Each year the University of Toronto appoints a Canadian writer to work with students, faculty and staff interested in creative writing. The appointment process is internal; no external applications are considered or acknowledged. From January to April, the Writer-in-Residence offers a seminar on creative writing and holds office hours for consultations on writing. The Jack McClelland Writer-in-Residence Program is housed at Massey College and is jointly sponsored by Massey and the Department of English.
Shyam Selvadurai is a Sri Lankan Canadian novelist. Funny Boy (1994), his first novel, won the W.H. Smith/ Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction in the US; Selvadurai co-authored the screenplay for this novel’s film adaptation (dir. Deepa Mehta), for which he won the Canadian Screen Award and the New York Cinema Independent Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. His second novel, Cinnamon Gardens (1998), was shortlisted for Canada’s Trillium Award, the Aloa Literary Award in Denmark, and the Premio Internazionale Riccardo Bacchelli award in Italy. The Hungry Ghosts (2013) was longlisted for the DSC South Asia Literature Prize and shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award. Selvadurai is also the editor of two anthologies, Story-wallah! A Celebration of South Asian Fiction and Many Roads through Paradise: An Anthology of Sri Lankan Literature. He is also the author for Swimming in the Monsoon Sea, a novel for young adults, which was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award and won the Lambda Literary Award in the US, the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year Award, and was the Silver Winner in the Young Adult Category of ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Award. His most recent novel, Mansions of the Moon (2022), which was shortlisted for many awards and was a Globe and Mail Best Book of 2022 and a 2024 Guardian Summer Book, is a historical novel that revisits the story of Yasodhara, the wife of Siddhartha Gautama (better known as Buddha). His books have been published in the US, the UK, and India, and appeared in translation in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey, and Israel. In 2016, Selvadurai had the interesting honour of having a spider named after him: Brignolia shyami, a small goblin spider.
Shyam Selvadurai will offer a non-credit fiction and creative non-fiction workshop in the 2024 "S" term at 4-6 pm on Mondays.
Office Hours
Shyam Selvadurai will hold office hours by appointment on Mondays at 1:30 to 3:30 at the Jackman Humanities Building; please email him at shyam.selvadurai@utoronto.ca to make an appointment.
Jack McClelland Writers-in-Residence
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 2022-23 | David Chariandy |
| 2021-22 | Souvankham Thammavongsa |
| 2020-21 | Karen Solie |
| 2019-20 | Susan Swan |
| 2018-19 | André Alexis |
| 2017-18 | Garry Thomas Morse |
| 2016-17 | Sachiko Murakami |
| 2015-16 | Rawi Hage |
| 2014-15 | Shani Mootoo |
| 2013-14 | David Bezmozgis |
| 2012-13 | Joy Kogawa |
| 2011-12 | Michael Winter |
| 2010-11 | Barbara Gowdy |
| 2009-10 | Michael Redhill |
| 2008-09 | Christopher Dewdney |
| 2007-08 | David Gilmour |
| 2006-07 | Don McKay |
| 2005-06 | Camilla Gibb |
| 2004-05 | George Fetherling |
| 2003-04 | Steven Heighton |
| 2002-03 | Albert F. Moritz |
| 2001-02 | Kildare Dobbs |
| 2000-01 | Austin Clarke |
| 1999-00 | Erin Mouré |
| 1998-99 | Sarah Ellis |
| 1997-98 | Roo Borson |
| 1996-97 | Jane Urquhart |
| 1995-96 | Tom Wayman |
| 1994-95 | Susan Musgrave |
| 1993-94 | Tomson Highway |
| Spring 1993 | Audrey Thomas |
| 1991-92 | Judith Merril |
| 1990-91 | Patrick Lane |
| 1989-90 | Lorna Crozier |
| 1988-89 | Erika Ritter |
| 1987-88 | Al Purdy |
| 1986-87 | Gwendolyn MacEwen |
| 1985-86 | Mary di Michele |
| 1984-85 | Leon Rooke |
| 1983-84 | Mavis Gallant |
| Spring 1983 | Dorothy Livesay |
| Fall 1982 | Brian Moore |
| 1981-82 | Irving Layton |
| 1980-81 | Marian Engel |
| 1979-80 | Timothy Findley |
| 1978-79 | Dennis Lee |
| 1977-78 | Carol Bolt |
| 1976-77 | John Newlove |
| 1975-76 | Adele Wiseman |
| 1974-75 | Fletcher Markle |
| 1973-74 | W.O. Mitchell |
| 1972-73 | Margaret Atwood |
| Spring 1971 | Josef Škvorecký |
| Fall 1970 | R.D.C. Finch |
| 1969-70 | Margaret Laurence |
| 1968-69 | Jack Ludwig |
| 1965-68 | Earle Birney |
Application Instructions
Shyam Selvadurai will offer a non-credit fiction and creative non-fiction workshop in the 2024 "S" term at 4-6 pm on Mondays.
Workshop Description: Writing the Diaspora
A creative writing workshop for those interested in exploring, through the medium of fiction or creative-nonfiction, the experience of being diasporic, or the diasporic experiences of their parents, grandparents, or even more distant ancestors. In their own work, and in readings of creative work and essays online, participants will be invited to examine issues of trauma; intergenerational conflict; the alienation brought on by racism, and the difficulty of finding one’s place in the new home; sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and class issues within diasporic communities; and the difficulty of return to the "homeland."
NB: No formal or previous creative writing training or experience is required. The mini class lectures will describe all the craft participants will need to participate.
The workshop, which will accommodate no more than 15 participants, is by application and open to everyone who is currently a member of the University of Toronto St. George community—faculty, students, and staff.
If you're interested in taking this workshop, please submit directly to Smaro Kamboureli a single document that includes 1) no more than 10 pages (double-spaced, 12pt font) of fiction or non-fiction, either from the project you wish to work on in the class or any sample of your writing, and 2) a cover letter (1 page single-spaced 12pt font) that describes what you want to work on or explore in the class, how this relates to yourself and your interests, and includes a few words about yourself, especially regarding your connection to the University of Toronto.
Submissions should be in in MS Word or PDF format via your @utoronto.ca email address. (Submissions via a different email address will not be accepted.)
NB: The attachments should be saved under the applicant's and the program's names (e.g., Sparrow_JackMcClelland_Sample_2024) and the submission email should include the following subject heading: "JackMcClelland Writer in Residence 2024 Workshop.”
The deadline for submissions is midnight, Monday, October 30.
The screening will be done by the writer-in-residence, and results will be announced by the end of the fall term.