Our programs
A degree in creative writing can be the first step in a career path that leads to a profession other than that of novelist, poet, or playwright. Written communication and storytelling are central to all cultural industries, including internet publishing, gaming, advertising, editing, teaching, and entertainment. The creative writing workshop is a training ground that prepares our students with critical intelligence and skills that are in demand in all areas. Many of our graduates use this training in careers that combine professional success with creative satisfaction.
Undergraduate
The focus of our creative writing program is on the interchange between reading and writing. At the undergraduate level, introductory creative writing courses emphasize reading published writing in the genre in question, with a view to technical development.
The program has evolved over the years, adding new areas of specialization and expanding others. We now offer courses in creative non-fiction, literary editing, and curating and archiving the literary event, as well as occasional courses in specialized subjects and forms, such as cross-genre writing, experimental writing, flash fiction, the long poem, and writing the fantastic.
Graduate
The Creative Writing option within the MA in English provides professional training in the art and craft of writing with an advanced scholarly education in English literature. Like an MFA, our MA is centred on workshops which, combined with the creative thesis, comprise more than half of the program. Students also take literature courses in the company of students in the MA academic option and the PhD. Focusing on the interchange between creative activity and scholarship, our program helps to prepare students not only for a writing career but for a PhD in literature or creative writing and/or for CEGEP teaching.