UBC School of Creative Writing

Call Directions Website

UBC School of Creative Writing The UBC School of Creative Writing is Canada's oldest and most prestigious university writing program

The Creative Writing Program at UBC offers an undergraduate major and minor, as well as a graduate program in creative writing and a unique optional-residency MFA program. Courses are offered in a wide array of genres: poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, graphic forms, playwriting, screenwriting, lyric & libretto, new media, and radio. Faculty include Nancy Lee, Annabel Lyon, Keith Maillard, Linda Svendsen, Timothy Taylor, Bryan Wade, Maureen Medved, and Rhea Tregebov.

Congratulations to Ashraf Zaghal (MFA ’21) on being named among the five finalists for the 2026 Atwood Gibson Writers' ...
10/15/2026

Congratulations to Ashraf Zaghal (MFA ’21) on being named among the five finalists for the 2026 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. The shortlisted titles are available in accessible formats through the Centre of Equitable Library Access.

The jury praised Seven Heavens Away as a compelling story with eloquent prose, “The writing exhibits a miracle of tenderness in a harsh and perilous surround, treasuring the protagonist’s young internal voice within its larger, older cultural context of tension, loyalty, and violence. Through layered scene-building, intimate observation, and judicious detail, the novel bids a reader explore the complex emotional quandary of how we as a species might grasp a filament of humanity amid conditions that threaten to relegate any notion of love or compassion to the realm of illusion.”

🔗 Click the link to learn more about Ashraf’s debut novel. https://crwr.cms.arts.ubc.ca/news/seven-heavens-away-by-mfa-alum-ashraf-zaghal-shortlisted-for-the-2026-atwood-gibson-fiction-prize/

📚 📑 👀 Get an insider’s look at fiction publishing in the workplace, and what makes your manuscript stand out at the bi-a...
10/14/2026

📚 📑 👀 Get an insider’s look at fiction publishing in the workplace, and what makes your manuscript stand out at the bi-annual HarperCollins PublishersLtd/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction.

🔗 Save a seat via the registration link. https://creativewriting.ubc.ca/registration-form-publishing-industry-event-paige-sisley-and-janice-zawerbny-in-conversation/

Guest:
Paige Sisley, literary agent with Cook McDermid
Janice Zawerbny, Senior Executive Editor at HarperCollins Canada

You've met industry professionals on their art and craft. Now, it's time to talk industry practice: how to present your ...
10/14/2026

You've met industry professionals on their art and craft. Now, it's time to talk industry practice: how to present your work and make your mark.

Zac Hug is a television writer, screenwriter, and a lecturer of film and television writing at UBC. He has written or rewritten nearly 20 movies for Hallmark. His TV work includes Drop Dead Diva, Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments, and the mini-series Twelve Dates Til Christmas.

🔗 Click the link to save your seat. https://creativewriting.ubc.ca/registration-ubcscripted-zoom-happy-hour-tv-writing-presentation/

What happened when you change the rules of our world? That’s where speculative fiction begins. From science fiction to f...
10/12/2026

What happened when you change the rules of our world? That’s where speculative fiction begins. From science fiction to fantasy to horror, writers bend the rules of reality and speculate on the question: what if?

In this new 6-week online course offered jointly by UBC School of Creative Writing and UBC Extended Learning, you will turn your own “what if?” into speculative fiction through world-building, character development and various storytelling techniques. The course is 100% online with optional weekly drop-in office hours with the instructor, Ulysses Mugavazi.

🔗Click the link for registration details. https://extendedlearning.ubc.ca/courses/writing-speculative-fiction-sci-fi-fantasy-beyond/0619

Congratulations to UBC Creative Writing alumni Nazanine Hozar (MFA ’13), Michelle Good (MFA ’14), and Tara Gereaux (MFA ...
10/07/2026

Congratulations to UBC Creative Writing alumni Nazanine Hozar (MFA ’13), Michelle Good (MFA ’14), and Tara Gereaux (MFA ’01) on being named among the five finalists for Canada’s leading and most influential literary prize for fiction.

The Giller Effect has been recognized industry-wide as one of the top drivers of book sales in Canada. The prize awards $100,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel, graphic novel or short story collection published in English, and $10,000 to each of the finalists.

UBC Faculty of Arts

The Q***r Trans Centre for Radical Praxis is hosting a launch event to mark the beginning of a new space dedicated to q*...
10/06/2026

The Q***r Trans Centre for Radical Praxis is hosting a launch event to mark the beginning of a new space dedicated to q***r and trans studies. Featuring Billy-Ray Belcourt from the UBC School of Creative Writing and scholars across disciplines, the roundtable discussion will explore the challenges and hopes for q***r and trans art and intellectual practice in our time.

The panel discussion will be followed by a light reception. The event is free and open to the UBC community and the public.

🗓Date: Oct 8 (Thu)
🕔Time: 5–7pm
💬Venue: Franklin Lew Forum (Room 101), Allard Hall.
đŸłïžâ€đŸŒˆSpeakers: Billy-Ray Belcourt, Xaytun Ennasr, Lieks Hettinga, and Jules Gill-Peterson

The new Q***r Trans Centre for Radical Praxis is a space at UBC for scholarship, art, and community that reimagine gender, s*xuality, and collective liberation, bringing together researchers, students, artists, and community members to think and act across disciplines.

HarperCollinsPublishersLtd, the UBC School of Creative Writing and CookeMcDermid Literary Management are pleased to anno...
10/01/2026

HarperCollinsPublishersLtd, the UBC School of Creative Writing and CookeMcDermid Literary Management are pleased to announce that the winner of the 2026 HarperCollinsPublishersLtd/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction, co-sponsored by CookeMcDermid Literary Management, is:

💙 💜 Bethany Sampson for her romantic comedy novel TO HATE AND TO HOLD

The jury writes: “This smart, funny, well-executed Own Voices rom-com is hard to resist. Imy, an autistic woman, and Cal, an autistic man, must set their rivalry aside in order to prevent their mutual best friend from marrying her toxic fiancĂ©. Hijinx—and inconvenient romantic feelings—ensue! This novel has it all: a fantastic hook, lively characters you can’t help but fall in love with, sharp, truly funny prose, and genuine, butterfly-inducing chemistry. Sampson’s authentic voice shines, and you would be hard pressed to find a reader who won’t be charmed by this book.”

Click link to read the full release ! https://creativewriting.ubc.ca/news/winner-of-the-2026-harpercollinspublishersltd-ubc-prize-for-best-new-fiction-announced/

Register for Writing Picture Books, our brand-new Continuing Education course offered jointly with UBC Extended Learning...
09/28/2026

Register for Writing Picture Books, our brand-new Continuing Education course offered jointly with UBC Extended Learning, before seats fill up!

This course is 100% online and instructor-supported with weekly optional Zoom sessions and peer feedback. Your instructor, Jordan Scott, will also provide written feedback on all discussion forums and writing exercises, as well as personalized recorded feedback on your final manuscript.

🔗 Click the link for registration details. https://extendedlearning.ubc.ca/courses/writing-picture-books/0617

Adjunct professor Kevin Spenst is also this year’s UBC Library Writer-in-Residence. He is one of Vancouver’s most dynami...
09/26/2026

Adjunct professor Kevin Spenst is also this year’s UBC Library Writer-in-Residence. He is one of Vancouver’s most dynamic literary voices, wearing many hats across a wide range of creative practice, from poet and writer to editor and chapbook-maker.

In a literary Q&A session presented by UBC Library, Spenst will explore his creative process with Bonnie Nish, Executive Director of Word Vancouver Festival. Inviting audiences into the mind of a writer whose work is playful, searching, and deeply rooted in language, Spenst will share his thoughts on the evolving literary landscape and the forms of experimentation, collaboration, and lived experience that shape his work.

🔗 Click the link for registration details. https://libcal.library.ubc.ca/event/4036493

The jury praised Amber Dawn’s Buzzkill Clamshell as generous, specific, grisly and deeply honest in its exploration of c...
09/25/2026

The jury praised Amber Dawn’s Buzzkill Clamshell as generous, specific, grisly and deeply honest in its exploration of chronic pain, illness, aging, and q***r desire, “It’s like stepping into a Victorian mansion from an 80s music video with all its haunted armoires filled with s*x toys and weapons and the soft-focus removed. Amber Dawn is a swift-fingered magician, a surgeon, a musician, and the “horny oracle” drawing back the fluid-crusted velvet curtain, showing the reader the gory truth in full technicolour and surround sound.”

The acclaimed writer and activist earned her MFA in Creative Writing from UBC in 2007, and later joined our school as an adjunct professor of poetry. Another winner of this year’s BC and Yukon Book Prizes who is also part of the UBC Creative Writing community, LĂ©a Taranto, has credited Dawn as one of the influential UBC professors who guided her craft through kindness in an interview with UBC Magazine.

Congratulations to @ amberdawn_mononym!

Address

Buchanan E-462, 1866 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC
V6T1Z1

Telephone

+16048220699

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when UBC School of Creative Writing posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category