Duane Hewitt
Duane Clinton Gregory Hewitt (DuaneHewitt.com) is a writer, author, novelist, and composer. He has authored novels, novellas, and collections of short stories. He has also written extensively for business, including having written over a thousand articles for one of the leading media groups in Ontario, Metroland Media Group (a div. of TorStar) as well as for MacRAE’s Marketing. He is also a composer of symphonies and songs, with four symphonies to his credit, plus orchestral overtures and an extensive collection of songs in dramatic and lyrical styles.
Early Life:
Duane was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to Adlynn Elizabeth Hewitt and Norman Gregory Hewitt, both of whom were practicing lawyers at the time. After receiving her law degree, Adlynn articled with the law firm Milner Steer in Edmonton and then went on to run her own private law practice. In addition to other accolades, Adlynn was later honored with the designation QC (Queen’s Counsel). Norman G. Hewitt joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and served as a bombardier with the RCAF while stationed in England during WWII, returning home to his native Alberta after the war to teach English and then later returning to university to earn his law degree. He became a prosecuting attorney for the province and was later appointed Judge of Juvenile and Family Court; a position he held until his death in 1987. Duane has two sisters – Terry-Dawn Hewitt and Karen Elizabeth Hewitt, each of whom went on to successful careers as lawyers and educators. Terry-Dawn made the move to Denver, Colorado shortly after their mother’s death in 1999, where she continues to practice law and serve as a law professor for the University of Denver. Karen continues to reside in Edmonton where she held the distinction of Crown Attorney before being appointed Provincial Court Justice in 2018.
Schooling and Education:
Duane was schooled in the Edmonton Catholic school system, having attended St. Bernard’s Elementary School and St. Brendan Catholic Junior High School, graduating from Austin O’Brien High School. Shortly following graduation, he enrolled at Alberta College Music Centre (Alberta College Conservatory of Music) and later at the University of Alberta where he wrote two musical librettos: For the Love of Ernest and Our Respectable General.
It was at the U of A that one of his professors – noted playwright Ben Tarver – was so enthused by Hewitt’s writing of the two librettos that he encouraged Hewitt, just 22 at the time, to make the trip to New York City, where he put Duane in touch with a number of contacts in the theatre industry. It was at this time that Hewitt wrote and released a self-titled 45-rpm record under the Boomtown Record Label, We’ll Change Our Lives and We’ve Got it All; two soft rock songs for which he had done all the writing and arranging. The songs received airplay across Canada.
Hewitt studied music from an early age and later had such notable teachers as Dr. Violet Archer, Dr. Malcom Forsythe, Kevin Whittingham, Thelma O’Neill, and Alfred Strombergs. It was with the encouragement of Dr. Forsythe that Hewitt made the transition into the music industry where he worked as a music copyist, preparing scores for publication and performance for such groups as the CBC, The Calgary Grandstand Stampede Show, The Tommy Banks Orchestra, and a number of prominent composers. Hewitt later left that part of the industry to focus on his own works. He made the move to Toronto in ‘86, where he continues to live today.
Works:
Hewitt’s writing has been described as “forthright,” “lyrical,” “touching,” “powerful,” and “dramatic.” His books have been sold in major book stores across the U.S. and Canada and continue to be available through e-reader formats on Amazon.com and other Amazon International websites. His novels include SAVAGE, The Chaos of Days, Diminished Fifth, The Invasion Diaries, and The Symphonic Tides. Novellas include A Man and a Dog, A Hard Way to Die, Hunter, Dictum, Emma, and Conversations with the Eternal. Collections of short prose include Grendel and Other Tall Tales, Juxtin Pose: Five Stories, and Twenty-Five Short Easy Pieces. One of his books, a short novella titled A Man and a Dog, has twice been optioned for movie rights. His book Grendel and Other Tall Tales was on the 12th grade suggested reading list for the Harris County High School Literature Department in Georgia, USA for four consecutive years. He has also written one non-fiction book, titled The Practice: Reflections on the How and Why of Kindness.
Influences:
Duane was an early grade reader and had a fondness for fantasy, sci-fi, and speculative fiction in his early years. He feels most influenced by writers H. P. Lovecraft, H. G. Wells, Edgar Allan Poe, Ray Bradbury, Jack London, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Dickens, and Leo Tolstoy. His favorite literary works include Call of the Wild, The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, Moby Dick, Catcher in the Rye, A Tale of Two Cities, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Anna Karenina, and Resurrection (by Leo Tolstoy).
When Hewitt was 13, he was invited through the school system to attend a full season of the opera; something that turned into regular visits to the symphony and opera. The experience made a lasting impression on him about the scope and potential of great music. Hewitt’s taste in classical music leans toward the piano music and symphonic works of Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Schubert, Brahms, and Mahler.
Hewitt enjoys contributing his time to charitable causes and has tutored extensively in adult literacy for the United Way as well as having worked as a writer in a volunteer capacity for the MS Society of Ontario.
Written Works:
· The Symphonic Ties Novel (2019)
· The Invasion Diaries, Novel (2017)
· Diminished Fifth, Novel (2016)
· The Chaos of Days, Novel (2003)
· Savage, Novel (2001)
· A Hard Way to Die: Three Novellas (2003)
· A Man and a Dog (2000)
· Grendel and Other Tall Tales (1997)
· Juxtin Pose: Five Stories (1998)
· Twenty-Five Short Easy Pieces (2016)
· Emma (2005)
· The Practice: Reflections on the How and Why of Kindness (2012)
Website:
Hewitt continues to write for and manage his website, DuaneHewitt.com, a site that is inscribed with the words Insight, Inspiration, and Imagination – a site that is dedicated to a wide range of topics with a focus on issues of mental health as well as a vast array of topics giving the reader something to think about.
Quotes:
“Soli Deo Gloria should be ascribed to every good work.”
“If ever we find the truth to be offensive, then we must be prepared to change what is true.”
“If you can write, paint, or compose without fear, pain, tears or questions, then you are either very blessed or very bland.”
“I’ve never quite understood why the knuckleheads of the planet so outnumber the rest of us.”
“Create always: As God has seen fit in His perfection to give you such abilities, work and share of your gifts.”
“I think if God came down and gave us His version of Empathy then all the world’s problems would surely become a thing of the past.”
“Death is an opportunity to shed all guilt; to step away from the dogma and contrivances of mankind; and to finally be unbound from all hindrances to knowledge.”
“I’m not afraid of death, just of dying.”
“Eventually all things become cliché.”
“So much of life isn’t about having the right answer; it’s about knowing the right question.”
“The road to Heaven is ascension; always climb upward.”
“I am increasingly convinced that humankind’s best future lies within the power of the imagination, with knowledge following closely in step.”
“Music (Definition; Noun): The artistic organization of sound for the joy and experience of listening.”
“In dream, delusion, and fantasy, exist man’s next best reality: that place where he is the creator of his own worlds; where he builds, learns, discovers and entertains; is master of all outcomes, his own god of destiny, and thus the student of his own evolving and ever uncertain truth.”
- From Grendel and Other Tall Tales
“There is a journey that all must take regardless of its direction or apparent meaning. An artist plucks out their heart, holds it forth, and be it through agony or ecstasy, is prepared to be measured for the gift that is the highest honor, to create, and therein be judged on those merits alone. And, somewhere in the skein of all creation is that which demands of those whom would aspire to create beauty and wonder, no matter the cost, because creation, all of it, is worth every ounce the pain of its birth.
- From the novel, Diminished Fifth
Mottos:
Ad Astra per Aspera
(A rough road leads to the stars)
Soli Deo Gloria
(To the sole glory of God)
Carpe Diem
(Seize the Day)
External Links:
· Duane Hewitt Website (https://duanehewitt.com/)
· Duane Hewitt on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/114151.Duane_Hewitt)
· Amazon’s Duane Hewitt page (https://www.amazon.com/Duane-Hewitt/e/B001K8W716/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1487516405&sr=1-2-ent)