George F. Walker (born August 23, 1947) is a Canadian playwright and screenwriter. He is one of Canada's most prolific playwrights, and also one of the most widely produced Canadian dramatists both in Canada and internationally.
Early years
Walker was born in Toronto, Ontario, on August 23, 1947, to Florence and Malcolm Walker.[1] He was raised in the east end of Toronto, which was considered a working-class neighbourhood.[2] This neighbourhood is what made him loyal to the city lifestyle, which is shown in his work later on in life.
He attended Riverdale Collegiate Institute but did not graduate from high school. After he dropped out of high school he worked a variety of different jobs, and while doing these jobs he had been writing many stories and poems.[2] When working at a job as a taxi driver he saw a pamphlet from the Factory Theatre Lab inviting scripts to be submitted.[3]
Walker was first known for his playwriting.[5] In 1997, he published a cycle of six new plays, all of which took place in the same suburban motel room. He wrote plays for most of his career but since 2000 he has worked more in television and film.
Suburban Motel (1997): Problem Child, Criminal Genius, Risk Everything, Adult Entertainment, Featuring Loretta, The End of Civilization
Heaven (2000)
And So It Goes... (2010)
King of Thieves (2010)
Dead Metaphor (2013)
The Burden of Self Awareness (2014)
The Ravine (2014)
Parents Night (2014)
The Bigger Issue (2015)
We the Family (2015)
The Crowd (2016)
The Damage Done (2016)
The Chance (2017)
Fierce (2018)
Kill the Poor (2018)
Orphans for the Czar (2022)
Works about George F. Walker
Chris Johnson, Essays on George F. Walker: Playing with Anxiety. Winnipeg: Blizzard Publishing, 1999
Craig Walker, "George F. Walker: Postmodern City Comedy," The Buried Astrolabe: Canadian Dramatic Imagination and Western Tradition. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press
(in German) Sabine Schlüter: Das Groteske in einer absurden Welt. Weltwahrnehmung und Gesellschaftskritik in den Dramen von George F. Walker. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2007
References
^"volume 1". contemporary canadian authors. 444 front st. west toronto: gale canada. 1996.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^ ab"volume 60:canadian writers since 1960 second series". dictionary of literary biography. 835 pendoscot building detroit: gale research. 1987.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
