Creative Writing

The English & Film Studies Write Program offers opportunities to take individual courses in creative writing, to take a combined degree in creative writing and another subject, or to minor in Writing.

WRITE courses allow students to dwell in the English language in the intense, focused and disciplined way only working writers experience. While skilled writers are valued in the workplace and in graduate schools, participants in WRITE courses acquire much more than a marketable expertise in their craft —they discover new ways of seeing and revealing the world, of reflecting on the writing process, of deepening their thinking and understanding how the language in which we live writes us.

The Department of English & Film Studies hosts the Writer-in-Residence Program, sponsoring one or two writers each year. It is the longest continuously running writer-in-residence program in Canada, hosting such distinguished writer such as Daphne Marlatt, Phyllis Webb, Don McKay, Shani Mootoo, Ven Begamudré, David Adams Richards, Tim Lilburn, Marilyn Dumont, Thomas Wharton, Myrna Kostash, Karen Solie, Curtis Gillespie, Camilla Gibb and Catherine Bush. The program allows for intensive interaction between student and mentor, providing invaluable feedback on writing style and form. The Writers-in-Residence program also enriches the cultural life at the university and in Edmonton through talks, readings, manuscript consultations and other community activities. In addition, the Department runs a reading series throughout the year, bringing in a variety of new and established writers to read from their work.

Students may take courses in fiction, poetry and non-fiction at the introductory, intermediate and advanced levels. Career options include creative writing, print and broadcast journalism, communications, teaching and publishing.

Department of English & Film Studies
3-5 Humanities Centre
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB T6G 2E5
Tel: (780) 492-3258
Write@mail.arts.ualberta.ca
http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/efs