About this course
This introductory course focuses on the process and craft of creative writing. Students will study short fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry by established writers, and learn to respond to works-in-progress by their peers. A variety of activities will help students generate, develop, and revise a portfolio of original creative work.
What you’ll learn
- Read a diverse selection of writers, as well as fellow students’ pieces, experimenting with strategies for creation and revision.
- Write and revise a story, three poems, and a piece of creative non-fiction.
- Engage in exercises to improve your creative work.
Course highlights
Carefully structured workshops, offered online and synchronously, are central to the course. This course cannot be taken asynchronously.
Your instructor
Roz Spafford
Before my family moved to California, I lived in the American Southwest, where my family tried to keep a cattle ranch alive amidst drought and other difficulties. Partly as a result, my work — in poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction — has always involved the intersection of private lives, land/location, and historical events. My teaching in California and at U of T incorporates these concerns, as I encourage students to locate themselves in their community and family histories, and to discover the genre(s) that will allow them to find their voice with the audiences they seek to reach.