Department of English Creative Writing
The English Department offers a rotating selection of courses in five different genres of creative writing:
- Prose fiction (ENGL 2236)
- Stageplay (ENGL 2246)
- Screenwriting (ENGL 2256)
- Poetry (ENGL 2266)
- Non-fiction (ENGL 2276)
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.
Featured Courses: Spring 2026
English 2236: Creative Writing – Prose Fiction
Online Asynchronous (CRN: 20382)
Instructor: Trevor Newland | tnewland [at] langara.ca (tnewland[at]langara[dot]ca)
Fulfill your potential as a thought-provoking writer. 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. You’ll write two short stories that follow a strict set of criteria (plot, character development, etc.) with the help of instructor and student feedback, and you’ll provide two critical responses to stories by other students. Finally, you’ll participate in two online workshops, and complete a variety of short, informal writing activities.
English 2246: Creative Writing – Stageplay
Tuesdays & Thursdays 12:30-14:20 (CRN: 20386)
Instructor: Kathleen Oliver | koliver [at] langara.ca (koliver[at]langara[dot]ca)
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. No theatre experience necessary!
Upcoming Courses
Fall 2026
| ENGL 2236 | Creative Writing: Prose Fiction | dpoirier [at] langara.ca (Daniel Poirier) | 3.0 |
| ENGL 2266 | Creative Writing: Poetry | tpolukoshko [at] langara.ca (Thor Polukoshko) | 3.0 |
| ENGL 2276 | Creative Writing: Non-Fiction | srichards [at] langara.ca (Sarah Richards) | 3.0 |
Spring 2027
| ENGL 2236 | Creative Writing: Prose Fiction | srichards [at] langara.ca (Sarah Richards) | 3.0 |
| ENGL 2256 | Creative Writing: Screenwriting | jgoldberg [at] langara.ca (Jill Goldberg) | 3.0 |
