TRU scholarship for creative writing students created in honour of late Kamloops author
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KAMLOOPS — A $50,000 scholarship has been created to honour an author and long-time Kamloops resident.
The first Dr. Joan Sherman Weir Memorial Scholarship for Excellence in Writing will be presented early in 2023. The scholarship at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) was created by Weir’s family.
“She had a conversation with me years ago. Before she moved away from Kamloops, she talked about wanting to do something at the school, so it’s something that I’ve had in mind for a number of years,” Richard Weir, Sherman’s youngest of four sons says. “I think she’d be thrilled. I told my oldest brother who is also a writer (playwright Ian Weir) and he said, ‘she’ll be beaming.’”
Sherman Weir taught creative writing at TRU, formerly known at the University College of the Cariboo, beginning in 1977, the year her first and second novels were published. Weir developed TRU’s creative writing program for two decades, published 16 young adult novels, and six books of Canadian history. Weir received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from TRU in 2004 and is commemorated on TRU’s Pioneer Wall.’
