Diversify your degree by getting involved in the many exciting opportunities UBC Creative Writing has to offer.
Employment Opportunities
Teaching Assistantships
UBC Creative Writing offers a number of Teaching Assistantship positions for Graduate Students each year. TAs assist instructors in our 200 and 300 level undergraduate courses.
At a minimum, the applicant will have an undergraduate degree or its equivalent with academic and/or professional experience as a writer. The applicant must have solid craft knowledge of the genre covered in the course for which they are applying. The applicant must be available for the entire duration of the course.
Marking student assignments and quizzes, answering student queries during office hours and via email, helping with in-class logistics, including, but not limited to: distributing handouts, running media, monitoring quizzes, answering student questions, and monitoring course content on Canvas. Some courses offer opportunities for TAs to teach. The 300 level courses involve leading workshops and discussions.
Most TA positions are half-time for a single term, 96 hours total, but TA positions may vary by course. For current pay rates, see the CUPE 2278 section of the UBC HR website for staff salaries.
Work Learn Program
The UBC Work Learn Program supports and subsidizes meaningful work experiences on campus that offer the opportunity for all current UBC students to develop professional skills and learn in a work environment.
Each year there are a number of Work Learn opportunities connected to Creative Writing including New Shoots, Brave New Play Rites, PRISM international and more.
Community Building
Bryan Wade Brave New Play Rites
The Bryan Wade Brave New Play Rites Festival features the new works of playwrights in the School of Creative Writing.
The festival provides students with the opportunity to have their short plays produced, as well as giving directors from the theatre program and student production staff a chance to practise their craft.
New Shoots
This innovative program provides an opportunity for MFA students to gain hands-on teaching experience by instructing junior and senior high school students during the winter term.
MFA students apply to be mentors, are matched with local schools, and work closely with both Creative Writing faculty and VSB teachers. Each mentor is paid an honorarium to create a tailored lesson plan and teach eight sessions of creative writing workshops to a class or after-school club.
Every June, an annual New Shoots anthology of selected student work is launched with readings by students, mentors, and local authors.
New Shoots is funded by ArtStarts, Vancouver School Board (VSB), and the School of Creative Writing at UBC.
Locution Reading Series
Locution is an offshoot of UBC’s Creative Writing MFA program that invites current MFA writers, as well as graduates who have gone on to acclaim within their genres, to share their work in an informal setting.
A diverse group of genres (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, playwriting, screenwriting, songwriting) will be represented. Events are usually held monthly at the Cottage Bistro on Main Street in Vancouver during the academic term (September-April).
PRISM international
Established in 1959, PRISM is a quarterly magazine that publishes the best in modern and contemporary literature from Canada and around the world and is produced and edited by our graduate students.