2024-25 Student Writer-in-Residence

Current Student Writer-in-Residence >

The Student Writer-in-Residence (SWIR) is a collaborative program held in partnership through the University Students’ Council and the Department of English and Writing Studies. It is designed to recognize and provide support for a talented student writer. The position includes taking a leadership role at a variety of literary and cultural events on campus, providing mentorship for other student writers, and developing and presenting their own writing to the greater Western community.

Western hosts one of the longest-running Writer-in-Residence programs in Canada and has given Western students direct access to such celebrated Canadian writers as Austin Clarke, Emma Donoghue, Margaret Laurence, and Alice Munro.


How to apply

If you are a student in any discipline entering fourth year in 2024-2025, full- or part-time, and if you are an active creative writer with community-building skills that will enrich the culture of creativity at Western, you should apply! The SWIR will serve from September 2024 to April 2025 and the position comes with a total stipend of $1000.

Please send applications to Pauline Wakeham, Vice Chair of the Department of English and Writing Studies, at pwakeham@uwo.ca by Monday, March 18, 2024. Decision will be announced by early April 2024.

Application to include:

  1. a short cv listing any publications and relevant experience
  2. writing portfolio of approximately 10 pages
  3. a 300-word statement of intent which describes how you would contribute to Western's creative community