David Harry Walker was a Scottish-born Canadian novelist. He was born in Dundee, Scotland, later moving to St Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada, where he began his career as a writer. His work has been made into films.
Biography
Walker was born near Dundee, Scotland and received his early education in Shrewsbury, later enrolling at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. After graduation in 1931, he was commissioned in the Black Watch. He served with the foreign battalion in India and Sudan and in Canada as aide-de-camp to Governor-General Lord Tweedsmuir, the novelist John Buchan. There he met Willa Magee of Montreal, and they married on 27 July 1939. The couple had four sons together: Giles, Barclay, David, and Julian. In September 1939, amid the threat of war, Walker returned to England, where he trained recruits. The next year he was posted to France with The Black Watch51st Highland Division. Captured by the Germans at St. Valery in June 1940, he spent nearly 5 years in prisoner of war camps, escaping three times; each time he was recaptured after getting outside the camp. While interned at Colditz Castle, he began to write poetry. Freed by American troops in 1945, he was later awarded the M.B.E. In 1946 he travelled to India, where he served for a short time as comptroller of the household for Viceroy Lord Wavell. Following retirement from the British army, Walker returned briefly to Scotland. He emigrated to St. Andrews, New Brunswick in 1948, intent on becoming a writer. A prolific author, Walker enjoyed a long and successful career, publishing approximately 100 short stories and 20 books. His novels The Pillar, about a prisoner of war camp, and Digby, a Scottish highlands story, won the Governor General's award for fiction for 1952 and 1953, respectively. Several of his books, including Geordie, made into motion pictures. That was set in his native Scotland, while Mallabec and Pirate Rock were set in his adopted home province of New Brunswick. Where the High Winds Blow, written following a dogsled adventure in the Canadian North, is considered his most popular Canadian novel. His last book, Lean, Wind, Lean, an autobiography, was published in 1984. Two other motion pictures, Harry Black and Amanita Pestilens were based on Walker's stories. A plan to film Digby in Scotland with Spencer Tracy was aborted. Apart from his writing career, Walker took a keen interest in community affairs. An active conservationist, he served as president of Sunbury Shores Arts and Nature Centre in St. Andrews and as chair of St. Andrews Centennial Park. Between 1965 and 1991, he sat as a commissioner of the Roosevelt Campobello International Park Commission, serving as chair from 1970 to 1972. His success as a writer and his community involvement won him recognition. In 1955 the University of New Brunswick awarded him an honorary doctor of letters, and in 1987 he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. Walker died at St. Andrews on 5 March 1992, at age 81.
