The Langara College English Department offers a rotating selection of courses in five different genres of creative writing:

These courses typically involve intensive writing workshops, and are taught by instructors who are published and/or are active members of the local literary community. See below for current and upcoming Creative Writing courses being offered.

Students are encouraged to work towards publication of their writing in Langara’s W49 Magazine or other publications, and they are also encouraged to read their work at the English Department’s Strangers on a Train reading series.

All our Creative Writing courses are fully transferable to UBC and SFU. For information about transfer credit and articulation of these courses, please visit the BC Transfer Guide.

For more information, feel free to contact the individual instructors or the English Department Chair.

Download PDF of all Spring 2024 second-year English and Creative Writing courses.

Creative Writing Courses for Spring 2024

English 2236: Creative Writing – Fiction

This course helps students fulfill their potential as interesting and thought-provoking writers. We focus on strategically-designed plots and original characters. To develop these, we explicate a few contemporary stories and then engage the tools they use to create our own, all the time exchanging ideas through discussion and workshops. Students write two short stories that follow a strict set of criteria (plot, character development, etc.), one of which may be revised in light of instructor and student feedback. Each student completes two critical responses to stories by other students. Finally, students participate fully and enthusiastically during two online workshops, and complete a variety of short, informal writing activities.

Instructor: Trevor Newland tnewland@langara.ca | ONLINE (ASYNCHRONOUS) 
View Course Outline | Register for ENGL 2236 (CRN: 20328)

English 2246: Creative Writing – Stageplay

A play is only incidentally a literary text; it is primarily a template for performance. Although the limitations of time, space, the physical bodies of the actors and the world built and lit by designers impose constraints on a writer, they are also a huge gift, a spur to creativity that can take your work well beyond what you alone can imagine. In this workshop class, we'll look at scenes from classic and contemporary plays, explore the ingredients for riveting theatre (character, conflict, setting, plot) and play with each other's words together as we discover this lively and rewarding genre.

Instructor: Kathleen Oliver koliver@langara.ca | Tuesday/Thursday 12:30 - 14:20 
View Course Outline | Register for ENGL 2246 (CRN: 20330)

Creative Writing Courses for Fall 2024

ENGL 2236: Creative Writing - Fiction | Daniel Poirier | dpoirier@langara.ca

ENGL 2256: Creative Writing - Screenplay | Jill Goldberg | jgoldberg@langara.ca

ENGL 2276: Creative Writing - Non-Fiction | Sarah Richards | srichards@langara.ca

Creative Writing Courses for Spring 2025

ENGL 2236: Creative Writing - Fiction | Sarah Richards | srichards@langara.ca

ENGL 2256: Creative Writing - Screenplay | Aaron Bushkowsky | abushkowsky@langara.ca

ENGL 2266: Creative Writing - Poetry | Thor Polukoshko | tpolukoshko@langara.ca

ENGL 2276: Writing Lives: The Residential School Memoir Project Part Two | Jill Goldberg | jgoldberg@langara.ca