About

The Writer’s Studio History

The commitment to create a non-credit certificate in creative writing for the Writing and Publishing Program ignited in the fall of 1999. The Writing and Publishing Program had offered (and continues to offer) an impressive array of creative writing courses but by 1999, a growing number of students wanted sequential, long-term, in-depth training. In response to that demand, a Writing and Publishing Program creative writing instructor, Betsy Warland, was asked to research and design a one-year, part-time certificate program. In January 2001, The Writer’s Studio was launched.

Only two years later, in 2003, TWS became the winner of the Program Excellence Award given by the Canadian Association for University Continuing Education.

TWS continues to fine-tune itself as a program and grow with our students’ needs and skills. Recent examples of this are creation of two additional training options for our alumni: being a Mentor’s Apprentice, and being an Adjunct Student (returning for a year to concentrate on finishing a manuscript).

Among the priorities that shaped the design of TWS and still distinguish us are: learning together as a group in community and building an ongoing writing community; benefiting from regular one-on-one consults with one’s mentor; accessing the most extensive professional skills-training available to emerging writers anywhere; and enjoying a variety of ongoing professional alumni activities.

Why TWS?

Over the past decade, emerging writers have found it increasingly difficult to access the craft and professional skills training and information they need. The more casual basis in which the passing on of skills and training used to occur in the literary community has all but disappeared. Changes in the publishing and book-selling industries have contributed to this lack of access. The fact that the city of Vancouver has grown by twenty-five percent in the past decade also contributes to loss of easy access. Talented emerging writers must now seek out programs, such as TWS, in order to grow and mature as a serious writer.

The Writer’s Studio is unusual in that it is a creative writing program that is locally-based whereas the other programs in Canada are regionally, nationally, and to some extent, internationally-based. Our writers live in the Greater Vancouver area or in the Lower Mainland and they are eager to build a writing community and establish a writing profile where they live. With this in mind, we have been pleased to be invited to the Vancouver International Writers Festival for the past several years. Here, we introduce our writers to the Vancouver literary community with the launch and reading of their anthology, emerge.

Our writers receive high-quality training in craft, critical thinking and professional skills while remaining inside the demands of their lives. Although full-time writing programs have their undeniable benefits, we believe that gaining the ability to navigate one’s writing life within the realities of one’s daily life is crucial.

Acceptance into TWS is based on indications of promising talent, a sense of integrity in the writing samples, and evidence of a passion for writing. Locally, we occupy an educational position between the more formally structured, full-time MFA creative writing programs and individual writing courses. We are among the few full-training, non-credit certificate programs in the world.

The Writer’s Studio actively fosters an ongoing commitment among our writers after you finish your certificate. Please see the wide range of alumni involvements in the Alumni Activities section.

For more information on creative writing courses offered by The Writing and Publishing Program, please see their web site.