Eric Robert Walters, (born March 3, 1957) is a Canadian author of

young adult fiction Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

and picture books. As of 2020, Eric Walters has written over 100 books.

Background

Walters was an elementary school teacher at Vista Heights Public School in

Streetsville, Ontario Streetsville (pop. 47,327) is a neighbourhood located in the northwestern corner of the city of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, on the Credit River. Although Streetsville occupies the west and east banks of the river, the majority is located on the ...

. In 1993, he was teaching a grade 5 class in which many of the students were reluctant readers and writers. To encourage them, Walters wrote his first novel, ''

Stand Your Ground A stand-your-ground law (sometimes called "line in the sand" or "no duty to retreat" law) provides that people may use deadly force when they reasonably believe it to be necessary to defend against certain violent crimes (right of self-defense) ...

''. The novel was set in the school and included features from the community and the names of many of his students. He has since written more than 70 novels for young adults. He is a three-time winner of both the Ontario Library Association Silver Birch and Red Maple Awards – voted on by over 100,000 students throughout the province of Ontario. His books have been translated and published in many countries.

Personal life

Eric Walters was born and raised in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and resides in

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

, Ontario, with his wife Anita. They have three adult children, Christina, Nick and Julia. Walters tries to experience the subjects he plans to write about. In April 2010 he walked across the

Sahara Desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

before writing ''Just Deserts''. With his son, he climbed

Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and ab ...

for ''Between Heaven and Earth''. He played with tigers before writing ''Tiger by the Tail''. In addition, Walters founded the Creation of Hope, an organization providing care for orphans in the Mbooni district of

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. Presently more than 400 orphans are being provided with services that include food, school fees, uniforms, tools, beds, livestock, and the construction of two children's residences in the town of Kikima.

Awards

Walters's works have won or been nominated for the following awards:

Published works

Fiction

* ''

'' (Fitzhenry & Whiteside 1994) * ''Stars'' (Fitzhenry & Whiteside 1996) * ''Trapped in Ice'' (Penguin 1997) * ''War of the Eagles'' (Orca 1998) * ''Diamonds in the Rough'' (Fitzhenry & Whiteside 1998) * ''

The Hydrofoil Mystery ''The Hydrofoil Mystery'' was written in 1999 by Canadian author Eric Walters. It is about a teenage boy named Billy McCracken, whose mother arranges for him to go away for the summer to work with none other than the well-known inventor of the te ...

'' (Penguin 1999) * ''Caged Eagles'' (Orca 2000) * ''Rebound'' (Stoddart 2000) * ''The Bully Boys'' (Penguin 2000) * ''Northern Exposures'' (HarperCollins 2001) * ''Camp X'' (Penguin 2002) * ''Ricky'' (HarperCollins 2002) * ''Tiger Town'' (Dundurn 2003) * ''Run'' (Penguin 2003) * ''Overdrive'' (Orca 2004) * ''Grind'' (Orca 2004) * ''Death by Exposure'' (Dundurn 2004) * ''Underdog'' (Orca 2004) * ''I've Got An Idea'' (HarperCollins 2004) * ''The True Story of Santa Claus'' (2005) * ''Juice'' (Orca 2005) * ''

Elixir ELIXIR (the European life-sciences Infrastructure for biological Information) is an initiative that will allow life science laboratories across Europe to share and store their research data as part of an organised network. Its goal is to bring t ...

'' (Penguin 2005) * ''Triple Threat'' (Orca 2005) * ''Stuffed'' (Orca 2006) * ''Laggan Lard Butts'' (Orca 2006) * '' We All Fall Down'' (Doubleday 2006) * ''

Shattered Shattered may refer to: Books * ''Shattered'' (Casey book), a 2010 non-fiction book: true-crime account of pregnant mother's murder * ''Shattered'' (Francis novel), a 2000 novel by Dick Francis: glassblower seeks videotape following death of j ...

'' (Penguin 2006) * ''House Party'' (Orca 2007) * ''Bifocal'' (Fitzhenry & Whiteside 2007) * ''Safe as Houses'' (Doubleday 2007) * ''Tiger Trap'' (Dundurn 2007) * ''Sketches'' (Penguin 2007) * ''Boot Camp'' (Orca 2007) * ''The Falls'' (Penguin 2008) * ''In A Flash'' (Orca 2008) * ''When Elephants Fight'' (Orca, 2008) * ''Voyageur'' (Penguin, 2008) * ''The Pole'' (Penguin 2008) * ''Splat!'' (Orca 2008) * ''Alexandria of Africa'' (Doubleday 2008) * ''Special Edward'' (Orca, 2009) * ''Black & White'' (Penguin, 2009) * ''Tell Me Why'' (Doubleday, 2009) * ''Wounded'' (Penguin, 2009) * ''

United We Stand United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

'' (Doubleday, 2009) * ''Shell Shocked'' (Penguin, 2009) * ''Wave'' (Doubleday, 2009) * ''Beverly Hills Maasai'' (Doubleday, 2010) * ''Branded'' (Orca, 2010) * ''Trouble in Paradise'' (Penguin, 2010) * ''Home Team'' (Orca, 2010) * ''Fly Boy'' (Penguin, 2010) * ''Shaken'' (Doubleday, January 2011) * ''Catboy'' (Orca, September 2011) * ''Just Deserts'' (Penguin, September 2011) * ''Between Heaven and Earth'' (2012) * ''The Matato Ride'' (Spring 2012) * ''The Taming'' (Spring 2012) with Teresa Toten * ''End of Days'' (Doubleday, September 2012) * ''Power Play'' (Spring 2013) * ''Tagged'' (Fall 2013) * ''My Name is Blessing'' (Fall 2013) * ''The Rule of Three'' (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, January 2014) * ''Walking Home'' (Doubleday, 2014) * ''Saving Sammy'' (Orca 2014) * ''The Power of Three'' (Razorbill 2014) * ''Sleeper'' (Orca 2014) * ''Hope Springs'' (Tundra, September 2014) * ''Regenesis'' (Doubleday Canada 2015) * ''The Fight of Power'' (Razorbill 2015) * ''The Will to Survive'' (Razorbill 2016) * ''90 Days of Different'' (Orca 2017) * ''Always With You'' (Nimbus Publishing, 2019) * ''The Boy Who Moved Christmas'' (Nimbus Publishing, 2020) * ''Don't Stand So Close to Me'' (Orca 2020) * ''

The King of Jam Sandwiches ''The King of Jam Sandwiches'' is a children's book written by Canadian author Eric Walters, published in 2020 by Orca Book Publishers. The book is written in a first-person narrative, recounting Walters' own childhood, making it his most pers ...

'' (Orca 2020)

Non-fiction

* ''Improve Your Child's Spelling 1'' (1991) (with Norm Rippon) * ''Improve Your Child's Spelling 2'' (1993) (with Norm Rippon) * ''When Elephants Fight'' (2008) (with Adrian Bradbury) * ''Tell Me Why'' (2009) * ''From the Heart of Africa: a Book of Wisdom'' (2018)

References

External links

* *
''CM'' profile of Walters
– incorporating material from a 1998 interview
Creation of Hope project in Kikima, Kenya
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walters, Eric 1957 births Canadian writers of young adult literature Canadian science fiction writers Writers from Toronto Living people Canadian male novelists Governor General's Award-winning children's writers 21st-century Canadian male writers