Nancy Wu
The School of Creative Writing is pleased to congratulate Nancy Wu, MFA. Nancy’s thesis is a novel entitled That Time I Dreamt for You.
Nancy Wu (she/her) is still deciding what she is and what she wants to be, but she is certain she is a writer. She holds a BA from Indiana University Bloomington, a Master’s in Journalism and a MFA from UBC, as well as a JD from the University of Toronto. During her time at the School of Creative Writing, Nancy has earned a SSHRC award, published poems in Poets Choice and had her play First Love performed at the Brave New Play Rites Festival. She moved to Vancouver during her childhood, and she considers the city her home. Her work explores themes of diaspora identity, relationships and value through an immigrant millennial perspective.
That Time I Dreamt for You is a novel where Janet Ye, a 28-year-old law student, wakes up in an alternate world as her boyfriend O after bombing her final exam. There, she discovers there is another her, living a different life than the one she knew. As she lives the life that O wished he had, where he quits his job to open a bubble tea shop and partake in underground gambling, the intricate chain of events leads O/Janet closer to the other Janet. Through the trials of love and betrayal, Janet must get to the bottom of the difficult truths in this world, and within herself and O to achieve the life they desire and learn to dream once again.
Contact
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Jesset Karlan
The School of Creative Writing is pleased to congratulate Jesset Karlen, MFA. Jesset’s thesis is a middle-grade fantasy novel entitled The Place Between Words.
Jesset is a Saulteaux Métis writer with a fondness for children’s literature and speculative fiction. While persuing his MFA he worked as the coordinator for the UBC New Shoots anthology and served as a reader for both PRISM international and Pulp Literature. He is a 2025 winner of the Indigenous Voice Awards, the 2022 Diaspora Dialogues long form mentorship competition, and finalist for the 2022 We Need Diverse Books mentorship competition. When described by his friends he is referred to as a niche nerd. A fair judgement as he has an approximate knowledge of many nerdy things.
The Place Between Words is a middle-grade fantasy novel that follows Quill Owens after his untimely death—a predicament that proves only to be the start of his many troubles. Finding himself transported to a world called the Betwixt, Quill is tasked with finding the long-ago stolen power of Death, with the promise that should he succeed, he may return to the world of the living. During his adventure Quill must reckon with his own perceptions of the cyclical role death plays in nature, ultimately culminating in his need to answer one question: Could life ever exist without death?
Contact
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Morgan Charles
The School of Creative Writing is pleased to congratulate Morgan Charles, MFA. Morgan’s thesis is a memoir entitled Grey Matter.
Morgan came to UBC with a background in graphic design and communication studies. Her creative writing thesis draws on her experience and research writing her PhD dissertation, “Shaping Time in the City: A Cultural History of Concrete Modernity in Montreal.” Her writing has appeared in The Ex-Puritan, The Malahat Review, EVENT, and Reader’s Digest. Her essay “Plagued” won The Fiddlehead’s Creative Nonfiction contest and was nominated for a National Magazine Award (2021).
Grey Matter recounts the narrator’s experience of an out-of-the-blue MS diagnosis at age 32, a year after her wedding and while completing a PhD dissertation on Montreal’s crumbling concrete. As she searches for ways to reclaim a sense of agency over a body she no longer trusts, the foundations of her life—her relationship, her family’s wellbeing, even her work—begin to show the cracks she’d long ignored. When her husband leaves and her father is diagnosed with terminal cancer, she must confront what happens when the scripts and storylines once thought solid begin to fracture and fall apart.
Contact
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Wole Olayinka
The School of Creative Writing is pleased to congratulate Wole Olayinka, MFA. Wole’s thesis is a novel entitled Fellowship of the Tree.
Wole Olayinka writes about identity, technology, and belonging. His work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, CBC, The Republic, African Arguments, Brittle Paper, and The Guardian (Nigeria), among others. Trained in law in Nigeria, he has a background in business writing and the software industry. Alongside his thesis, he is developing a speculative novel, supported in its first draft by a Calgary Arts Development grant, set in a divided world of tailed and tailless people where society fractures after the disappearance of what once connected them.
Fellowship of the Tree follows Chiasoka, a mother raising her son, Sanmi, alone after her husband disappears in a Nigerian town. Years later, Sanmi begins hearing the voices of trees and is arrested for a murder he cannot explain. Though the story reaches its end in court, the mystery remains unresolved. Sanmi may be mentally ill, spiritually burdened, or something else entirely. The novel asks what it means to survive when neither the state, faith, nor community can explain or protect you.
Contact
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Raine Lee
The School of Creative Writing is pleased to congratulate Raine Lee, MFA. Raine’s thesis is a musical entitled West Side Women.
Raine is a Chinese-Canadian writer born in Richmond, B.C. She received her BA in English Literature with distinction and a minor in Asian Studies, as well as an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC. Her most recent accolades include the Gratias Vobis Ago Award in Creative Writing, the Cecilia Lamont Literary Award in Poetry, the Merit Award from Drama One Theatre Company, and the Paetzold Fellowship for playwriting. She currently serves as the Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Chinese Canadian Writers’ Association and as the Communications Manager for the White Rock and Surrey Writers’ Club.
West Side Women is a full-length tragicomic musical about troubled affluent women who seek to attain enlightenment only to be led on and led astray by a renowned spiritual guru begrudgingly living as a reincarnated monk. As Eastern religious traditions and New Age spirituality gain prevalence in the West, this story explores the lesser-known and transgressive dynamics between those in exalted positions and their unknowing disciples, both disturbed in body, mind, and spirit.
Contact
Request more information about Raine’s thesis project using our Grad Showcase Contact Form.
