Born and raised in Chicago, Norman Weeks studied in Rome, earned his degree in history, then settled into a Roman residence. With Rome as a base, he traveled in fifteen European countries, including those of the old Soviet bloc. His interest in ancient cultures led him on archaeological itineraries throughout the Mediterranean.
Back in the Americas, he served two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Brazil, then ventured into Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. He has guided wilderness canoeing in the Minnesota-Ontario Boundary Waters.
In Asia, he immersed himself in the Buddhist cultures of Thailand, India, and Nepal.
Norman Weeks is an autobiographical and experiential writer.
An Autobiographical Letter is the straight-through narrative of a half-century of the author’s life, relating the experiences that fed into the writings. Its companion volume, Autobioscenes & Necrographies, extracts and expands some episodes from that life. The first book is the panorama, the second some snapshots.
Also derived from personal experiences are several books of travel narratives: Nature Norm’s North Woods, excursions into the natural world. Tropical Ecstasy, a nostalgia trip back to Brazil. And Two Weeks in Eternal Egypt, as a member of a tour group exploring the antiquity and sociology of that country.
Out of the author’s deep experience of Rome came the trilogy, Roman Ruminations, “The Psychology of the Human as Enculturated Animal”. Its three volumes are: Loneliness, Instinct, and Love. (Roman Ruminations is also available complete in a single volume.)
Matters of Life and Death (two volumes) contains further excursions into human psychology.
Culture-versus-Nature is a principal theme of Walden Contemporaneous, bringing the values of Thoreau’s book from 1845 Concord, Massachusetts to 2020s United States.
The author’s one major work of fiction, Symphony of Stories, presents its characters in the cultural contexts of art, music, literature, and our techno culture.
Throughout his varied writings, Norman Weeks expresses a cosmopolitan appreciation of our world and the wide range of experiences possible in one human life.
Books by Norman Weeks have received several 5-stars reviews from Readers Favorite, as well as awards recognition from American Book Fest, Independent Author Network, and the National Indie Excellence Awards.