HUMBER | SCHOOL FOR WRITERSComplete your manuscript. We show you how!
Our Program
Humber’s Creative Writing – Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction, Poetry graduate certificate program is a distance studio program offering aspiring writers the exceptional opportunity to work at home. There are no formal classes on site. Individual courses are offered in a non-traditional way with a distinguished faculty member critiquing your work of creative non-fiction, fiction, book of short stories, feature film script or volume of poetry. The program is intended for students working on book-length projects. The program is customized to address the particular needs of your manuscript and may include assessments of your handling of plot, story, character, dialogue, pace and style, or may focus on the particular needs of the manuscript as determined by the writing advisor. Graduates have the satisfaction of completing a large body of work which may include all or parts of a novel, volume of short stories or a book of poetry. Students are also referred to writing competitions.
Humber is noted for its exceptional faculty including authors of world stature. This faculty list has included Martin Amis, Peter Carey, Miriam Toews, David Mitchell, Nino Ricci, David Adams Richards, Timothy Findley, Paul Quarrington, Edward Albee, Carol Shields and Alistair MacLeod. Recent international authors have included Nell Freudenberger, Samantha Harvey and Tim O'Brien.
Courses Learning Outcomes
Semester 1
Semester 2
Upon successful completion of the program, a graduate will:
Analyze personal and recognized works of fiction and creative non-fiction for form and structure and delineate story features such as conflict, crisis and resolution. Students should be able to differentiate between story and plot and compare various types of conflict used in story writing. Students will explore various methods of plotting a work of fiction such as working backward from the climax, working forward from the initial interaction or borrowing from tradition.
Distinguish the qualities of short stories versus novels.
Evaluate personal and recognized works of fiction for the inclusion of techniques used in creative writing for making narrative an emotional experience. These techniques include the use of significant detail, active voice, and strategies for establishing cadence, rhythm and prose. In addition, students will be expected to be masters of the mechanics of writing and demonstrate the correct use of spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Assess personal and recognized works of fiction for characterization and the techniques used for establishing character credibility and complexity. Students will explore how character motivation is revealed and how characters are presented both directly and indirectly.
Outline and compare personal and recognized methods for establishing setting and atmosphere in stories as well as techniques used for adjusting narrative time.
Critique and manipulate the point of view in personal and recognized stories. In their development of point of view, students will develop strategies for deciding who is speaking in their stories and whom they are addressing. In addition, they will determine which techniques best convey the story and determine the best distance between the reader, author and characters. An analysis of point of view also includes the use of spatial and temporal distance and how to include unreliable speakers in the story.
Evaluate the methods used for developing the theme in personal and recognized stories. They will explore how theme helps dictate the selection and organization of details, style, voice and other elements of the work.
Evaluate personal and recognized works of fiction and creative non-fiction for unity of effect.
Recognize and revise weak spots in their writing. They will explore common errors and the technical questions writers should ask themselves as they review and revise their work and apply them to an analysis of plot, characterization, style, setting, narration, dialogue, point of view, structure, clarity, length and originality.
Conduct the required research to authenticate their story and make it come alive. They will be able to select and use a variety of research methods such as the internet, the library, interviews and site visits.
Evaluate personal and recognized works of poetry for the poetic tools used to shape and focus ideas and feelings and to create texture and vividness in a poem. These techniques include: devise for rhythm; devices for sound; stanza and poem forms; and imagery and figures of speech.
Develop a plan for marketing their creative writing and handling the business requirements of being a writer. This will include researching the needs and demands of the market, preparing query letters and/or book proposals, identifying suitable publishers for their work, finding and working with agents, negotiating a contract, submitting their work in suitable formats, setting fees where appropriate, and keeping appropriate records. In addition, they will explore some of the legal aspects of being a writer such as copyright and libel. Students will also develop an awareness of writing awards and competitions as well as writer support programs.
Identify opportunities to publish freelance works of fiction and creative non-fiction to local, national and international magazines, newspapers, television, film, textbooks, and the Internet. This will include the analysis of the research and publication requirements of a variety of publishers, strategies for introducing ideas and personal works to various media and a thorough understanding of the features of freelance contracts. Students will prepare, review and submit works for freelance submissions.
Evaluate the elements of successful professional writing careers and develop methods for promoting personal works and developing personal relationships with media contacts. This will include exploring ways to make public appearances and provide public readings of personal works. How to manage interviews and participate in a variety of media events will be examined. Public appearances and public speaking.
Important Information:
May 2018 program:
Apply by April 13 to improve your chance of being paired with your preferred mentor!
Application deadline:
April 27, 2018.
Where to Follow
Learn from industry professionals while earning your credential online!
September 2018 Faculty
Application deadline: May 11, 2018 to improve your chance of being paired with your preferred mentor; June 15, 2018 final deadline.
Jami Attenberg
Jami believes in the power and importance of independent publishing and self-publication, whether online or in print.
David Bezmozgis
David Bezmozgis, a writer and filmmaker, is the Director of the Humber School for Writers. He is the author of Natasha and Other Stories, The Free World and The Betrayers.
Dennis Bock
Dennis' books have been shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Amazon/Books in Canada First Novel Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Prize, and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Regional Best Book).
Cherie Dimaline
Cherie Dimaline is a writer and editor from the Georgian Bay Metis Community in Ontario. Her latest book, The Marrow Thieves, won the 2017 Governor General’s Award and the prestigious Kirkus Prize for Young Readers.
Boris Fishman
Boris Fishman is the author of A Replacement Life and Don’t Let My Baby Do Rodeo (HarperCollins), both New York Times Notable Books of the Year. His next book, Savage Feast, a family memoir told through recipes, will be published in 2019.
Kim Fu
Kim Fu is the author of the novel For Today I Am a Boy, which won the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction. Her writing has appeared in Granta, the Atlantic, the New York Times, Hazlitt, and the Times Literary Supplement. The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore, a novel, is her most recent work.
Don Gillmor
Don Gillmor is an award-winning Canadian novelist, journalist and children's book author. His new novel Long Change examines the world of oil through the life and loves of one man; both stories are epic.
Kyo Maclear
Kyo Maclear is an essayist, novelist and children’s author. Her books have been translated into fifteen languages, published in over twenty countries, and garnered nominations from the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction, the Governor General’s Literary Awards, the TD Canadian Children's Literature Awards, the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, and the National Magazine Awards.
Alison Pick
Alison Pick is the author of the novel FAR TO GO, longlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize. FAR TO GO won the Canadian Jewish Book Award for Fiction, and was a Top 10 of 2010 Book at NOW magazine and The Toronto Star.
Diane Schoemperlen
Diane Mavis Schoemperlen (born July 9, 1954) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer. She was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and educated at Lakehead University.
Richard Scrimger
A classical version of Scrimger's biography would go something like this: "Richard Scrimger was born in the city of M--- in the province of Q---, the son of a product manager." But he is not a classical guy.
Sarah Sheard
Sarah Sheard has published numerous works of fiction, personal essays, and three much admired novels, Almost Japanese, The Swing Era, and The Hypnotist.
Antanas Sileika
Antanas Sileika was director of the Humber School for Writers for fifteen years. His latest book, the memoir The Barefoot Bingo Caller, was published by ECW Press in 2017.
Tim Wynne-Jones
Tim Wynne-Jones is an English–Canadian author of thirty-three books for kids of all ages from picture books to short story collections and novels. He has also written three adult novels, radio dramas, songs for the CBC/Jim Henson production Fraggle Rock, as well as a children's musical and an opera libretto.
January 2019 Faculty
Application deadline: October 15, 2018 to improve your chance of being paired with your preferred mentor; November 19, 2108 final deadline.
David Bergen
David Bergen has published nine novels and a collection of short stories. In 2005 he won the Giller Prize for The Time in Between.
Giles Blunt
Giles Blunt's first "Cardinal" novel, Forty Words for Sorrow, won the British Crime Writers Silver Dagger award, and the second, The Delicate Storm, won the Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis award for best novel, as did the latest, Until the Night.
Karen Connelly
Karen Connelly is the author of nine books of best-selling nonfiction, fiction, and poetry, the most recent being Burmese Lessons, a love story, a memoir about her experiences in Burma and on the Thai-Burma border.
Elizabeth Duncan
Elizabeth J. Duncan is the author of the Penny Brannigan mystery series set in North Wales.
Camilla Gibb
Camilla has a Ph.D. from Oxford University and has been writer-in-residence at the University of Toronto and the University of Alberta.
C. C. Humphreys
A playwright, fight choreographer and novelist, C. C. Humphreys has written ten adult novels including The French Executioner, runner up for the CWA Steel Dagger for Thrillers; The Jack Absolute Trilogy; A Place Called Armageddon; Shakespeare’s Rebel and the international bestseller, Vlad – The Last Confession.
Colin McAdam
Colin McAdam has a PhD in English from Cambridge University. He has mentored writers at the Banff Centre and the University of Guelph-Humber.
Pamela Mordecai
Pamela Mordecai is a poet, novelist, short story writer, scholar and anthologist.
Dan Needles
Dan Needles is best known as the playwright behind the popular Wingfield Series which has played across Canada for many years.
Michael Redhill
Michael Redhill is an American-born Canadian poet, playwright and novelist. He is also the author of four novels published under the name Inger Ash Wolfe, The Calling, The Taken, A Door in the River and The Night Bell.
David Adams Richards
David Adams Richards, CM, ONB (born 17 October 1950) is a Canadian novelist, essayist, screenwriter and poet.
Tim Wynne-Jones
Tim Wynne-Jones is an English–Canadian author of thirty-three books for kids of all ages from picture books to short story collections and novels. He has also written three adult novels, radio dramas, songs for the CBC/Jim Henson production Fraggle Rock, as well as a children's musical and an opera libretto.
Alissa York
Alissa York’s internationally acclaimed novels include Mercy, Effigy (shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize), Fauna and, most recently, The Naturalist.
“Humber School for Writers was one of my first experiences with writing workshops. I was amazed by how my work jumped to a new level in such a short period of time due to the generosity, experience, and intelligence of my peers and mentors. I said I’d do it again, and I did! Two summers in a row.”
- Madhur Anand, Author, A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes
The Advantages of Applying to Humber's Creative Writing Program
Summer Workshop in Creative Writing
Since 1992, the School for Writers has offered an immersive, focused workshop to jump start your creative writing. Mornings are spent in classes with one of Humber’s esteemed writing advisors, and afternoons are devoted to craft and industry talks by faculty, publishing experts and special guests. Whether you’re a beginner or a more experienced writer, there’s something for you in this six-day workshop! In 2018, the Workshop in Creative Writing runs from July 8 to 13 at Humber's Lakeshore Campus.
Graduates Offered Advanced Standing in University of Gloucestershire Distance MA in Creative Writing
Humber Creative Writing by Correspondence graduates can work towards a master’s degree from the comfort of their own homes! Thanks to a new arrangement, graduates are eligible for advanced standing in the highly regarded University of Gloucestershire (U.K.) distance MA Creative Writing program. Furthermore, this pathway may lead to a PhD for those who qualify.
Our Faculty
All of our faculty has substantial industry experience.
Workshop Rebate
The Creative Writing by Correspondence Program is a complement to the Humber Summer Workshop in Creative Writing, the two together comprising a flexible and affordable alternative to a standard low-residency MFA.
Students who complete the Correspondence Program are eligible for a $300 rebate for the Summer Workshop and vice versa.
The rebate is valid for three calendar years; thus students who complete the Creative Writing by Correspondence program in 2018 will be able to apply their rebate for the Summer Workshop through July 2021.
Use your writing skills to craft a successful career
Your Career
Canadians still love a good read. They spend 14 percent of their leisure time reading, half of which is spent reading books. The main goal of the program is to improve your writing, and publication is a possibility for some. Graduates of this program may use their writing and editing skills in a wide variety of careers and professions in addition to writing books. Some of our graduates write for newspapers, magazines, television and other media. More than 300 Humber School for Writers alumni have published books of fiction or poetry and Dr. Vincent Lam, who won the 2006 Scotiabank Giller Prize for his literary debut Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures, is just one of our distinguished former students. Other alumni have also been on the bestseller lists in Canada: Suzanne Desrochers for Bride of New France, Cathy Marie Buchanan for The Painted Girls, Shari Lapena for The Couple Next Door and Eva Stachniak for The Chosen Maiden.
What to expect when you're enrolled
Please read this information carefully. It will help you before and during your course.
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The First Exchange: Please be a little patient at first. Your advisors have received the writing of all their students at once and are mulling them over in order to determine the best plan of action for each of you. You should hear from your advisor in approximately three weeks.
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Blackboard: Blackboard is a private web site devoted to you and other students in the program. It was created to provide an electronic hearth for all the students all around the world.
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Email, Snail Mail, Blackboard and Blends: Some of you will be working by post, some by e-mail, perhaps some by Blackboard and some by a blend.
Many advisors prefer the post because, as Ezra Pound once said, "Literature is news that stays news." A regular exchange by post is useful because the advisor has a hard copy he/she can mark up. The advisor will be treating you as he/she is treated by editors, who may mark up the manuscript in the margins or give notes. E-mail occasionally takes on the characteristics of chat rooms, in which the exchange is fast and furious but the form is poor. Literary writing is very much about form, so you should be producing clean, well thought-out drafts. -
Program Beginning and End: The program begins in early January, May, or September, depending on which session you entered. At that point, your instructor begins to mull over your work.The program ends about end of July, November, or March, after a total of 30 weeks. Please be aware that advisors may ask for final submissions no later than early July, early November, or early March in order to get your last submissions back by the end of the month.
Sometimes, students disappear from the program for a number of weeks or months, and then return, wanting to extend the program by the number of weeks they have been away. This cannot be done. Advisors are generally working on busy writing schedules and have allotted a certain time for the program. Therefore, it is up to you to be regular and methodical in your exchanges with your advisor. It is not good to throw 200 pages at the advisor right up front, or expect the advisor to read a large chunk of text right at the end of the program. Occasionally, either an advisor or a student might need to be away for a certain portion of the program. If this is so, with advance notice, the advisor and student need to come to a mutual arrangement to make up the missed time. In all cases, this arrangement needs to be made before the fact and not after it, and the understanding must be explicit and mutual.
Upon successful completion of the program, you are invited to attend convocation in either June or November, depending on your date of completion. Attendance at this ceremony is optional. Your School for Writers certificate will be sent to you after the convocation ceremony that is closest to your program completion date. If you need proof of completion before that, you can request your transcript through MyHumber. -
How Much the Advisors Will Do: The advisors expect up to 200 -- 300 double-spaced pages of prose in 12 point font over a 30-week period (up to about 85,000 words) but the time and the number work in this way: about 85,000 words or 30 weeks, whichever comes first. In other words, if you send off 300 pages in ten weeks, you will have finished the program. Alternatively, if 30 weeks run out and you have done fewer pages, the program still ends. Poetry pages will be fewer, in the range of 50 - 100 pages.
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Please be Regular and Systematic. You Must be Proactive: Typically, a successful outcome of this program means you have a complete draft of a manuscript together with a complete set of editorial remarks from your advisor. However, many manuscripts require several drafts. This program is intended to take you through a complete draft of an average novel, memoir, or collection of poetry or short stories.
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Texts: Many advisors do not use texts and stick with editorial commentary. Some advisors recommend texts that are appropriate to your work. One text I require all prose writers to read is the following: Writing Fiction subtitled A Guide to Narrative Craft, by Janet Burroway, published by Longman. Poets should consider The Making of a Poem, a Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms, by Strand and Boland, from Norton. Karen Connelly, a poetry instructor, has told me this is the best book for poets. You should own a good grammar book. Most publishers and editors love the language, and expect you to use it correctly. Even pros make mistakes, though, so please have a grammar handbook around for reference purposes.
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The Nature of Professional Commentary: Some student writers are not accustomed to the directness and honesty of professional writers, who tend to speak in a forthright, frank, business-like manner. The value of a professional writing advisor is that he or she will tell you what he or she sees, and what you can do about it. Please do not be insulted by professional assessment. The advisor will make suggestions. Listen carefully to the message being sent to you. Take the comments seriously. Many other writing programs focus on nurturing the writer's ego. We want to nurture you too, but believe this is best done by focusing on the text in order to aim toward writing that achieves, or comes very close to, professional standards. We assume you want to get published, and we try to take you as close to your goal as possible. It is in the nature of editorial commentary that your advisor will remark more often on what does not work than on what does. Don't be discouraged.
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The Point of the Program: This program does not guarantee a job or success of a manuscript. We hope that you will be a better writer after you have completed thirty weeks with a professional writer. That should be your goal, and we wish you the very best. It is normal to want to be published as soon as possible, but one must develop artistically to reach that point. Aim first for improving the writing as much as possible.
Scholarship support for students to reach for the stars
To help foster the emerging literary talent in this country, the Humber School for Writers offers a number of scholarships to students of exceptional promise who can demonstrate financial need.
- Avie Bennett Scholarship *
- Budd Sugarman & Gordon Johnson Scholarship *
- The Bram and Bluma Appel Scholarship
- The Karen Hill Memorial Scholarship *
- The James Appel Scholarship
- Writers’ Trust of Canada Scholarship
* Available to all qualified applicants. Other scholarships are available to Canadian residents only, and Appel scholarships to Ontario residents only. If you wish to apply for a scholarship, you must include supporting documentation to demonstrate financial need. Those who do not include supporting documentation will not be considered. Financial documentation might include a copy of the last page of your tax return, a copy of student debt, or proof of social assistance. Please also include a short paragraph describing your life circumstance, dependents, and partner income, if any.
Scholarship documentation cannot be submitted via Slideroom. Scholarship documentation must be emailed to correspondence.scholarships@humber.ca.
If a scholarship is awarded to you, payment will come some weeks after the program begins. You must make payment upfront and will be reimbursed later.
Students may also be eligible for tuition bursaries.
An impressive list of authors have taught in this program
- Elizabeth Abbott
- Edward Albee
- Martin Amis
- Jami Attenberg
- Margaret Atwood
- Joan Barfoot
- Kevin Barry
- Richard Bausch
- Ann Beattie
- Jonathan Bennett
- Constance Beresford-Howe
- David Bergen
- Michelle Berry
- David Bezmozgis
- H.S. Bhabra
- Sandra Birdsell
- Neil Bissoondath
- Francesca Lia Block
- Giles Blunt
- Dennis Bock
- Danila Botha
- Joseph Boyden
- Dionne Brand
- Bonnie Burnard
- Pamela Mordecai
- Kim Moritsugu
- Donna Morrissey
- Sylvia Mulholland
- Dan Needles
- Howard Norman
- Tim O’Brien
- Caryl Phillips
- Alison Pick
- Bruce Powe
- Francine Prose
- Catherine Bush
- Barry Callaghan
- Stevie Cameron
- Peter Carey
- Hayden Carruth
- Wayson Choy
- Eliza Clark
- Trevor Cole
- Karen Connelly
- Douglas Cooper
- Sally Cooper
- Carole Corbeil
- Michael Coren
- Alan Cumyn
- Robyn Davidson
- Lauren B. Davis
- Elizabeth de Mariaffi
- Anthony De Sa
- Kelli Deeth
- David Donnell
- Roddy Doyle
- Elizabeth Duncan
- Esi Edugyan
- Marina Endicott
- Johanna Skribsrud
- Jake MacDonald
- Kyo MacLear
- Alistair MacLeod
- Rabindranath Maharaj
- Valerie Martin
- John Bentley Mays
- Colin McAdam
- John Metcalf
- Anne Michaels
- David Mitchell
- Christopher Moore
- Guy Vanderhaeghe
- Erika de Vasconcelos
- M.G. Vassanji
- Dianne Warren
- Marianne Wiggins
- Frieda Wishinsky
- Meg Wolitzer
- Eric Wright
- Richard B. Wright
- Tim Wynne-Jones
- Alissa York
- Olive Senior
- Sarah Sheard
- Carol Shields
- Antanas Sileika
- Joseph Skibell
- Marsha Skrypuch
- Josef Skvorecky
- Linda Spalding
- Cordelia Strube
- Helen Humphreys
- Ha Jin
- Diane Keating
- Michael Redhill
- Nino Ricci
- David Adams Richards
- Daniel Richler
- Mordecai Richler
- Robert Rotenberg
- Elizabeth Ruth
- Robert J. Sawyer
- Richard Scarsbrook
- Diane Schoemperlen
- Richard Scrimger
- Shyam Selvadurai
- Howard Engel
- Timothy Findley
- Richard Ford
- Cecil Foster
- Nell Freudenberger
- Bruce Jay Friedman
- Mary Gaitskill
- Mavis Gallant
- Camilla Gibb
- Graeme Gibson
- Don Gillmor
- Julia Glass
- Samantha Harvey
- Elisabeth Harvor
- Michael Helm
- Aleksandar Hemon
- Lawrence Hill
- Miranda Hill
- Nalo Hopkinson
- Isabel Huggan
- C.C. Humphreys
- Janice Kulyk Keefer
- Trilby Kent
- Joseph Kertes
- Kerry Shawn Keys
- Hari Kunzru
- Rachel Kushner
- Shaena Lambert
- Carole Langille
- Andrea Levy
- Mark Leyner
- Ashley Little
- Annabel Lyon
- Lisa Moore
- Paul Quarrington
This program is steered by a committee of industry professionals
The Humber Creative Writing by Correspondence Advisory Committee helps us to ensure that the program is as current as possible.
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Sue Carter | Editor, Quill & Quire |
| Anne Collins | Committee Chair, Publisher, Knopf/Random House Canada Publishing Group, Vice-President, Random House Canada |
| Patrick Crean | Patrick Crean Editions |
| Jack David | Publisher, ECW Press |
| Nick Garrison | Associate Publisher at Penguin Canada |
| Lynn Henry | Publishing Director, Doubleday Canada |
| Mark Medley | Books Editor, Globe and Mail |
| Kim Moritsugu | Author; Alumna |
| Richard Scrimger | Author; Alumnus |
| Geoffrey Taylor | Director, International Festival of Authors |
| Iris Tupholme | Senior Vice President and Executive Publisher, HarperCollins Canada |
| Alana Wilcox | Editorial Director of Coach House Books |
Every attempt is made to ensure that information contained in this website is current and accurate. Humber reserves the right to correct any error or omission, modify or cancel any course, program, fee, timetable or campus location at any time without prior notice or liability to users or any other Person.