To Write is to Be Creative: An Interview with Alums about Creative Writing at UTSC
Here at The Underground, we value UTSC’s community of writers. Have you ever wondered where to find other writers on campus? One surefire option would be the creative writing classes. Here’s what three of the alums from the program had to say about it.
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Course selection for the first year is always a mess. It feels like there are too many options and too little time. During my first year, I swept through the list of courses available, glossing over course descriptions. A specific one caught my eye: ENGA03 (Introduction to Creative Writing). It promised to make us dabble in writing fiction, poetry, nonfiction and drama; a welcome change from academic writing. I would join the creative writing program afterwards, and my love for storytelling has kept growing ever since. It got me to wonder about where UTSC’s creative writing opportunities have brought other people. I interviewed three of our campus’ brilliant alums. They are from three different cohorts.
Leanne Toshiko Simpson is a mixed-race Yonsei writer, educator, and psychiatric survivor from Scarborough. She is a graduate of UTSC Creative Writing and the University of Guelph’s MFA, and is currently completing an EdD in Social Justice Education at the University of Toronto. She teaches classes in disability arts and BIPOC literature at Trinity College and runs workshops for “mad writers” in mental health centres across Toronto. Her debut novel NEVER BEEN BETTER will be published in 2024 by HarperCollins in Canada and Putnam Books in the US.
Natasha Ramoutar is a writer of Indo-Guyanese descent from Toronto. Her debut poetry collection Bittersweet was published in 2020 by Mawenzi House and she was a co-editor of FEEL WAYS, an anthology of Scarborough writing. Her second poetry collection, It Keeps Us Here, will be released by Wolsak & Wynn in 2024.
Ryanne Kap is a PhD student at the University of Calgary. Originally from Strathroy, Ontario, they are a creative writer who has published fiction, poetry, and nonfiction in places such as Grain, Canthius, long con, and carte blanche. Their debut chapbook “goodbye already” (2021) was published with Frog Hollow Press and their mini-chap "correspondence" (2022) is available with Model Press. You can find Ryanne online at www.ryannekap.com or on Twitter/Instagram @ryannekap.
1. Could you walk us through your experiences with creative writing as UTSC?
Leanne: I transferred to UTSC from St. George campus in 2011 after struggling with my mental health during first year—taking creative writing classes with Daniel and Andrew ended up being a lifeline for me. Although I was at UTSC before the minor existed, I made a point of taking every single creative writing class offered at the time. I also attended COW [malleable acronym that used to stand for “Creative Organization of Writers”] and volunteered as an editor for Scarborough Fair, and built so many important friendships in those spaces.
Natasha: When I was a student at UTSC in 2012, the creative writing minor had just been established. As a co-op student, I was required to take a specialist or double major and didn’t have the space to take the minor. This didn’t keep me from creative writing classes though, and I was fortunate to take many fiction and creative non-fiction courses with professors Daniel Tysdal, Andrew Westoll, and Alyx Dellamonica.
Ryanne: I started my degree at UTSC in 2016 and decided to take creative writing classes right away. I remember being so excited about being admitted to Professor Andrew Westoll's Fiction I class; it felt like a big deal to have my portfolio accepted. I enrolled in the creative writing minor and quickly got involved in the creative writing community. I always had a great time going to COW meetings and celebrating the launch of Scarborough Fair every spring. I became editor-in-chief of the mag in my last year and really enjoyed putting together an issue to highlight the amazing writers at UTSC.
2. What was your favourite aspect of studying creative writing at UTSC?
Leanne: Some of my favourite creative writing experiences actually happened off campus—through COW, many of us got to attend our first literary events alongside our professors, checking out some of the coolest reading series and bookstores in Toronto. It made the idea of a writing community so approachable to us, and it’s something I’ve tried to emulate for my own undergraduate classes at Trinity College.
Natasha: My favourite aspect of studying creative writing at UTSC was the community. I met so many talented and kind writers through my creative writing courses, many of which I still workshop with and remain friends with to this day.
Ryanne: I loved how supportive the faculty and students were. Daniel Tysdal and Andrew Westoll are two of the best mentors I've ever had, and I wouldn't be where I am today without their encouragement and insight. I was also very lucky to have a strong friend group who helped each other out with edits, shared publication opportunities, and provided a sense of collaboration and camaraderie. Victoria Mbabazi and Sarah Hilton are still my best friends today and it's been so exciting to see how they've flourished as writers.
3. Did you find that the creative writing program contributed to your career?
Leanne: Writing at UTSC offered me so many opportunities—I got to engage with so many different genres of writing through my classes, I facilitated my first workshops there, and I met a bunch of writers who have continued to positively influence my life a decade later. When I did eventually decide to apply to an MFA [Master of Fine Arts], I felt very prepared for the level of work that was expected thanks to the program, and in particular, the independent study I completed in my final year. I felt very lucky to leave UTSC with a wide-ranging portfolio that helped me get my foot into the publishing industry.
Natasha: The creative writing program at UTSC definitely created a foundation that I have taken with me in my career. It sharpened my writing skills and taught me how to provide editorial feedback.
The environment through UTSC’s creative writing program also allowed me to make invaluable connections. After meeting fellow writers Adrian De Leon and Téa Mutonji, we co-edited FEEL WAYS, an anthology of Scarborough writing by Scarborough writers. I also first met Sheniz Janmohamed through a guest workshop in my Fiction I class. She later became my mentor as I put together my debut poetry collection Bittersweet, which was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and named to CBC’s list of best 2020 Canadian poetry.
Ryanne: I definitely think the creative writing program contributed to my career. Those classes taught me how to incorporate feedback, sharpen my techniques, and understand creative writing as a community rather than a sea of competition. As a first-year PhD student, I'm now leading my own creative writing workshops as a teaching assistant. I wouldn't have the skills to guide my students without my time at UTSC.
4. Do you mind sharing what you are working on right now, writing-wise?
Leanne: I just revealed the Canadian and US covers for Never Been Better, my debut mental health novel that will be released March 5, 2024 with HarperCollins Canada and Putnam Books. It's an unconventional story about three friends who meet in a psychiatric ward and reunite a year later when two of them hold a whirlwind destination wedding that the third wheel is determined to disrupt. There's a lot of big feelings about love, recovery, and what we owe each other while dealing with our own issues. I’ve been working on this manuscript for about 5 years while balancing bipolar disorder, grad school, and teaching, and I’m really proud to have made it this far. And I owe a big thanks to UTSC for being a wonderful support along the way!
Natasha: My second poetry collection, It Keeps Us Here, will be out in Fall 2024 through Wolsak & Wynn.
Ryanne: In the spring I received a Canada Council grant to work on a short story collection about Chinese-Canadian adoptees. The idea for this collection came, in part, from a class I took with Andrew Westoll back in 2017—so much of my writing traces back to the lessons I learned in undergrad! I'm excited to be working on that project, as well as a couple exciting academic book chapters that will be published soon.
5. Do you have any advice for students in the creative writing program, or students who plan on joining the program?
Leanne: I know I’m not alone in coming from a family who didn’t really have an opportunity to consider the arts as a future—I definitely had some tough conversations with my parents when I switched from wanting to be a lawyer to wanting to be an author. One thing I tried to remind them was that developing your creative writing skills can translate really well into other fields—in fact, my first job out of UTSC was at a non-profit, which led me to communications, and eventually teaching. All of the jobs I took on leading up to my book deal helped make my novel a reality, both in terms of financial stability and inspiration. It wasn’t a lightning-fast process by any means, but it helped make things more sustainable over time (and took some pressure off me to get the perfect book out right away).
Natasha: Go to office hours! The professors in UTSC’s creative writing program are incredibly generous. Whether you have a question about craft, getting published, or getting involved in the literary community, your professors have an incredible wealth of knowledge they are excited to share. In my first year in creative writing at UTSC, I had so many questions about craft and the writing life that I would bring to Professor Andrew Westoll. By the end of it, he must’ve been sick of me, [laughs].
I’d also recommend getting involved within the English department. While I was a student at UTSC, I was involved in SELF and Scarborough Fair. I got a chance to work with some really wonderful, brilliant peers!
Ryanne: My biggest piece of advice is to create a good support network. Visit your professors in their office hours, befriend your fellow workshoppers - do whatever you can to connect with the people around you. They all have unique insights that will not only strengthen your work, but help you grow as a person. It's so important not to see other writers as threats, but to see them as your peers. The creative writing community in Canada is a small one—it's good to get along with the people you'll see at readings, celebrate with at book launches, and more. You can do amazing things with the people you meet in school; Block Party is doing such exciting work and they started out at UTSC!
