Jan 21, 2025
Vancouver, B.C. – Langara College is excited to announce award-winning author Jasmine Sealy as Langara's 2025 Writer in Residence.
Sealy is the winner of the 2020 UBC/HarperCollins Canada Best New Fiction Prize for her debut novel, The Island of Forgetting (2022). The novel was also named a best book of 2022 by the CBC, The Globe and Mail, and The Sunday Times in the UK. A Barbadian-Canadian author who graduated from the Masters of Fine Arts program at the UBC School of Creative Writing, Sealy’s short fiction has been shortlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, and is included in Best Canadian Stories and the Journey Prize anthology.
“It is an immense privilege to join the Langara community as Writer in Residence,” says Sealy. “The position has previously been held by two writers I hold in the highest esteem, Evelyn Lau and Rawi Hage, and it’s incredibly gratifying to follow in their footsteps. Truly a highlight of my writing career thus far. I’m honoured.”
Sealy will be giving a reading at Langara’s Strangers on a Train reading series on Tuesday, January 28, and a public talk on Wednesday, February, 26, in conversation with Kevin Chong.
"Sealy is a great fit for the Langara community, with the right combination of publication credentials, teaching expertise and mentorship experience," says Kathleen Oliver, Chair of the Department of English. "Her residence supports the College’s priorities of providing students with innovative, high-quality programming, along with engaging the community. This initiative also provides learning and professional development opportunities for staff."
The Writer in Residence (WiR) program goes beyond the classroom to provide students with real-world guidance from experienced writers. Students can submit fiction or creative nonfiction samples to the WiR and receive free one-on-one feedback during an hour long, in-person meeting.
“There is no such thing as wasted words,” says Sealy. “You are the only person on the planet who can tell the story you want to tell, in your voice,” she shared. “Anything you create has value, because now something exists in the world that didn’t before, thanks to you. And that’s a beautiful thing. So write, write, write. Your stories deserve to be heard.”
In addition to mentoring students, the Writer in Residence has the opportunity to work on their own creative projects, as well as participate in classroom visits and events.Sealy has long been an advocate for emerging writers. During her time as a tutorial assistant at UBC and as prose editor at PRISM international magazine, she prioritized the inclusion of work by marginalized, previously unpublished writers. She has also taught creative writing at Capilano University and was the inaugural Writer in Residence at the UBC School of Creative Writing in 2023.
“I’ve been lucky to have several writing mentors throughout the years, all of whom inspired me in different ways,” she explains. “I think what they all had in common was that they instilled confidence in me, even when I doubted myself. For an emerging writer, that kind of affirmation is a powerful motivator. I hope I can offer the same to the aspiring writers of Langara.”
Sealy’s tenure as Writer in Residence will begin mid-January and run for three months. Her book will be available for purchase on February 26.
About snəw̓eyəɬ leləm̓ Langara College.
Located in beautiful Vancouver, B.C., Canada, snəw̓eyəɬ leləm̓ Langara College provides university, career, and continuing studies education to more than 23,000 students annually. With more than 1,700 courses and 130 programs, Langara's expansive academic breadth and depth allows students of all ages, backgrounds, and life stages to choose their own educational path. Langara is also known as snəw̓eyəɬ leləm 'house of teachings', a name given to it by Musqueam, on whose unceded traditional territory the College is located.
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