Member Review
The Writers' Union is a refuge — an occasional one to be sure, but a kind of home nonetheless — for a lot of people who practise an often solitary craft. It's a place populated by people who tend to understand what that's like.
Member Profile
Rene Schmidt
René Schmidt was born in Holland in 1954 and immigrated to Canada in 1957. He remembers not wanting to speak English. He had many jobs including underground mine worker, truck driver, construction worker, taxi driver, ship officer trainee and upholsterer. René studied theatre performance at Ryerson and is a graduate of York University's Creative Writing Program and Faculty of Education. As a young teacher René wrote heroic stories for his students, using their names in title roles. René's first book, Canadian Disasters by Scholastic Canada, became a bestseller and three expanded editions followed. Leaving Fletchville, a fiction novel, deals with parenthood, racism, friendship and bullying. Recently René built a house, directed a youth drop in centre and taught Senior Drama at a local high school. He is happily married to Shirley. Their sons Adrian and Daniel now travel the world and do interesting jobs. René enjoys writing, cutting wood, riding his motorcycle, and trying to figure out his iphone. He is rewriting some Y.A. manuscripts and compiling a series of humorous short stories for adults.
