{"id":28584,"date":"2026-09-02T15:19:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T19:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/english\/?page_id=28584"},"modified":"2026-09-02T15:25:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T19:25:20","slug":"creative-writing-at-a-glance","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/english\/why-study-english-literature\/creative-writing-at-a-glance\/","title":{"rendered":"Creative Writing at a Glance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Creative Writing at a Glance\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

Creative Writing at a Glance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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  • Option to take, during the first year, Introduction to Creative Writing lecture-and-workshop course<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Workshop-based courses in fiction, poetry, screenwriting and other genres taught by professional writers who guide students as they hone their skills and build a writing practice.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Opportunities to experience author visits, the Munro Beattie Lecture, and international literary festivals such as VERSeFest and Ottawa International Writers Festival.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Student-centred literary events that showcase students\u2019 writing, and annual poetry competitions and prizes. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Option to design, edit and publish Sumac Literary Magazine as part of the Publishing a Literary Magazine experiential-learning course.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The Creative Writing concentration offers students an inspiring selection of workshop-based courses in such genres as fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction and screenwriting. These courses are taught by professional writers from the Ottawa area and are taken as a Concentration within a more broadly-based major in English. The Creative Writing concentration was established in 2012 and builds on a tradition of encouraging students in their creative-writing efforts. For many years, the Department has offered workshops in fiction, non-fiction, poetry and screenwriting. Additionally, students have benefited from faculty members who go out of their way to mentor students and to provide them with opportunities for showing their work within Ottawa\u2019s vibrant literary scene. While the list opposite showcases some recent publications by English alumni, here are what a few writers had to say about their studies at Carleton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Now an editor for Canthius, Manahil Bandukwala reports that her \u201cwriting life is greatly informed by my time at Carleton, from the creative-writing courses to my involvement with the student magazine.\u201d Manahil\u2019s first collection of poetry, MONUMENT <\/em>(Brick, 2022), won the 2023 Alcuin Award (second place), was shortlisted for the 2023 Gerald Lampert Award, and that same year, was selected as a Writer\u2019s Trust of Canada Rising Star. Her second poetry collection, Heliotropia <\/em>(Brick, 2024), was shortlisted for the 2025 Pat Lowther Memorial Award and the 2025 Raymond Souster Award. Manahil notes that Carleton\u2019s English awards \u201cwere the first literary awards I ever won, and they helped boost me as a writer so much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Ben Ladouceur, an English and Canadian Studies graduate, also began his publishing career as a poet. His first book, Otter <\/em>(Coach, 2015), was selected as a best book of 2015 by the National Post, nominated for a Lambda Literary Award, and awarded the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. His second poetry collection, Mad Long Emotion<\/em> (Coach, 2019), was awarded the Archibald Lampman Prize. He is the recipient of the Writers\u2019 Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize for emerging LGBT+ writers, and a National Magazine Award for Poetry. His first novel, I Remember Lights<\/em> (Book*hug Press, 2025), is a queer-life story blossoming out of an exploration of Montreal\u2019s renowned Expo 67. Ben\u2019s experiences with extracurricular literary opportunities at Carleton taught him \u201cthat writing\u2026could actually be a big source of community,\u201d and credits Carleton\u2019s writing community for helping ignite his passion for writing poetry and prose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Some of our students have parlayed their English degrees into writing careers without taking the Creative Writing concentration. Matthew James Jones is a veteran and Carleton alumnus who writes and teaches in Paris. He is the author of the best-selling Predators, Reapers and Deadlier Creatures<\/em> (Double Dagger, 2025), a work that reflects deeply on \u201cdehumanization, poetics, monsters, masculinity, cross-cultural exchange, and healing.\u201d Jones is \u201cgrateful to Carleton\u2019s professors and creatives for their support, mentorship and encouragement\u201d and carries that role forward as an instructor at the \u00c9cole Militaire and professor at SciencesPo in Paris, as well as editing for The Wrath-Bearing Tree and volunteering at the Paris-based Bodies of Work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Some of our student’s publications and honours<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    <\/th><\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
    320 lines of poetry<\/em> (2023)
    Some of the raccoon poems<\/em> (2022)
    Chris Johnson<\/strong>
    BA HONS English 2013<\/td>    		Eunoia <\/em>(2001)
    Winner Griffin Poetry Prize
    Christian B\u00f6k
    <\/strong>BA HONS English 1989
    MA English 1990<\/td><\/tr>
    The Antagonist<\/em> (2011)
    Hellgoing <\/em>(2013)
    Winner Scotiabank Giller Prize
    Lynn Coady<\/strong>
    BA Combined HONS English and Philosophy 1993<\/td>    		Monstrous <\/em>(2016)
    Nominated Prix Rideau Awards for New Creation and Emerging Artist
    Sarah Waisvisz
    <\/strong>PhD English 2014<\/td><\/tr>
    Water for Elephants<\/em> (2006)
    Book Sense Book of the Year and New York Times Best Seller
    Film adaptation 2011
    Sara Gruen
    <\/strong>BA HONS English 1993<\/td>    		Sheets: Typewriter Works<\/em> (2022)
    Book of Annotations <\/em>(2018)
    Cameron Anstee
    BA HONS English 2008
    MA English 2009<\/td><\/tr>
    Refugee Mouth<\/em> (2025)
    Blissful State of Surrender<\/em> (2022)
    Psychomachia<\/em> (2016)
    Sanita Fejzi\u0107
    <\/strong>BA HONS English 2016
    MA English 2017<\/td>    		Muybridge\u2019s Horse<\/em> (2007)
    Winner Globe and Mail Best Book and CBC Literary Award
    Rob Winger
    <\/strong>PhD Cultural Mediation Literary Studies 2009<\/td><\/tr>
    Terminal Solstice<\/em> (2025)
    Prodigals <\/em>(2025)
    Sean Minogue
    <\/strong>BA English 2004<\/td>    		This Is How You Lose the Time War<\/em> (with Max Gladstone, 2019)
    Seasons of Glass and Iron (2016)
    Winners BFASA, Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards
    Amal El-Mohtar
    <\/strong>PhD English candidate<\/td><\/tr>
    Reunion <\/em>(2018)
    Shortlisted 2019 Pat Lowther Memorial Award
    Deanna Lynn Young
    <\/strong>MA English 2020
    Ottawa Poet Laureate 2019-21<\/td>    		Death and the Intern<\/em> (2017)
    Jeremy Hanson-Finger
    <\/strong>BA HONS English 2010
    MA English 2011<\/td><\/tr>
    Brother <\/em>(2017)
    Atwood Gibson Writers\u2019 Trust Fiction Prize
    Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize
    Windham Campbell Prize for Body of Work in Fiction
    David Chariandy
    <\/strong>BA HONS English 1994
    MA English 1995<\/td>    		<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Creative Writing at a Glance The Creative Writing concentration offers students an inspiring selection of workshop-based courses in such genres as fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction and screenwriting. These courses are taught by professional writers from the Ottawa area and are taken as a Concentration within a more broadly-based major in English. The Creative Writing concentration […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":386,"featured_media":0,"parent":128,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cu_dining_location_slug":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_page_type":[],"class_list":["post-28584","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/386"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28584"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28593,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28584\/revisions\/28593"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_page_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_page_type?post=28584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}