English 100-01 – Academic Writing Strategies (Roger Farr)
This section of English 100 is designed specifically for Creative Writing students and is a required course for those in the Creative Writing Program. It introduces the genres and strategies – or, as we will come to know them, “the moves” – used by creative writers working in academic situations and contexts, focusing on expository and argumentative forms such as book reviews, research essays, and artist statements, as well as related, literary forms like photo-essays, creative non-fiction, and manifestos. In all cases, the course will emphasize the importance of solid research skills in both critical and creative writing. As for our reading, this will include student work, and a selection of contemporary literary journals and magazines, including several on-line publications. We will also attend readings and talks by writers visiting the campus as part of the Open Text Reading Series. By the end of the course, students will more imaginative in their critical writing, and their creative work will be more critically informed.
Required Texts:
• Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing. New York, NY: Norton, 2006.
• Hacker, Diana. The Canadian Writer’s Reference Guide. 5th ed. NY: Bedford/St. Martins, 2004.
• Recent issues of The Capilano Review, West Coast Line, Matrix, and Geist.
• Other materials available in-class and/or on-line.
English 103-01 – Studies in Contemporary Literature (Roger Farr)
This section of English 103 is designed specifically for Creative Writing students and is a required course for those in the Creative Writing Program. The goal of the course is to put students into contact with some of the writers, texts, practices, and movements that compose “the contemporary.” What is “the contemporary,” you ask? We will only be reading work published within the last two years. Additionally, we will attend readings by writers visiting the campus as part of the Open Text Reading Series, who will present and talk about their current work. Finally, we will follow the lead of “the contemporary” by adopting an experimental, investigative attitude towards our writing assignments, which will require both critical and creative responses to the material we encounter.
Required Texts:
• Belford, Ken. lan(d)guage: a sequence of poetics. Halfmoon Bay, BC: Caitlan, 2008.
• Boykoff, Jules, and Kaia Sand. Landscapes of Dissent: Guerilla Poetry and Public Space. Long Beach, CA: Palm, 2008.
• Carr, Amanda. A Rose Concordance. Toronto, ON: Book Thug, 2009.
• Farr, Roger (Ed.) Open Text: Canadian Poetry in the 21st Century. North Vancouver, BC: CUE, 2008/09.
• Fiorentino, Jon Paul. Stripmalling. Toronto, ON: ECW, 2009.
• Stone, Anne. Delible. London, ON: Insomniac, 2007.
• other readings available in class and on-line.
Engl 190-01/02 – Creative Writing I (Reg Johanson)
This course introduces students to fiction and poetry through reading and writing. Students learn to become critical of their own work and that of others. Students write a variety of assignments intended to open up the horizon of their writing to innovation and experimentation. Students also attend the Open Text reading series. English 190 is a required course for the Associate of Arts Degree in Creative Writing. Students who take this course may also be interested in Academic Writing Strategies- Creative Writing Seminar, also a required course for the Degree program students.
ENGL 190-03 – Creative Writing I (Roger Farr)
This mixed-mode course meets in person on alternating Thursday evenings. The other weeks we meet in cyberspace. Other than that, it's business as usual: ENGL 190 is a forum where students can develop their writing, and their thinking about writing, through guided experimentation with language. You will work in a variety of modes and genres, including creative non-fiction, short stories, very very short stories, poems, serial poems, and writing for performance (radio/podcast scripts). As for reading, we will consider each other’s work, as well as work appearing in current literary journals and magazines, to see what other writers are up to. By the end of the course, you will have a generous portfolio of writing of which you will feel proud, and which may or may not impress your friends and family.
Required Texts:
• Farr, Roger (Ed.) Open Text: Canadian Poetry in the 21st Century. Vol. I & II. North Vancouver, BC: CUE, 2008.
• Stern, Jerome, ed. Microfictions. New York, NY: Norton, 1996.
• Recent issues of The Capilano Review, West Coast Line, Matrix, and Geist.
• Other materials available in-class and/or on-line.
English 191-01 – Creative Writing II (Crystal Hurdle)
When is a poem really a story? When should you leave a draft alone? Through in-class writing, weekly homework assignments, and personal projects, you will write up a storm in a number of genres. You’ll be introduced to professional writers, from Lorna Crozier to bp Nichol, from Thomas King to Gabriel Garcia Márquez, to visiting writers at the Open Text and Kinder Text Reading Series, as well as to the work of your colleagues, in aid of developing your style, articulating your voice.
Texts:
* Gary Geddes, ed. 20th-Century Poetry & Poetics
* Gary Geddes, ed. The Art of Short Fiction
* And assorted recommended texts to kick-start your imagination
Engl 291 – 01/02 Narrative and Fiction (Reg Johanson)
This course will focus on “biotext”, a hybrid prose form which combines fiction, autobiography, memoir, history, found texts and prose poetry. Students also attend the Open Text reading series. English 291 is a required course for the Associate of Arts Degree in Creative Writing. Students who take this course may also be interested in Academic Writing Strategies—Creative Writing Seminar, also a required course for Degree program students.
For more information contact:
Roger Farr, Creative Writing Convener
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