Program Information

Design of the MFA program

Normally, students pursue the program on a full-time basis. The program has been designed to facilitate completion within two years, and all students must complete a minimum of six semesters.

Required courses include three intensive semester-long workshops, two plenary courses (“Writers on Writing” and “Writers in the World”), an individual study course, and a thesis.

Students take one workshop and one plenary course in the first (fall) semester of study; one workshop in the second (winter) semester; the individual study course in the third (summer) semester; and one workshop and the other plenary course in the fourth (fall) semester. The remaining two semesters of the two-year program are devoted to the thesis.

NOTE: With permission, MFA students may choose to take one or two courses at the University of Guelph—e.g., MA courses in the School of English and Theatre Studies in which the student has a strong interest and the subject material feeds into work being done within the MFA program. Normal course requirements for the MFA program may be modified to accommodate this.

NOTE: Students admitted to the MFA program who already possess the graduate certificate from the Humber School for Writers are required to take two writing workshops, rather than the usual three required workshops, to partially satisfy MFA course requirements; graduates must complete all other program requirements, including the plenary courses, independent study and the creative thesis component.

Semester System

Guelph’s academic year is divided into three 12-week semesters. The Fall Semester begins in September and ends in mid-December; the Winter semester begins in January and ends in mid-April; the Summer Semester begins in May and ends in mid-August. Students are expected to register in each consecutive semester until degree requirements are completed. Students who wish not to register for a particular semester are required to apply for a leave of absence.

About the Courses

WORKSHOPS (0.5 credits each)

Students are required to take three workshops over the course of the program—one in the first fall semester, one in the first winter semester, and one in the second fall semester. We offer five workshops—three in the fall (when students from the previous cohort will be taking their final workshop), and two in the winter (when only students from the new cohort will be taking workshops).

We admit 12 students in each cohort. The average workshop size will be between 8 and 12 students.

The genres in which workshops are offered are fiction, poetry, drama, and creative non-fiction. A single workshop will focus on one of these genres or on occasion combine genres in such a way as to ensure that students have access over three semesters of workshop study to more than one workshop that addresses a genre in which they have a primary interest, as well as sufficient choice among other genres. The admissions process is used to identify interests and to ensure a reasonable level of balance within the program.

Students are required to ensure through their selection of workshops that they work in a minimum of two separate genres and are strongly encouraged to take workshops that include work in at least three genres. They can take two (but not three) workshops that treat the same genre, either alone or in combination (for example, one workshop in fiction and another in fiction and creative non-fiction). In making workshop assignments to faculty, we try to ensure that a student working in the same genre twice will do so with different instructors. (The requirement that workshops be taken in at least two genres is important because sustained exposure to and practice in a second or third genre may reveal or develop new creative strengths.)

The workshops are strongly focused on writing, but each also involves a substantial reading component. It is worth noting here that the most consistent and urgent advice given to new writers by established professionals is simply to read—widely, voraciously, and well. Through the reading component of the workshops, students learn to read as writers. They grow in an understanding of technical and other aspects of the writer’s craft; they will be able to discuss technique knowledgeably and to incorporate insights gained from their reading into the writing they produce for the workshop.

A very important part of the workshops is the interaction between students and the responses they provide to one another’s work; attendance is therefore mandatory. Please note that these are intensive courses. The writing requirement of the workshops is very substantial, as is the workload overall.

PLENARY COURSES (0.5 credits each)

These courses are called “plenary” courses because all students enrolled in the program will be taking them at the same time. One plenary course is offered each year, in the fall semester, and students are required to take both. These courses are intended in part to provide a forum for visiting writers and other literary professionals. Each course also has a component addressing practical matters associated with the progress of a writer’s career.

Plenary courses meet once a week. Student presentations on selected readings make up a significant part of the course.  Student participation is paramount.  There will also be written assignments.  A number of visitors, writers and members of the literary community, will be invited to the class.

1. “Writers on Writing”—This plenary course allows students to acquaint themselves with and vigorously debate the writing theories (writers’ discourse about the art of writing) of artists such as Henry James, Italo Calvino, Mavis Gallant, Zadie Smith, and Dennis Lee. The course examines how writers understand and describe their own creative processes, techniques, and aims, and engages with a range of subjects including the competing roles of experience and imagination, the usefulness of the idea of perfection, questions of voice and representation, including the nature of realism, and the use of formal structures in poetry and prose.

2. “Writers in the World”—This plenary course involves students in significant, often highly contentious debates on the role of writing in the world—debates that form a context within which the solitary writer creates his or her own imaginative worlds. Issues to be considered include varying conceptions of the writer’s role and responsibilities, the idea of a national literature, the way value is assigned to a work of literature, the changing copyright climate, and the impact of the internet on writers’ professional lives. Work by writers including Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Orhan Pamuk, Tom Stoppard and others will be examined. Again, visiting writers and other professionals make a significant contribution to the course.

A portion of both plenary courses is devoted to practical issues such as the writing of grant applications; the politics of publishing and relationships between writer, agent, and editor; giving public readings, and the teaching of writing.

INDIVIDUAL STUDY COURSE (0.5 credits)

The individual study course, required in the third (summer) semester of the program, installs within the curriculum a critical opportunity to address the variable learning needs of individual students. For students whose need to read (more extensively and in a more focused way) is deemed paramount, it will be primarily a reading course, with practice in writing in relation to particular models. For the majority of students, however, it is likely to be an intensive writing course. The individual study course offers students the opportunity to work closely with a professional writer in developing a manuscript.

Great care will be taken to achieve a good match between student and mentor. The design of the individual study course will be arrived at through consultation between the program coordinator, the student, and the mentor. Students work closely with their mentors and have regular contact with them through whatever combination of face-to-face meeting, telephone consultation, mail, and email works best for the individuals concerned.

THESIS (credits are not assigned)

The thesis is the single most important component of the MFA program. The thesis might be a novel, a book-length manuscript of poems, a collection of short stories, a full-length play or screenplay, or a memoir—to offer only a few examples. The standard to be applied is that the thesis should be a substantially revised manuscript approaching publishable quality in the estimation of the examiners.

Each student will have a thesis advisor and a two-person advisory committee made up of the advisor and one additional faculty member. When it has been determined by the advisory committee that the thesis is ready for examination, the thesis will be evaluated by a three-person examining committee. An oral examination is the final phase of the thesis requirement. The examining committee, whose first and most crucial task is to assess the merits of the thesis itself, will conduct this examination.

www.uoguelph.ca/sets/sites/uoguelph.ca.sets/files/MFA Thesis Handbook.pdf

Special Features of the Program

The program has been designed to provide students with a wide range of opportunities to connect with the arts and culture community, and especially to connect with well-established writers from across Canada and abroad. In its curriculum and with respect to the writers who will participate as workshop instructors, mentors, and visitors, the MFA program will have both a national and an international reach while taking full advantage of its location in Toronto. Our partnership with Harbourfront’s International Festival of Authors and its year-long Reading Series is a distinctive feature of the program. Numerous other links—for example, with the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival, the Humber School for Writers, Humber College, and Toronto theatres—provide extraordinary extracurricular, volunteer, and work opportunities for our MFA students.

Financial Support for Students

Connie Rooke Scholarship (Creative Writing)

The MFA in Creative Writing Scholarship, valued at $5,000 per year, is awarded in equal semester payments to entering graduate students who are registered full-time in the Creative Writing Program. The recipients must have demonstrated significant achievement in creative writing through submission of their portfolio to the Creative Writing admissions committee. No application is necessary. (*All students accepted to the CW MFA program receive the Connie Rooke Scholarship: $5,000 in year one and $5,000 in year two.)

McClelland & Stewart Scholarship

This $2,500 scholarship is awarded to a student, generally a fiction writer, who is registered full-time in the MFA Creative Writing Program. The recipient will be selected on the basis of his or her incoming portfolio and promise. No application is necessary.

The Constance Rooke/HarperCollins MFA in Creative Writing Scholarship

The Constance Rooke/HarperCollins MFA in Creative Writing Scholarship, valued at $5,000, is usually awarded to an entering graduate student, generally a fiction writer, registered full-time in the Creative Writing Program. The recipient must exhibit excellence in creative writing as evidenced by the portfolio submitted to the Creative Writing admissions committee. No application is necessary.

The Edward Y. Morwick Graduate Scholarship in Creative Writing

The $3,500 Edward Y. Morwick Graduate Scholarship in Creative Writing is usually awarded to an entering graduate student who is registered full-time in the Creative Writing Program. This award is meant to encourage and reward a student who has shown developing skill and dedication to the craft of Creative Writing. The recipient must exhibit excellence in Creative Writing as evidenced by the portfolio submitted to the Creative Writing admissions committee. No application is necessary.

The Griffin Awards

Financial awards (generally of $2,000-$2,500) are awarded to incoming graduate students in the CW MFA program on the basis of the portfolio submitted to the Admissions Committee.  Generally awarded to poets.

Board of Graduate Studies: Awards

The University of Guelph provides awards on a competitive basis to graduate students who have achieved at least a first-class average in the previous year of full-time, or equivalent, study. The award, valued at $2000, is available in selected colleges in each year. Students do not apply for these awards; departments nominate students each semester and all eligible students may be considered for nomination by departments. Preference may be given to entering and first-year students. Prior to the start of every semester, one or two CW MFA students are awarded a Board of Graduate Studies Awards; as mentioned, this award is based on academic achievement.

Employment: Writing Tutor Positions at the Humber College Writing Centre

The Creative Writing Master of Fine Arts program has a unique professional relationship with Humber College’s Writing Centre: every semester the centre hires several CW MFA students to work as writing tutors. These positions are part-time, and to date, the majority of those employed as tutors go on to work as sessional instructors at Humber College.

GTAships

From time to time, teaching assistantships do become available (usually four positions a year). These are located at the Humber College north campus in the Communications department. Students will be notified when such positions become available.

Fees

Please consult the University’s website for the current schedule of fees for graduate students.

http://www.uoguelph.ca/registrar/studentfinance/index.cfm?fees/guelphhumber_ug

mstrimas@uoguelph.ca or 647.459.1331

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