UBC Creative Writing

2026 MONTREAL PRIZE JURY MEMBER

SHERYDA WARRENER

Sheryda Warrener is the author of the three poetry collections and was shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize 2023.  She is a lecturer in Creative Writing at UBC @ubccrwr.bsky.social.

#poetry #poet #poem #poetrycommunity

We’re hosting an online information session for all prospective CRWR Minor and CRWR Major students. If you’re unable to attend, the event will be recorded and later posted to our webpage.

🗓 Monday, November 17
⏰ 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm PT
📍Online (Zoom)

🎟 RSVP: creativewriting.ubc.ca/events/event...

RSVP for our Faculty & Alumni Showcase! Zac Hug, Nancy Lee, Alex Marzano-Lesnevich & Cecily Nicholson join MFA grad Clara Kumagai to share the creative research behind recent work.

🗓 Wednesday, November 5
⏰ 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm
📍Dodson Room, IKBLC
🎟 Free

RSVP: creativewriting.ubc.ca/events/event...

A monthly movie gathering at UBC curated by Nalo Hopkinson and Whitney French launches its first film “Slash/Back” on OCT 31 at 2 PM. 🎬🍿Free popcorn & drinks. All are welcome.

🗓 Friday, October 31
⏰ 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
📍Buchanan Tower, Room 225
🎟 Free

RSVP: creativewriting.ubc.ca/events/event...

✨ Last opportunity to register for our reading and celebration of Keith Maillard as he retires from the School of Creative Writing! ✨ Join us on OCT 16 at 5 pm on Zoom. RSVP by 10 am tomorrow to receive the meeting link (or RSVP today for bonus points!). RSVP: creativewriting.ubc.ca/events/event...

Come welcome Writer-In-Residence Joshua Whitehead at our reception in the Sty-Wet-Tan Great Hall at the First Nations Longhouse, where he’ll be in conversation with Billy-Ray Belcourt.

🗓 Monday, October 20
⏰ 1:00 to 2:30 pm
📍 First Nations Longhouse

🎈 RSVP: creativewriting.ubc.ca/events/event...

Please join us for a reading and celebration of Keith Maillard as he retires from the School of Creative Writing. 🎉 Everyone is invited to attend this online event (Zoom).

🗓️ Thursday, October 16
⏰ 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm
🎟️ RSVP for meeting link

RSVP: creativewriting.ubc.ca/events/event...

From the politicization of science to the global popularity of Korean media, Arts faculty members made headlines across several major outlets these past two months. 🔬

📰 Check out the August-September 2025 roundup of Arts in the Media ➡️ www.arts.ubc.ca/news/arts-in...

We’re returning to @writersfest.bc.ca with our popular Night Class event! Night Class is an interactive workshop offering writing tips and prompts across various genres, from instructors at UBC’s renowned School of Creative Writing. 🎟️ Tickets at writersfest.bc.ca

Join us for “The way a story comes back to retell itself”: Truth, Fiction, & Unraveling Form on SEPT 22, online. Catherine Lacey & Suzannah Showler will discuss how stories shift as they’re told & retold, & how to write about & beyond the self.

Register: creativewriting.ubc.ca/events/event...

We’re proud to share a collection of comics from Creative Writing students in our 2025 comics classes. 📓

🎉 Read the comics here: creativewriting.ubc.ca/news/student...

We’d love to hear your input on our non-credit continuing education courses. Take our short survey to tell us what online courses to offer, your preferred format, and what you’d like to pay.

🔗Access the survey here: ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_....

Lecturer Tanya Kyi’s new children’s book, “Feeling Your Feelings” will be available on October 7. The book is published by Kids Can Press.

Learn more about the book: www.kidscanpress.com/product/feel...

Associate Professor Sarah Leavitt’s book “Something, Not Nothing: A Story of Grief and Love” is a finalist for the 37th Annual Lambda Literary Awards in the LGBTQ+ Comics category.

@lambdaliterary.org @sarahbleav.bsky.social

Our popular novel outlining course starts on September 8. Register today to save your seat!

Outlining is a crucial step in the novel writing process, one that fuels creativity & prepares the writer to stay on track & avoid common pitfalls.

Learn more: creativewriting.ubc.ca/continuing-e...

MFA alum Benjamin Wood’s novel “Seascraper” has made the Booker Prize 2025 longlist. “Seascraper” is Wood’s fifth novel.

Learn more at thebookerprizes.com

@thebookerprizes.com

A website header: an evening scene with a hand holding a match to set fire to a house of cards, built from postcard-sized watercolour painings of academic settings. The words "Undisciplined" appear in big white letters in front of the image.

I'm psyched to announce SSHRC funding for The Undisciplined Project 2025-2030!!

My co-conspirators are Austen Osworth from @ubccrwr.bsky.social and Robin Roberts AKA weky.ca, plus a dream-come-true network of scholars from across UBC. The website is just ... [1/2]

www.theundisciplinedproject.net

Our online course taught by Zac Hug on Writing the Romantic Comedy starts this Monday. 💜

🎬 “This course helped reignite my love of writing and love of romcoms. Zac helped me learn all the different components to writing an outline.” - Christine

Learn more: courses.cpe.ubc.ca/browse/ubcv/...

MFA alum Heather Ramsay’s book, “A Room in the Forest” was recently published by Caitlin Press. Former Haida Gwaii reporter Heather Ramsay makes her fiction debut with a startling coming-of-age novel about challenging old beliefs and finding one’s place in the world.

@caitlinpress.bsky.social

Screenwriter and educator Zac Hug has mastered the art of writing the romantic comedy with over a dozen Hallmark holiday TV movies to his name. Now you can take a special course taught by Zac to get started on your own rom-com script. Learn more at creativewriting.ubc.ca/continuing-e....

BFA and MFA alum Fiona Revill’s essay “Circumpolar, or, a love letter to my Soviet Fiancé” was recently published in issue 62 of Harvard Review.

“Circumpolar” is part of an epistolary chapbook developed by Fiona in Sheryda Warrener’s MFA poetry class at UBC.

@fionarevill.bsky.social

We’re creating new online creative writing courses and would appreciate your input! Take our short survey to tell us what online courses to offer, your preferred format, and what you’d like to pay. Use the QR code on our post or here's the link: ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

The UBC School of Creative Writing invites applications for a full-time Lecturer position in Writing for Screen, with a likely start date of September 1, 2025. Apply by July 15, 2025. Read the full job description: creativewriting.ubc.ca/about/job-op...

We recently celebrated the launch of this year’s New Shoots anthology! New Shoots is a creative writing mentorship program that sends UBC grad students into Vancouver high schools. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to making this program a success!

MFA student Lauren Grant’s essay “Body Rubble” was recently published in GRIFFEL’s March 2025 issue. Lauren is also a graduate of our BFA program. GRIFFEL is an online magazine for literature, culture and social issues.

You can read Lauren’s essay for free at www.griffel.no/article/body....

MFA alums Dora Prieto and Jess Goldman recently won $10K RBC Bronwen Wallace Awards from the Writers’ Trust of Canada.

Prieto won the poetry prize for her poem “Loose Threads.”

Goldman won the short fiction prize for their story “Tombstone of a Tsaddik.”

Learn more at www.writerstrust.com.

Meet our most recent MFA grads - Creative Writing UBC Creative Writing is thrilled to announce our most recent cohort of MFA graduates!

We’re proud to announce our most recent cohort of MFA graduates! To celebrate this significant accomplishment, we’ve compiled a special showcase to highlight the exceptional creative work produced by our graduates. View it here:
creativewriting.ubc.ca/news/2025-gr...

The UBC School of Creative Writing invites applications for a full-time Lecturer position in Writing for Screen, with a likely start date of September 1, 2025. Apply by July 15, 2025. Read the full job description: creativewriting.ubc.ca/about/job-op...

MFA ’17 alum Suzanne Kamata’s short story collection, “River of Dolls and Other Stories” was recently published by Penguin Books SEA.

@penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social @shikokusue.bsky.social

MFA ’23 alum Léa Taranto’s YA novel, “A Drop in the Ocean” was recently published by Arsenal Pulp Press. 

Based on Taranto’s personal experience, "A Drop in the Ocean" is a gritty, humanizing portrait of living with mental illness.

@leataranto.bsky.social @arsenalpulp.bsky.social