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On Tuesday November 26, Sheridan President Janet Morrison announced the suspension of Sheridan’s Creative Writing and Publishing program (CW&P), alongside 39 other programs. Cutting CW&P will have a devastating impact on Sheridan students, the Canadian literary arts community, and the Canadian publishing sector. 

In a Mississauga News article about the cuts, third year student Ariane Subala spoke of the profound impact the program has had on students, emphasizing CW&P provides more than academic growth: “This program has given us the opportunity to connect with industry professionals and engage with the literary community in meaningful ways.” CW&P provides a community where many students feel they finally belong, and student initiatives such as B222 Journal, a literary journal which celebrates student fiction, non-fiction, poetry, animation, photography, and artwork, will be lost. Prospective students who applied with the hopes of studying in a program that fuses creative and professional writing skills will lose the opportunity to do so.

The program's suspension puts learning opportunities, creative industry connections, and community building in jeopardy. In an Op-Ed published in the Toronto Star, Sheridan writer-in-residence Cassidy McFadzean, said, “ending this creative writing program will have devastating consequences for Canadian literature.” Writers across Canada will be impacted by the loss of the award-winning journal The Ampersand Review of Writing & Publishing, which publishes poetry, fiction, and essays by acclaimed authors. Members of the Mississauga and Toronto literary communities will be impacted by the loss of the The Ampersand Reading Series and The & Festival, literary events that give authors valuable opportunities to promote new work, and give students the opportunity to engage with and learn from local authors. By suspending CW&P, Sheridan is severing their connection with creative industries and literary arts communities. 

Without the CW&P program–the only undergrad degree in Canada that offers sustained study in both writing and publishing–it will be difficult for emerging writers to find a literary community, and for early career publishing professionals to find job experience and make connections that are essential for breaking into this industry. CW&P courses allow students to explore a multitude of writing genres, collaborate with peers and provide tactful editorial feedback, and students have gone on to gain admission in competitive graduate programs in Creative Writing and Publishing. The program offers students invaluable job experience through internships at Big Five, mid-level, small, and indie publishers, as well as cultural organizations, literary awards and foundations, non-profit organizations, and private companies. CW&P alumni work widely across the arts sector, which speaks to the success of this program and the high quality of courses and instruction.

To remove CW&P from Sheridan College’s offered programs is to remove a stepping stone to the creative industries in Mississauga, the GTA, and beyond. We ask President Morrison, the VP and board of Governors to reverse the suspension of the program so that applications will open up for future students and the current community can continue to prosper.