Bring Your Imagination to Life with Creative Writing at Selkirk College
By Bob Hall
Aspiring writers have an opportunity to learn how to create stories, poems, and personal essays others will want to read with a creative writing course being offered by Selkirk College.
West Kootenay novelist, poet and performance artist Almeda Glenn Miller has been teaching writing for more than 15 years. Teaming up with Selkirk’s Studies in Writing Program, Miller will be teaching Creative Writing 100 at the Trail Campus starting on February 20 and running for 14 weeks.
“If you have a story you want to write, a poem floating in your mind or a political treatise you’ve been bugging your pals about for years, this class will help you find the courage to get it done,” says Miller.
Miller’s methods are described as unconventional, but her results are always interesting. Former students rave about what the veteran writer has done for their skills and passion to pursue the craft.
“The writing course at Selkirk College rescued me,” says graduate Roz Nay. “I joined it when I was awash with new motherhood and from it I rediscovered my love of writing, going on to complete a first novel as a direct result of the teaching.”
Through Selkirk’s transfer agreements with other post-secondary schools, Creative Writing 100 also provides a head-start for those looking to further pursue a degree at other institutions in this fully credited course.
“My time in the writing program at Selkirk with Almeda Glenn Miller prepared me with the skills to gain admittance and to succeed in the creative writing program at the University of Victoria,” says former student Celina Silva. “What I remember most is the small class sizes and the supportive and passionate workshops where I was encouraged to find my voice. The Selkirk Writing Program has allowed me to excel in peer editing, scholarship applications and in expressing myself authentically. It has given me the confidence to pursue a life writing and living creatively.”
In-class and take-home writing exercises will ignite your imagination. Students will read each other’s work, and learn how to give each other healthy and helpful feedback. Students will come out of the course with some of their own poetry, personal essays and fictional stories.
Former student Julia Caceres Booth spent two years at Selkirk College under Miller’s guidance. After leaving the West Kootenay in 2011 to attend the University of British Columbia in Kelowna, she received a Bachelor’s Degree with a major in History and a minor in Creative Writing.
“In many cases I felt far more prepared than many of my classmates at UBCO in regards to workshop etiquette, as well as the quality of writing that I expected from my peers and myself,” says Caceres Booth. “My time at Selkirk piqued an interest that I did not know I had and uncovered a potential in myself that has led me to into a writing-in-residence position in School District #8 and other editorial opportunities.”
The Creative Writing 100 course begins on February 20 and runs for 14 weeks. The class takes place at the Trail Campus from 6 to 9 p.m. on Thursdays. To register contact Rachel Walker at 250.365.1233 or email at rwalker@selkirk.ca.
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