The Writer’s Studio

A: We welcome a wide variety of writers of different ages, cultural and racial backgrounds, writing sensibilities, and lived experience.

Our writers' educational backgrounds range from high school diplomas to PhDs. Some have had no formal creative writing training. Others have taken a few courses or full creative writing programs such as those at Humber College and The Banff Centre.

In The Writer’s Studio, like other creative writing programs, women outnumber men.

The majority of our writers are between 20 and 45, but a good number are in their 50s and 60s. Although many applicants have had their writing published, this is not a requirement for acceptance.

All of our writers are passionate about, and dedicated to, writing. They are highly self-motivated and eager to learn as much as they can during their year in The Writer’s Studio.

A: Some students wish to complete only The Writer’s Studio curriculum. Others want to graduate from the program with a creative writing certificate. To complete the certificate, you need to complete 24 hours of creative writing electives through SFU Continuing Studies in addition to The Writer’s Studio curriculum (for a total of 129.5 hours of instruction).

After you have met these requirements, fill out the certificate graduation form and the Certificate in Creative Writing Checklist by February 15.

A: Elective hours are the amount of time you spend in the classroom to complete a course. For example, if a course runs for three hours, once a week, for four weeks, that course is worth 12 elective hours. Generally, you can fulfill your creative writing elective requirements by taking two courses.

A: Yes. The equivalent elective hours are available in the course descriptions of our distance courses.

A: Yes, as long as they were not introductory courses, and you took them through SFU Continuing Studies. Please inform the program assistant (twsinfo@sfu.ca) that you would like to use a prior creative writing course as an elective. You will need to provide course details, including the course name and when you took it.

A: After giving all applications careful consideration, each mentor chooses nine writers for his or her mentor workshop group. The mentors choose writers to whose writing they feel drawn and to whom they can provide the right kind of training and support. We typically invite between 60 and 70 percent of applicants to join The Writer's Studio.

You may request feedback if your application is unsuccessful. Many writers apply two or three times before they are accepted into the program. Sometimes this happens because a new mentor has joined the program. It may also happen if the same mentor sees an improvement in your writing, your dedication, and your involvement in writing activities and training.

We encourage you to keep learning and growing if your application is unsuccessful. You're welcome to try one of our manuscript consultations or standalone creative writing courses to strengthen your writing for the next time you apply.

A: In keeping with other national, intensive creative writing programs’ refund policies, and in light of The Writer’s Studio’s commitment to community, please note our refund policy:

• If you must cancel, and you do so within three weeks (21 days) of the program’s opening event, Orientation Day, you will receive a tuition refund less an administrative fee of $600. We will also retain the reading fee ($60) and certificate application fee ($275). After the three-week deadline on January 28, we will not refund any tuition fees.
• On the rare occasion of an unforeseeable change in your circumstances, we may be able to partially refund tuition fees. This decision is at our discretion.
  

A: Thanks to the generosity of a number of donors, The Writer’s Studio will be able to provide two partial scholarships for the 2012 year. Visit our fees section for details.

Because this program is part-time, it does not currently qualify for Canada or BC student loans. You may try to obtain funding through other sources, such as your personal banking institution.