Canadian Authors Virtually In the Classroom.

Through canlit.ca I recently found out about W.E.I.R. which stands for Writers In Electronic Residence. According to the web site:

•An educational initiative that focuses on Canada's literary culture through creative literary expression and critical discussion undertaken in a writing—and written—community; and, An arts initiative that creates new forms of work for Canada's writers, and audiences for their books.

The idea, basically, is that WEIR sets up classrooms with electronic writers in residence who not only talk to students about the importance of literature, but run writing workshops for kids via the internet. This seems to me a hugely important and timely exercise given that it comes at a time when according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs the US book market is dead.

"...the fact is that people don’t read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”