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 vitality of Toronto’s writing community. Internationally acclaimed writers a multiplicity of cultural traditions, and an energetic publishing industry provides the environment for nurturing new talent. Students have at their disposal the academic and creative resources of the English Department, including its strengths in historical research and traditional scholarship, numerous interdisciplinary collaborations, its acknowledged expertise in world literature, and a faculty engaged in new theoretical studies in culture, race, and gender. Students also have access to one of the world’s great library systems, including the manuscript collections at the Fisher Rare Book library. While the program is designed to prepare participants for careers as professional writers, it will also qualify those wishing to pursue further graduate studies. 

• Admission Requirements
• Program Requirements
• Writing Project
• Student Funding
• FAQs 
• Contact Us 
• Faculty
• Information on Program Alumni

Admission Requirements

The MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing requires students to attend graduate-level English courses. The degree can lead to a PhD in English. Therefore, students must have at least seven full-year undergraduate courses in English. It is not necessary to have an English major, as long as you have the seven undergraduate English courses. Students who do not meet this requirement cannot be admitted into the program. 

A B+ average is the minimum requirement for entry into the program. Once this is met, the primary basis for the selection of candidates is the quality of the portfolio submission. It is not expected that students will have publication credits. Applicants do not need to provide GRE results.

Applications must be submitted online and are considered complete only when the following documentation has been received by the Department of English: 

• Two letters of reference submitted online by referees
• A statement of purpose, submitted electronically
• Official transcripts sent by mail
• A portfolio, sent by mail, consisting of: 
  Maximum 25 pages of drama or fiction (double-spaced, 12-point font)
  OR 25 pages of poetry
  OR a combination of the above (maximum 25 pages; all prose must be double-spaced and 12-point font)
  Portfolio pages exceeding this length will not be read 
  Do not submit academic essays
  
  Please note that payment of the application fee ($110) triggers the electronic submission of reference letters. Supporting documentation should be mailed to the Department of English, 170 St. George Street, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5R 2M8.
  
  A link to the online application form is available HERE. The deadline for applications is December 12.
  
  LATE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED

Students are advised that applications for external awards (OGS and SSHRC) should be submitted to the appropriate funding body independently of their MA application. Deadlines for external awards begin in September of each year. All information regarding external awards can be found online. For information on SSHRC funding and application forms see http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/. For information on OGS funding and application forms see https://osap.gov.on.ca/eng/not_secure/Plan_Grants_full_sepapp_OGS_12345.htm.

Program Requirements

The M.A. program in English in the Field of Creative Writing usually requires 18-24 months to complete. Applicants must have an overall average of B+ or better and evidence of first-class work in English for admission to the program. The program requires the completion of two FCE’s (full course equivalents) in English; Bibliography; ENG6950Y Writing Workshop; and a supervised Writing Project (the equivalent of a thesis) completed under the direction of a mentor. 

All candidates must complete the Writing Workshop in the first year of their program. Some sessions will feature on-campus visits from editors, publishers, professional archivists, researchers, and agents so that students can learn the pragmatics of the publishing industry. In their second year, students undertake a book-length Writing Project in a genre of choice – poetry, drama, fiction, or creative non-fiction. Each student is assigned a faculty member or adjunct faculty member with whom to consult on a regular basis about the Project. All advisors are published writers. 

Writing Workshop

English 6950Y: All candidates for the MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing must complete this workshop in the first year of their program. Students will also submit creative work in order to receive feedback from the instructor and fellow students, and this will allow them to develop their portfolios. 

Writing Project

In the second year of the program, students will undertake a book-length Writing Project in a genre of choice (poetry, drama, fiction, or creative non-fiction). Each student will be assigned a faculty member or adjunct faculty member with whom to consult on a regular basis about the Project. All mentors will be published writers. A portfolio of the work in progress must be submitted in March of the first year. The completed Project will be examined by three members of the Department. The Department will then arrange an oral defense, to be chaired by the Director of the MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing. The Writing Project can be designated as Pass, Fail, or Distinction.

Student Financial Support

Students accepted into the MA Program in English in the Field of Creative Writing will be eligible for Teaching Assistantships beginning in the spring of their first year. Students are also strongly encouraged to apply for external funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/, and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, https://osap.gov.on.ca/eng/not_secure/Plan_Grants_full_sepapp_OGS_12345.htm. 

FAQs

How many students are admitted each year?
We admit seven students each year. The application process is highly competitive with an acceptance rate around 10% in previous years. 

I do not have 7 full-year (or equivalent) undergraduate courses in English. Can I still apply? 
Because the program is an MA in English, students must have a strong background in English literature. Students who do not have sufficient undergraduate training may wish to take additional courses in English in order to qualify for admission.

My average is less than a B+. Can I still apply? 
The academic requirements for admission to the MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing are very strict. The B+ minimum must be met or a student’s portfolio will not be considered. Students who do not have an adequate GPA may wish to take additional courses in order to improve their academic standing and qualify for admission.

I have taken courses in literature in a language other than English. Can I apply? 
Unless the texts were studied in English translation, courses in literature in a language other than English do not qualify students for admission to the program.

How should I choose what to submit? 
Choose your best writing.

Can I apply to enroll in January? 
There is only one entry point for students in the MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing, which is September. Students may not begin the program in January.

Can I enroll in the MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing part-time? 
Students must enroll full-time.

How much Financial Support can I expect?
Currently we are able to offer students in the Creative Writing program a 140 hour TAship (valued at approximately $5643) each year, to a maximum of two years. In addition, we currently offer a $1000 bursary to incoming Creative Writing students. Successful applicants for the SSHRC CGS-M award can expect $17,500. OGS award holders can expect $15,000.

Contact Us

For more information please contact us by e-mail, phone or snail mail.

creative.writing@utoronto.ca
(416) 978-1249

Professor Jeff Parker
Acting Director, MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing
Department of English
170 St. George Street
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5R 2M8

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Faculty

George Elliott Clarke is the E.J. Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at the University of Toronto. A revered poet, his works include the poem-novel, Whylah Falls (1990), the narrative lyric sequence, Execution Poems (2001), and the verse-play and opera, Beatrice Chancy (1999). Clarke's awards include the Governor-General's Award for Poetry (2001), a Bellagio (Italy) Center Fellowship (1998), and the National Magazine Gold Award for Poetry (2002).   Click here for bio.

Richard Greene Richard Greene is a poet, biographer, and critic. His first collection of poems Republic of Solitude was published in 1994. Another, Crossing the Straits has recently been completed. His work has appeared in literary journals in Canada, the United States, and Europe. His reviews of contemporary poetry have appeared in many publications, especially Books in Canada, to which he is a contributing editor. He is currently writing fiction. He has also published three scholarly works and has been commissioned by Time Warner to write a biography of the British poet Edith Sitwell.  Click here for bio.

Daniel Heath Justice, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, grew up a multigenerational hillbilly hailing from the small mining town of Victor, Colorado, and currently works as assistant professor of Aboriginal literatures at the University of Toronto. He is the author of Our Fire Survives the Storm: A Cherokee Literary History (University of Minnesota Press), which examines the Cherokee literary tradition through the lens of social and political history. His lifelong love of fantasy fiction has melded with his commitment to the dignified representation of Indigenous peoples in his ongoing Indigenous fantasy trilogy, The Way of Thorn and Thunder. The first volume, Kynship, was published by Kegedonce Press in 2005, the second, Wyrwood in 2006. Dreyd, the final volume of the trilogy, will be published in fall 2007. Click here for bio.

A.F. Moritz has published fourteen books of poems, which have earned the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Award in Literature of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the Ingram Merrill Fellowship, selection to the Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets, and other honours. He has translated seven books of poetry and a novel from Spanish and French, and in collaboration with Theresa Moritz has written biographies of Emma Goldman and Stephen Leacock, and The Oxford Literary Guide to Canada. He holds a doctorate in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British poetry.

Jeff Parker is the author of the novel Ovenman and, with artist William Powhida, the collection of stories and images The Back of the Line.  His short fiction and nonfiction have been published in The Best American Nonrequired Reading, The Walrus, Ploughshares, Tin House, Spin, The Indiana Review, Columbia, Billiards Digest, and other magazines.  He has co-edited two volumes of new Russian writing, It All Depends on Who You Believe: New Fiction From a New Russia (forthcoming 2009) and Amerika: Russian Writers View the United States.  He is currently working on a new novel and nonfiction book about Russia to be published by Harper Collins in 2010.

John Reibetanz has published five collections of poetry. The most recent, Mining for Sun, was shortlisted for the ReLit Poetry Award in 2001. He was awarded First Prize in the Petra Kenney Poetry Competition in 2003. In addition to poetry, his publications include essays on Elizabethan drama and on modern and contemporary poetry, along with a book on King Lear and translations of modern German poetry.  Click here for bio.

Rosemary Sullivan has published eleven books of creative non-fiction and poetry. Her works include Villa Air-Bel: World War II, Escape, and a House in Marseille; Cuba: Grace Under Pressure; By Heart: Elizabeth Smart/A Life; Labyrinth of Desire: Women, Passion and Romantic Obsession; Shadow Maker: The Life of Gwendolyn MacEwen, and The Bone Ladder: New and Selected Poetry. She was awarded the Governor General’s Award for Non-Fiction (1995); the City of Toronto Book Award (1996), The Canadian Author’s Association Award; and the University of British Columbia Medal for Canadian Biography; as well as National Magazine and Western Magazine awards for journalism. She was the McLean Hunter Chair of Literary Journalism at the Banff Centre (2004- 2006) and has received Camargo, Guggenheim and Killam Fellowships. Click here for bio.

Rosemary Sullivan's Homepage

Adjunct Faculty (who work as mentors)

André Alexis is a playwright and novelist. His first novel, Childhood, was nominated for the Giller Prize and The Roger’s/Writer’s Trust Fiction Prize. It won the Books in Canada First Novel Award and was co-winner of the Trillium Award (shared with Alice Munro). He has also written short stories (Despair and Other Stories of Ottawa, which was nominated for a Commonwealth Award) and a novel for young adults (Ingrid and the Wolf, a Quill and Quire “Best of the Year”). His plays have been performed in Toronto, Vancouver and Edinburgh and one of them, Lambton Kent, was published in 2001. André Alexis has written extensively for radio and is the host of CBC Radio 2’s Skylarking. He is an Associate Reviewer for the Globe and Mail and has been Playwright-in-Residence at The Canadian Stage and a member of the Playwright‘s Unit at The Tarragon Theatre. 

Margaret Atwood  is the internationally acclaimed author of more than thirty books whose work as a poet, novelist, literary critic, and social historian has transformed contemporary conceptions of Canadian culture. She is the recipient of numerous honours, such as The Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence in the UK, the National Arts Club Medal of Honour for Literature in the US, Le Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France, and the inaugural London Literary Prize; she has also received honourary degrees from universities across Canada, and from Oxford University, Cambridge University, and the University of Leeds in England. Her novels include The Edible Woman (1969); The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and Cat’s Eye (1988), both shortlisted for the Booker Prize; The Robber Bride (1993); Alias Grace (1996), winner of the prestigious Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy, and a finalist for the Booker Prize, the Orange Prize, and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award; and The Blind Assassin (2000), winner of the Booker Prize. Her latest novel is Oryx and Crake (2003).

Ken Babstock was born in Newfoundland and grew up in the Ottawa Valley. His first collection Mean (1999) won him the Milton Acorn Award and the 2000 Atlantic Poetry Prize. His second collection, Days into Flatspin appeared in 2001 to enthusiastic reviews. His most recent collection, Airstream Land Yacht, won the Trillium Book Award, was shortlisted for the 2007 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize, and was nominated for the 2006 Governor General's Award for poetry. His poems have won Gold at the National Magazine Awards, have been anthologized in Canada and the United States, and have been translated into Dutch, Serbo-Croatian, and Latvian. Babstock has worked as Poetry Faculty at the Banff Centre for the Arts and is currently the poetry editor for the House of Anansi. He lives in Toronto.

Trevor Cole was recently called "one of the best young novelists in this country" by the Globe and Mail. He has written two novels — Norman Bray in the Performance of His Life (2004), and The Fearsome Particles (2006) — both of which were short-listed for the Governor-General's Award for Literature. Norman Bray was also longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and short-listed for the regional Commonwealth Writer's Prize for Best First Book, and each of his novels has been adapted for radio and optioned for film. In addition to being a novelist, Cole is also a multiple-award-winning journalist and magazine editor. He achieved acclaim as a senior writer with Report on Business Magazine and later as the author of a notorious satirical column for Canadian Business, which became an irritant to many of Canada's most prominent business leaders. While continuing to write complex, in-depth magazine features he encourages young writers through the Writer in Electronic Residence program and contributes to Canada's literary community through AuthorsAloud.com, his growing website of author readings. He is currently at work on his third novel.

Lynn Crosbie has a PhD in English Literature from the University of Toronto and is a Toronto based writer. The author of five collections of poems, most recently, Missing Children (M&S: 2003), she is also an anthologist who edited The Girl Wants To: Women's Representations of Sex and the Body (Coach House: 1993), Click: Becoming Feminists (MacFarlane Walter & Ross: 1997) and Plush:5 Gay Poets with Michael Holmes, Coach House, 1995. She has written two novels, Paul's Case (Insomniac:1997) and Dorothy L'Amour (HarperCollins: 1999), and a screenplay for Bruce McDonald's company, Shadow Shows. She is a regular columnist for the Globe and Mail.

Camilla Gibb has a B.A. in anthropology and Middle Eastern studies from the University of Toronto, and completed her Ph.D. in social anthropology at Oxford University in 1997. She spent two years at the University of Toronto as a post-doctoral research fellow before becoming a full-time writer. She is the author of three novels: Sweetness in the Belly, Mouthing the Words, and The Petty Details of So-and-so’s Life, as well as numerous short stories, articles and reviews. She won the Trillium Book Award in 2006, was a Giller Prize nominee in 2005, the winner of the City of Toronto Book Award in 2000 and the recipient of the CBC Canadian Literary Award for short fiction in 2001. Her books have been published in 18 countries and translated into 14 languages and she was named by the jury of the prestigious Orange Prize as one of 21 writers to watch in the new century.

Linda Griffiths is a playwright and actor who gained national attention for her tour de force solo performance in the controversial play Maggie and Pierre (1980), co-written with Paul Thompson, for which she received the Dora Mavor Moore Award for best new play and for outstanding performance. She studied at the National Theatre School and began her career with Saskatoon’s 25th Street Theatre before joining up with Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto. She has performed in, written, and co-written numerous works, including The Darling Family (1991) and The Duchess (1998), and her plays Jessica (1987) and Alien Creature: A Visitation from Gwendolyn MacEwen (1999) each won a Dora Mavor Moore Award and a Chalmers Award.

Goldberry Long is the author of the novel Juniper Tree Burning (Simon and Schuster 2001). A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, she is the recipient of the Stegner Fellowship, the James Michener Fellowship, and the Hackney Award for the First Novel. An experienced fiction instructor, she has taught at Stanford, the University of Iowa, and New Mexico State University. She is at work on her second novel, The Kingdom of No.

Anne Michaels’s celebrated debut novel, Fugitive Pieces (1996), won Ontario’s top literary prize, the Trillium Award, and Britain’s Orange Prize, as well as the Chapters/Books In Canada First Novel Award and the Martin and Beatrice Fischer Award at the Jewish Book Awards. Her profoundly successful first novel follows two award-winning and popular collections of poetry—The Weight of Oranges (1986), winner of the Commonwealth Prize for the Americas; and Miner’s Pond (1991), shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award and the Trillium Award, and winner of the Canadian Authors Association Award.

Paul Quarrington, a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre in Toronto, is a novelist, screenwriter, and musician whose impressive work across genres has procured numerous awards. His novels include Home Game (1983); King Leary (1987), finalist for the Trillium Award and winner of the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour; Whale Music (1989), winner of the Governor General’s Award for English Language Fiction; and The Boy on the Back of the Turtle (1998), shortlisted for both the Trillium Award and the Stephen Leacock Award. He has received Genie Awards for best screenplay (Perfectly Normal) and best song (“Claire” from Whale Music), and he was nominated for a Gemini Award for best writing in a dramatic series (Due South—“All the Queen’s Horses”).

David Adams Richards is one of Canada’s most compelling writers. He has been writer-in-residence at universities in New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta and at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. He is one of only three writers in the history of the Governor General's Award to win in both the fiction (Nights Below Station Street, 1988) and non-fiction (Lines on the Water, 1998) categories. His work has also won countless regional awards and he was awarded the prestigious Canada-Australia Literary Prize in 1992. He received Governor General’s Award nominations for his novels Road to the Stilt House (1985), For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down (1993), and Mercy Among the Children (2000), which was co-winner of the Giller Award and was also shortlisted for the Trillium Award and the Thomas Raddall Award. He has adapted a number of his novels for the small screen; his teleplay Small Gifts (1994) and his screen adaptation of For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down (1996) were both winners of the Gemini Award.

Leon Rooke has published 32 books -- novels, short stories, poems, anthologies. His latest works include The Beautiful Wife (2005), Hot Poppies (2005), and Balduchi's Who's Who (2005). Hitting the Charts: Selected Stories appeared in Sept. 2006. His work has been translated into numerous languages including French, Italian, Spanish, and Slovakian. He is the recipient of numerous literary prizes, including a Governor General's Award for Shakespeare's Dog; Paperback Novel of the Year Award for Fat Woman (which was also shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award and the Books in Canada First Novel Award); the W.O. Mitchell Award recognizing a lifetime of writing and mentoring; and a CBC Short Fiction Prize. He has won two ReLit Awards: for poetry -- Hot Poppies (2006) and for fiction -- Painting the Dog (2003). His novel, A Good Baby, was produced as a feature film. Rooke's work in radio and theatre is also extensive: a stage adaptation of Shakespeare's Dog, commissioned by the Manitoba Theatre Centre, will have its world premiere at George Washington University in early 2007. He intermittently assumes a small role on Thomas King's CBC radio comedy, Dead Dog Cafe. He and his wife Constance founded the popular Eden Mills Writers' Festival.

Michael Winter has written two novels and two collections of short stories. His most recent book, The Big Why, was chosen by the Globe and Mail as one of the Top 100 books for 2004, and it was an editor's pick for amazon.ca's 25 literary books of the year worldwide. It was also shortlisted for the Trillium Award and the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. Winter's first novel, This All Happened, won the inaugural Winterset Award and was nominated for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His fiction has won the CBC Literary Prize and appeared in the Walrus, in the annual Best Canadian Stories, and been broadcast nationally on CBC Radio. Michael Winter grew up in Newfoundland and now lives in Toronto where he teaches a short-story writing course at the University of Toronto. He has been on faculty with the Banff May Studios, has taught with the University of New Orleans summer program in Madrid, Spain, and been a juror for the Giller Prize.  His latest novel is The Architects Are Here. 

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Information on Program Alumni

Emily Arvay graduated from the University of Toronto’s MA Program in Creative Writing in 2007 and currently is a full-time doctoral student in the School of Literature, Languages and Cultures at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Her dissertation on global catastrophic risk in the novels of Paul Auster, Don DeLillo and Cormac McCarthy will be completed in June 2011.

Laura Boudreau was born and raised in Toronto. She attended the University of Western Ontario; in 2003, she was selected for Larry Garber's UWO writing workshop, a class that sparked her passion for writing and changed the course of her academic and creative life. In her graduate work at the University of Toronto (2006-2008), she pursued her interests in Canadian Literature as a SSHRC and OGS scholar, and developed a short story manuscript under the generous mentorship of Michael Winter. Laura’s short fiction has been published in a variety of Canadian literary journals, including Grain, The Fiddlehead, and The New Quarterly, and her journalistic work appears occasionally in Spacing Magazine. She is currently working on her first novel.  

Kerry Clare is a writer and a reader who lives in Toronto. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in or are forthcoming in The New Quarterly, Descant, This Magazine, Canadian Notes and Queries, and Room. She is also a regular contributor to the Descant Blog, and writes about books and reading on her own blog "Pickle Me This" (http://picklemethis.blogspot.com). In December 2008, she served as a panelist on the Arts Matters forum "A Passion for Reading", hosted by Their Excellencies, Governor General Michaëlle Jean and Jean-Daniel Lafond. 
 
Jessica Druker is a writer from South Africa. Prior to coming to U of T in 2006, she received her BA in Dramatic Art from Johannesburg (University of the Witwatersrand). Her passion for South African stories, characters, and the tradition of oral storytelling and performance is prevalent in her fiction, which is primarily set in contemporary, post-apartheid South Africa. Jessica has a number of publications. Her short story, “The Broom Plant,” was selected for publication by Nobel Laureate, J. M. Coetzee, and appears in a S.A. Pen anthology, African Compass: New Writing from Southern Africa. Jessica is currently finishing a short story collection, and is half way through her first novel written under the guidance of her supervisor at U of T, Camilla Gibb. Jessica has a background in advertising, but is currently working for the coca-cola company in South Africa doing corporate communications. 

Jonathan Garfinkel is the author of a book of poetry, Glass Psalms, and three plays, including House of Many Tongues, which has been produced in Germany and Canada. His Masters Thesis at U of T, Ambivalence: Crossing the Israel/Palestine Divide, was published in Canada, the UK and the US. His poetry has been published in journals across Canada and has been translated into Lithuanian, Spanish and Swedish. His play, The Trials of John Demjanjuk: A Holocaust Cabaret, was produced in Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria and was published by Playwrights Canada Press (2006). Jonathan is currently a fellow at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Germany, where he is working on a novel. He is a frequent contributor to the Globe and Mail and Walrus magazine. 
 
Sandra Huber is currently living, writing and teaching in Vienna, Austria. She has published in various literary journals and read at various festivals, including the Vienna Lit Fest and London Word. Her short story "Eels" was recently chosen by Dzanc Press as part of their Best of the Web Anthology, and she has received funding from both SSHRC and the Toronto Arts Council. Sandra has just completed her first novel and plans on using that freed up time to start an online press for experimental and cross-genre work.

Lauren Kirshner attended the Masters of Creative Writing Program from 2005 until 2007 and was mentored by Margaret Atwood. Her first novel Where We Have to Go will be published by McClelland & Stewart in June 2009. Her work has been published in Exile Quarterly, The Hart House Review, ActaVictoriana, and Now Magazine and she is the winner of the University of Toronto Arthur Irwin Award for Distinction in Journalism. Her creative non-fiction account of a maquilladora worker's life in Juarez, Mexico, "20 Poems for Claudia" was published in "I Live Here" (Pantheon, 2008). Lauren writes an ongoing blog at www.laurenkirshner.blogspot.com. 
 
Samuel Martin lives in St. John's, Newfoundland with his wife Samantha and their black lab, Vader. He is doing his PhD in English Literature at Memorial University, writing his dissertation on the works of Alistair MacLeod, David Adams Richards, and Michael Crummey. In the Creative Writing MA he worked mainly on short stories but is now trying his hand at a novel in between studying for comprehensive examinations, visiting every coffee shop in St. John's, shovelling snow, and hiking the East Coast Trail in fairer weather (which there seems to be very little of in Newfoundland).

Kulsum Merchant received her MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing in 2007 and was awarded SSHRC funding during her studies. She also holds a degree in Communications from Concordia University. Kulsum has worked in the Canadian book publishing industry for five years, primarily in the independent literary publishing community and with ECW Press. Prior to this, she worked in the advertising and film industries in locations ranging from Toronto and Montreal in Canada to Mumbai in India. Presently, she is a publicist for the Literary Press Group of Canada where she organizes and manages book publicity across Canada. Kulsum also writes feature articles regularly for several Canadian magazines, and is currently completing her first novel. 
 
Helen Guri graduated from the University of Toronto's MA in Creative Writing program in the spring of 2008, where she worked under the mentorship of George Elliott Clarke. She went on to participate in a writing residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts immediately following her degree. Helen has published widely in Canadian literary journals, including The Antigonish Review, The Fiddlehead, Grain Magazine, Event, Descant, and others. In the summer of 2008, she was featured as "Poet of the Week" on the Parliamentary Poet Laureate website. She currently holds a Toronto Arts Council grant, an Ontario Arts Council grant, and a stiffly caffeinated mug of tea towards the completion of her first book, a series of linked poems.

In the MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing, Rebecca Rosenblum worked with Leon Rooke to produce a collection of short stories. Her short fiction has been seen recently in Journey Prize Stories 19, The New Quarterly, Maisonnueve, Coming Attractions, Rampike and Best Canadian Stories 08. Her first collection of stories, Once, won the Metcalf-Rooke Award and was one of Quill and Quire’s “15  Books That Mattered” in 2008. The Maclean’s blog called Rebecca “Canlit  Rookie of the Year” in 2008.  

Jesse Ruddock graduated from the Master’s program in creative writing at U of T in 2007. Her undergraduate degree is in English from Harvard University, where she studied with poets such as D.A. Powell, Jorie Graham and Daniel Bosch. At present she is editing her first novel, the first draft of which she wrote at U of T under the tutelage of Goldberry Long. Under the nom de plume Koko Bonaparte, Jesse is an award-winning songwriter and recording artist. Her music accomplishments include being co-writer of Kate Schutt’s “No Love Lost,” a critically acclaimed jazz album released by the NYC record label ArtistShare (2007). She is also co-writer of Kate Schutt’s forthcoming album, “Telephone Game,” also to be released on ArtistShare this spring. Her own self-titled hip hop album, “Koko Bonaparte,” recorded with Canadian and American jazz greats, will be commercially released in the fall of 2009. She has won numerous songwriting awards, including the John Lennon Songwriting Prize (2007), and is now co-writing new music with a handful of international recording artists. She has also been nominated for a 2009 Juno Award for photography.  

Medeine Tribinevicius is a Canadian writer and translator of Lithuanian literature. She was born in Orillia, Ontario and grew up on Manitoulin Island. In 2006 she completed her MA in English at the University of Toronto while working under the mentorship of Lynn Crosbie. Medeine’s poetry and prose (in English) has been published in The Walrus, Room Magazine, Misunderstandings Magazine and The Shore. She is currently finishing a novel. Her translations have been published in the PEN International Magazine, The Vilnius Review, Nine New Works of Prose from Lithuania: 2005-2006, The Druskininkai Poetic Fall Almanac and in other publications. Current projects include co-translating e.e. cummings into Lithuanian with poet Benediktas Janusevicius, and translating Tula, a novel by Jurgis Kuncinas, into English.  

Daniel Scott Tysdal is a poet from Moose Jaw. His first book of poetry, Predicting the Next Big Advertising Breakthrough Using a Potentially Dangerous Method (Coteau 2006), received the 2007 ReLit Award, 2006 Anne Szumigalski Poetry Award, and the 2005 John V. Hicks Award. His poetry has appeared in a number of Canadian literary journals and earned him both an honourable mention at the 2003 National Magazine Awards and a place in the finals of the CBC’s 2005 National Poetry Face-Off. He has received an OGS and funding from the Saskatchewan Arts Board. He also took part in the 2006 Banff Writing Studio and the 2007 Sage Hill Writing Experience. He worked under the mentorship of Ken Babstock in the Creative Writing MA Program.  

Naya S. Valdellon graduated with a BFA in Creative Writing from the Ateneo de Manila
University, and worked as a web content writer and editorial assistant before taking her
MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing at the University of Toronto. Her first chapbook, Reluctant Firewalker, was published in 2005 by the Philippine National Commission for Culture and the Arts. Her poetry has won the Maningning Miclat Award for Poetry, the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards, the Meritage Press Poetry Prize, and the Hart House Poetry Contest. Currently an Emerging Voice for Diaspora Dialogues, her work will be published in TOK: Writing the New Toronto Book 4. She is working on a manuscript entitled Open Letters.  

Lindsay Zier-Vogel is a writer, choreographer, bookmaker and arts educator. After completing her MA in Creative Writing under the mentorship of Anne Michaels, Lindsay has continued working on her manuscript about Dora Mavor Moore and is the recipient of a Canada Council writing grant to complete this novel. She has also been awarded a Toronto Arts Council grant to work on her second novel and, in February 2009, she was granted a writing residency in Burgundy, France, graciously funded by a Canada Council travel grant. She has a forthcoming publication in Taddle Creek and her work as been previously published in Descant, Echolocation, dANDelion, PILOT Pocketbook One, Grain, Misunderstandings Magazine, Fieldstone Review, fillingStation, dig 9, unherd magazine, paper plates, room of one's own, marginalia, the Dance Current Magazine, semicolon, The Breath, Soap Box Girls, The Hart House Review and Acta Victoriana. Lindsay has also been a featured poet at various festivals throughout Ontario including the Art Bar Series (2003) Eden Mills Writers Festival (2001) and the Hillside Festival (2001). She has taught poetry and dance workshops in the schools of Toronto and Vancouver (funded by the Ontario Arts Council and the ArtStarts). Currently, she writes about dance for CTV.ca and continues working with Toronto-based choreographers as a poetic dramaturge. Lindsay is also the founding editor of Puddle Press, an independent press that focuses on the intimate and invested experience between relationship between reader and book and author/creator.  

(Attn: graduates please send updated bios and news to creative.writing@utoronto.ca) 

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