Applicants to UBC have access to a variety of funding options, including merit-based (i.e. based on your academic performance) and need-based (i.e. based on your financial situation) opportunities.
All applicants are encouraged to review the awards listing to identify potential opportunities to fund their graduate education. The database lists merit-based scholarships and awards and allows for filtering by various criteria, such as domestic vs. international or degree level.
Many professors are able to provide Research Assistantships (GRA) from their research grants to support full-time graduate students studying under their supervision. The duties constitute part of the student's graduate degree requirements. A Graduate Research Assistantship is considered a form of fellowship for a period of graduate study and is therefore not covered by a collective agreement. Stipends vary widely, and are dependent on the field of study and the type of research grant from which the assistantship is being funded.
Graduate programs may have Teaching Assistantships available for registered full-time graduate students. Full teaching assistantships involve 12 hours work per week in preparation, lecturing, or laboratory instruction although many graduate programs offer partial TA appointments at less than 12 hours per week. Teaching assistantship rates are set by collective bargaining between the University and the Teaching Assistants' Union .
Academic Assistantships are employment opportunities to perform work that is relevant to the university or to an individual faculty member, but not to support the student’s graduate research and thesis. Wages are considered regular earnings and when paid monthly, include vacation pay.
Canadian and US applicants may qualify for governmental loans to finance their studies. Please review eligibility and types of loans .
All students may be able to access private sector or bank loans.
Many foreign governments provide support to their citizens in pursuing education abroad. International applicants should check the various governmental resources in their home country, such as the Department of Education, for available scholarships.
The possibility to pursue work to supplement income may depend on the demands the program has on students. It should be carefully weighed if work leads to prolonged program durations or whether work placements can be meaningfully embedded into a program.
International students enrolled as full-time students with a valid study permit can work on campus for unlimited hours and work off-campus for no more than 20 hours a week.
A good starting point to explore student jobs is the UBC Work Learn program or a Co-Op placement .
Students with taxable income in Canada may be able to claim federal or provincial tax credits.
Canadian residents with RRSP accounts may be able to use the Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) which allows students to withdraw amounts from their registered retirement savings plan (RRSPs) to finance full-time training or education for themselves or their partner.
Please review Filing taxes in Canada on the student services website for more information.
Applicants have access to the cost estimator to develop a financial plan that takes into account various income sources and expenses.
Graduates of the MFA program have found success in varied fields related to writing and communication. The MFA qualifies graduates for teaching at the university level and many graduates have gone on to teach at colleges and universities in Canada, the United States and overseas as well as holding writing residencies. Many publish books and win literary awards. Others go on to work in publishing, and graduates have become book and magazine editors.
Although the MFA is a terminal degree, some graduates go on to further study in PhD programs in the US, UK and Australia.
These statistics show data for the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA). Data are separated for each degree program combination. You may view data for other degree options in the respective program profile.
2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Applications | 264 | 302 | 368 | 233 | 248 |
Offers | 39 | 41 | 43 | 44 | 52 |
New Registrations | 29 | 24 | 27 | 29 | 31 |
Total Enrolment | 118 | 131 | 140 | 160 | 175 |
This list shows faculty members with full supervisory privileges who are affiliated with this program. It is not a comprehensive list of all potential supervisors as faculty from other programs or faculty members without full supervisory privileges can request approvals to supervise graduate students in this program.
Same specialization.
Specialization.
Creative Writing combines the best of traditional workshop and leading-edge pedagogy. Literary cross-training offers opportunities in a broad range of genres including fiction, poetry, screenplay, podcasting, video game writing and graphic novel.
Program website, faculty overview, academic unit, program identifier, classification, social media channels, supervisor search.
Departments/Programs may update graduate degree program details through the Faculty & Staff portal. To update contact details for application inquiries, please use this form .
I really liked what the program would be offering, and I love the mountains as well as nature—I find a lot of peace and inspiration from water, wind, and clouds. While I was at an Explore Program for a month at the University of Victoria (I wanted to explore the West Coast), I managed to visit UBC...
I have studied abroad in Australia, and at several local post-secondary institutions, but UBC has always felt like my academic home. The Creative Writing program is one of the best programs in the country, and I was really honoured to be accepted, as the competition is rigorous.
Find out how Vancouver enhances your graduate student experience—from the beautiful mountains and city landscapes, to the arts and culture scene, we have it all. Study-life balance at its best!
Your writing career begins here
Unleashing your imagination with us could be the start of something transformative.
Our program, bolstered by our connection to Calgary Distinguished Writers Program, has garnered both national and international recognition, making it one of the most dynamic and vibrant areas on our campus.
It's about becoming a part of a literary movement that's making waves.
Our Creative Writing instructors at the University of Calgary aren't just teachers; they are accomplished writers who have left their mark on a diverse range of writing genres, styles, and aesthetics.
Each year, the vibrancy of our program is showcased through a myriad of readings and performances. Our courses include instruction in creativity, publication, editorial work, and journalism.
Here, you won't just learn about writing; you'll live it, breathe it, and start something extraordinary with it.
Creative Writing faculty member Suzette Mayr won the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel, The Sleeping Car Porter.
Ryan Emberley Photography
Emphasis on craft.
Our courses encourage diverse approaches to writing, but they're not courses in how to get published. They are intended to help you become a better writer.
Study language, structure, form and all the elements of poetry, fiction and creative writing in general.
You don't have to be an ENGL major to take Creative Writing courses. They are open to any student or community member who wants to apply, and they are all credit courses.
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Engage in a creative writing project as part of your Honours degree.
Contact us to learn more about your options.
Email our undergraduate program director
If you complete 18 units from the field of Creative Writing, you are eligible to earn an Embedded Certificate.
View certificate details
Portfolio classes require permission to enrol.
Because you cannot register in portfolio admission courses until you receive permission from the department, you should register in a second-choice course if you are an undergraduate student.
View current course listings.
Open to all students.
Open to all senior students.
The highly competitive nature of admission to Creative Writing courses means that not all students get in . If you are not accepted when you first apply, we encourage you to try again another year, and to make an appointment with the Canadian Writer-in-Residence , who is available to provide feedback on your work.
Descriptions and application instructions for 2024/25 portfolio-based courses.
Instructor: Suzette Mayr
Application Requirements:
To be considered for a place in this course, students must email an application form to [email protected] by July 1, 2024
IMPORTANT: Please include "ENGL 436.04 Application Portfolio" in the subject line of the email
Instructor: Amy LeBlanc
To be considered for a place in this course, please email [email protected]
Instructor: Clara A.B. Joseph
To be considered for a place in this course, students must email an application form to [email protected] by July 1, 2024
IMPORTANT: Please include "ENGL 595.04 Application Portfolio" in the subject line of the email
Instructor: Anna Veprinska
To be considered for a place in this course, students must email an application form to [email protected] by November 1, 2024
IMPORTANT: Please include "ENGL 593 Application Portfolio" in the subject line of the email
In addition to reading carefully the specific details concerning portfolio submissions for individual courses, you should keep in mind the following general advice:
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The Calgary Distinguished Writers Program launches the careers of Canadian writers, bridging the university and the wider Calgary community. The program offers free events, manuscript evaluations, and community connection.
Start something literary today
Planning your graduate studies? We offer MA and PhD degrees with a creative writing option. Learn more about our Graduate Creative Writing
Ready to start your application? Get all the information you need to apply today.
Start your application
Ask me about courses and the English program.
Dr. Anthony Camara [email protected]
Ask us about admissions, degree programs, graduation and more.
Get help from the Arts Student Centre
Looking for office location, address or hours?
Visit our contact page
The UBC Creative Writing Major program is unique, offering undergraduate apprentice writers in their third year or beyond the opportunity to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in an advanced, self-contained studio program.
We take a limited number of students each year, basing admissions primarily on evaluation of a portfolio of original writing.
As a Major in Creative Writing, you will cover a range of writing genres in depth. You work and learn in small genre-based writing workshops, guided by faculty who are themselves published and working writers, alongside peers who are as committed and engaged as you in the process of becoming a writer. This active, collaborative and highly participatory learning environment builds skills and confidence, equipping you for a writing future, and beyond.
While building your own identity, personality and skills as a writer and adding strong new material to your portfolio, you will also develop invaluable skills in peer-working, collaborative communication and creative problem solving, skills employers love.
You will graduate with a grounding in the professional standards and expectations for your chosen genres – screen, stage, fiction, comics, and more – equipping you to work in those fields.
All CRWR 400 courses are dedicated to the Major, allowing us to offer a focused and closed studio program. The studio is the writing workshop; your original writing and that of your peers will comprise the principal text and subject for discussion in all workshop courses. Our expectation is that this material will be of high quality and interest, showing exemplary and new directions in technique that can be shared and studied.
To earn this degree, you must complete 36 credits in 400 level CRWR workshop courses, across at least four genres, plus completing the other elective courses and credits needed to meet your specific UBC degree requirements. This takes a minimum of two years; the demands of the workshop limit students to 9 workshop credits per term, and all 36 credits must be earned within the Major.
We welcome applications from current UBC students and from others; however, external applicants must have applied to UBC for admission to be considered for the BFA program. The deadline for UBC application is in mid-January each year.
Admission to the Major is by application only, and restricted to students about to enter at least their third undergraduate year, as formally determined by UBC Vancouver. Only those with formal third year standing can be enrolled into the Major. This is an official policy requirement and can’t be set aside.
If you are eligible to apply, you will submit a portfolio-based application to the program, through an online form. The application window is only open for a short period, beginning in January, and admits students to our Major for the subsequent Winter Session – for instance, students who applied in early 2023 were admitted as Majors for the 23W academic year, and started their studies in September 2023. There is only one application cycle per year.
As there are limited places available, this is a highly competitive process, and one with unique and distinct criteria and requirements. If you are interested in applying, or learning more, you should carefully read the Guidelines for Prospective CRWR Majors , which gives the most up-to-date, detailed and precise information.
The Guidelines explain how standing is determined, and give details for those outside UBC interested in applying, as well as anyone interested in applying this Major to a Double Major program. It also contains detailed information on how to put together your portfolio for submission.
External applicants, please note – you must apply to UBC as well as directly to the program, and UBC admission deadlines precede our programs deadline.
The program cannot make exceptions for students who fail to follow the guidelines, and all applications are covered by the terms set out in those guidelines.
Gain the necessary tools, knowledge and resources to entertain, inform and inspire..
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As part of one of the largest Creative Writing programs in Canada, you can learn the essentials of excellent writing and put them into practice. Whether you aspire to write a novel or short story, explore poetry, pen a script or screenplay, or explore other writing styles, we have the courses you need to improve your skills.
Creative Writers are at the heart of our cultural industries. Poets, novelists, screenwriters, playwrights, graphic novelists, magazine writers: they entertain, inform and inspire. For more than 15 years, UBC's Creative Writing program has been educating writers through distance education in a program which complements our long-standing on-campus MFA program. A studio program with the writing ...
Study with award-winning faculty in a student-focused creative writing program that blends the best of traditional workshop and leading edge pedagogy.
Below is the list of 48 best universities for Creative Writing in Canada ranked based on their research performance: a graph of 246K citations received by 19.8K academic papers made by these universities was used to calculate ratings and create the top.
Program Overview. Humber's Creative Writing graduate certificate program helps you improve your writing from the comfort of home. You'll work one-on-one with a professional writer-mentor to improve your draft book-length project, learning how to develop plot, character, dialogue, style and more through feedback on your own manuscript.
The program covers many aspects of the creative writer's world from writing development, copy editing, genre writing, time management, publishing, and promotion. The evaluative and interactive format will ensure you receive ample instructor feedback and supportive peer review throughout the program. In the final project course, a portion of ...
Sheridan's Creative Writing & Publishing degree provides extensive training in writing, editing, publishing and literary studies to prepare you for a career in this exciting industry. Apply today!
We are Canada's oldest and most respected MFA Program in Creative Writing. Offering an unprecedented 11 genres for potential study, students work in a learner-centered, workshop-driven program which offers an exciting breadth of choices, award-winning faculty and a setting in one of the world's most beautiful and livable cities.
An MA in English prepares you for careers that require strength in research, writing, and communication. You'll also be qualified to teach in Quebec's CEGEP system. are well-placed to take on advanced study in a PhD program, in either English or Creative Writing. Others have become icons of the Canadian literary scene.
Major in Creative Writing Does your love of literature go beyond scholarship? Are you an aspiring author who wants to add a practical, hands-on component to your university education? Then you've come to the right place: UTSC is the only campus at UofT where you can earn a Major in Creative Writing. Our dedicated faculty take a workshop-based, experiential approach to the study and practice of ...
Canada Creative Writing University Programs Browse through the list of Canadian Creative Writing bachelor, masters, and doctorate courses, programs and degrees offered by universities in Canada.
26 Universities in Canada offering Creative Writing degrees and courses. Plan your studies abroad now.
Our Creative Writing program, one of the first of its kind in Canada, immerses you in every aspect of the writing life, from the development of ideas to the publication of finished works.
The Writer's Studio: Creative Writing Certificate Every writer needs the right tools, techniques and support to develop their work. The Writer's Studio part-time creative writing program is designed for writers who are ready to immerse themselves in a manuscript. You'll join a supportive community as you master your craft and establish a sustainable writing practice.
Discover undergraduate and graduate courses offered within the Creative Writing program at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
Learn more about how the Creative Writing degree at the University of Guelph focuses on writing that explores issues of social justice and the environment, from Lawrence Hill to Catherine Bush; from Black History in Canada to climate fiction to critically acclaimed plays and more.
Free your writing potential while developing a solid base of professional craft and skill through UBC's Creative Writing undergraduate programs.
UBC's Creative Writing program was the first writing program in Canada, and is the largest and most comprehensive in the country. It is highly ranked internationally, and draws students from around the world for its multi-genre approach to writing instruction. Students are required to work in multiple genres during the course of the degree.
Creative Writing degrees teach ways of building stories by expressing thoughts, feelings, and emotions using the written medium, as opposed to simply presenting written facts. Future creative writers learn to use elements of fiction, character creation, and plot development. Upon graduation, you'll have the opportunity to work as a play ...
Further your writing skills, career opportunities and personal development through UBC's flexible, accessible and inclusive online creative writing courses.
Gain an unparalleled richness and diversity of creative writing courses through UBC's Creative Writing undergraduate programs. Our comprehensive undergraduate curriculum makes the range of our teaching available to all students. In our programs, you will free your writing potential while developing a solid base of professional craft and skill.
Emphasis on craft Our courses encourage diverse approaches to writing, but they're not courses in how to get published. They are intended to help you become a better writer. Study language, structure, form and all the elements of poetry, fiction and creative writing in general.
Major The UBC Creative Writing Major program is unique, offering undergraduate apprentice writers in their third year or beyond the opportunity to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in an advanced, self-contained studio program.