Great Moments: UVic writers

Writing their own success stories

When it comes to former students making a splash in their field, it’s hard to beat the Department of Writing. From the recent international success of Esi Edugyan—whose second novel, Half-Blood Blues, was nominated for four of the world’s most prestigious fiction writing awards (the Man Booker Prize, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Writer’s Trust Prize and the Giller Prize, which she won)—to best-selling fantasy author Steven Erikson and famed novelist W.P. Kinsella, who hit it out of the ballpark with his 1982 novel Shoeless Joe (which became the Oscar-nominated film Field of Dreams), UVic’s writing program has helped craft numerous success stories, large and small.

What makes the difference? Some say it’s the faculty—including past professors like Jack Hodgins, Patrick Lane, Robin Skelton, Derk Wyngard, or current literary luminaries like Governor General’s Award-winning poets Tim Lilburn and Lorna Crozier, Siminovitch Prize-winning playwright Joan MacLeod or acclaimed author Bill Gaston. Others point to the department’s widely regarded workshop process, which offers a more individualized approach for students—and continues to produce the next generation of rising talent, such as £15,000 BBC National Short Story Award winner D. W. Wilson, Journey Prize winner Yasuko Thanh, and Man Booker Scholarship winner Eliza Robertson.

Another factor in the department's success formula is their practice of hiring back achieving alumni as sessional instructors—people like BC Book Prize-nominated poet and novelist Steven Price, author Matthew Hooton, poets Melanie Siebert and Carla Funk, and acclaimed journalist Stephen Hume.

“I studied with so many great teachers,” Edugyan told the local Times Colonist newspaper after her Giller win. “The caliber of guidance [at UVic] was so amazing.”

Ten acclaimed graduates are now returning to campus for an All-Star Alumni Reading Night on Oct. 30 as part of UVic’s 50th anniversary celebrations. Read about the Alumni Reading Night.