Creative Writing Minor

The Department of English is offering the Creative Writing Minor for the first time this fall. Creative writing has long been a part of SFU’s reputation, and the English Department has been home to some of Canada’s most important and innovative poets and writers, including past faculty members Robin Blaser (winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize), George Bowering (Canada’s first Parliamentary Poet Laureate), and Roy Miki (Governor General’s Award winner and noted Japanese Redress movement organizer). This writer-critic legacy continues in the Department’s faculty, which boasts multi-award winning novelist David Chariandy and multi-award winning poets Clint Burnham and Stephen Collis. The Department’s Writer-in-Residence program, inaugurated in 2004, has also hosted a who’s-who of innovative Canadian authors. English Department faculty writers and writers-in-residence are highly visible in the local, national, and international communities, delivering public readings and lectures, participating in festivals, and engaging with public issues in dynamic and often interdisciplinary ways.

The creative writing minor will eventually supersede our current Creative Writing Certificate. Students currently enrolled in the certificate should speak with Kathryn Ward about how best to proceed with the certificate.

Students may also choose to take creative writing courses as part of their English major or minor or as elective courses while pursuing a different major or minor, as long as they meet the prerequisites.

Watch a video montage from our former writers-in-residence.

**Read our story in SFU News!**

Featured Student: Tina Do

Tina Do is a Vancouver-based poet, unashamed dinosaur aficionado, and MA student at Simon Fraser University. She received her first publication credit from The /tƐmz/ Review. On October 29th, 2020, Tina made the longlist for the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize for her work & this too. Read the full story on CBC Books' site.

These days, you can catch Tina reading up on whether or not dinosaurs had lips and trying not to over-love her plants.

Read Tina's poem, "i tell my mother everything"

Creative Writing from Our Faculty

Carleigh Baker: "War of Attrition" from Bad Endings

Clint Burnham: "No Poems on Stolen Native Land"

David Chariandy: an excerpt from Brother

Stephen Collis: a section from "Reading Wordsworth in the Tar Sands” part of Once in Blockadia

Jeff Derksen: From: The Present

How do I enroll in the Creative Writing Minor?

Apply to SFU

Check out SFU's main admission requirements and apply by January 31, 2021 to become an SFU student.

Already an SFU student? Move onto Step 2!

Check your admission requirements

Full program requirements can be found in the SFU Spring 2021 Calendar. Prior to formal program admission to the Creative Writing Minor, students must complete one of:

ENGL 111W - Literary Classics in English (3)
ENGL 112W - Literature Now (3)
ENGL 113W - Literature and Performance (3)
ENGL 114W - Language and Purpose (3)
ENGL 115W - Literature and Culture (3)
PUB 101 - Publication of Self in Everyday Life (3)
WL 105W - World Literature Lab (3)

Declare your minor and begin taking courses in Creative Writing!

Check out the program requirements in the SFU Spring 2021 Calendar. Students in the program must successfully complete a minimum total of 24 units, including a minimum of 15 upper division units:

and at least three of: