laurent, a suburb of Montreal. Perhaps because of my Park Exdays, I found myself hanging out mostly with a group of Armenian friendsthe first few years. I was just comfortable being different– and having todecode foreign languages. This gave me an interest in languages, so Iwent on to learn German (my father’s heritage), as well as Spanish inlater life, which means I speak four languages, although none but Englishwell enough to write in.At cegep (which exists only in Quebec and is a transitional stage ofhigher education between high school and university), I started to writestories in my Creative Writing classes. There, I met a teacher, Fran, whobecame a mentor and really encouraged me to develop this passion.That’s when I first started to feel that I could be a writer and actuallypublish. I began going to readings and writing workshops whenever Icould, to immerse myself in writing culture.I studied English literature at university, but part-time, because I workedand supported myself from the age of 19 on. I lived in many differentparts of Montreal, including downtown, Verdun, the Plateau, and didmany different office jobs, such as documentation clerk in a shippingcompany and assistant editor for a Public Relations newspaper at McGill.Throughout all this time, I continued to write stories and had a fewpublished, along with some poems, in small press magazines.At the age of 29, Bachelor’s Degree, in hand, I moved with my partner toNova Scotia and did a Master’s Degree in English. I got my MA andbecame a Ma all within weeks of each other, which was a neatexperience.The next move was across the water to Newfoundland, a place I hadnever been to. The ferry crossing was wild, with ripping wind and highwaves which I feared would sweep my six-week old daughter overboard ifI went outside. We stayed in St. John’s for two fantastic years.Newfoundland is everything and more than people say it is – charming,special, wet, and wonderful.We returned to Quebec and I pursued a degree in teaching English,which led to my current job as an English teacher at John Abbott Collegein Montreal, where I have been teaching for 11 years. Seven years in, Idecided that if I were ever going to get back to writing in a more seriousway, I had to lessen my teaching load, so I began teaching part-time andwriting more. This led to my first book, Klepto. I have continued tocombine teaching and writing ever since. Both are labour-intensive andthe two together equal more than one full-time job, but I’m so happy to beable to earn a living and continue writing books. ...more