I write this having just completed my first week on
campus as Sheridan College’s newest Writer-in-Residence for their Creative
Writing & Publishing BA Honours program. I wanted to submit a WIR report
for other writers who may be interested in applying for this position and are
not sure what it entails. I saw the job posted on Quill & Quire in May, I interviewed
in June, and found out I had gotten the position by July. The payment is quite
generous, offering $56,000 over 8 months (before taxes as a self-employed
writer).
Sheridan’s CW&P program emphasizes cross-genre writing; students take
workshops in both poetry and fiction as well as hybrid genres. They also take
courses on publishing, and go onto complete internships in their fourth year. Students
have an opportunity to work on Sheridan’s literary journal, The Ampersand
Review, and participate in the & Festival, the Ampersand reading series,
and the new Ampersand Writing series (which involves local authors brought into
campus to give writing workshops).
During the interview, I emphasized my dual MFAs in poetry and fiction as well as my past roles as fiction editor and Editor-in-Chief for The Brooklyn Review. I also have experience teaching and mentoring young writers, including teaching creative writing at the university level and a recent stint as the Saskatchewan Writer Guild’s virtual Writer-in-Residence for their Virtual Facilitated Retreat. I think all these qualities made me a strong candidate and I was thrilled to be offered the position. The job officially starts the last week of August but I was away at a writing residency and Sheridan was kind enough to let come into campus in September.
So far everyone at Sheridan has been incredibly friendly and helpful. Setting up bureaucratic matters such as payment and email has been seamless, which is important when working as a freelance contractor (especially compared to the 20+ forms I had to complete when teaching at Brooklyn College!). I’ve had a couple meetings with deans and faculty on campus, and gotten to know staff a little. It’s truly been a warm and supportive environment, and I’m excited to get to know the Sheridan faculty a little more over the course of the year. Support staff have also been incredible in anticipating anything I might need before the question even arises, such as sending me sample invoices so I can get paid on time!
The main campus for the CW&P program is Sheridan’s
Hazel McCallion campus in Mississauga, directly across from the Square One
Mall. I’ve never spent much time in malls, but thanks to my commute, I’ll be
travelling from Yorkdale Mall in Toronto to Square One in Mississauga 2-3 times
a week. I think prior WIR have lived in Toronto and Hamilton. The commute from
Toronto is about an hour and a half but I’m giving myself two hours just to be
safe. The GO bus is also pretty comfortable, and I’ve already done some writing
on my laptop. Maybe I can work on a series of GO bus poems…
The main focus of Sheridan’s Writer-in-Residence is meeting with students in
one-on-one office hours so it’s important to physically be on campus at least
twice a week. After doing a series of classroom visits, I already have some
students signed up for next week, which is exciting. I’ve also been asked to
work with a fourth year student on their internship, which involves meeting an additional
hour a week, and I’m looking forward to mentoring a student in a long term capacity.
The WIR office is a cozy space with shelves filled with back issues of the
Ampersand Review, CW&P merch, and books by prior WIR. Large windows look
out onto the CW&P front desk as well as the hallway—you can watch students
and faculty walking past, and everyone knows when the WIR is in session. I feel
like posting Lucy’s sign from Peanuts—“The Poet is IN.”
Other duties include: interviewing authors at the Ampersand reading series once
a month, collaborating with CW&P faculty to plan two talks/panels with
local authors over the next year, doing classroom visits and giving short
presentations (I have an hour long talk on imagery in fiction coming up), and
making online content to engage students. Past WIR have written blogs or
recorded zoom interviews with authors. I’ve decided to record a short biweekly
podcast for Sheridan students on topics pertaining to the writing life, as well
as reading a poem/short story excerpt and giving an associated writing prompt.
I’ve never thought of starting a podcast, and I’m excited to try something new
that I might not have done otherwise.
Other small duties have come up, such as judging the Ampersand’s essay contest,
but the payment is so generous and everyone is so supportive that I feel happy
to contribute to Sheridan’s community in the most helpful way I can. There’s
also plenty of time to work on my own projects, which I’m planning on doing the
days I’m not on campus. I’ve only had short interactions with students so far
but I am already impressed by their enthusiasm, and I’m looking forward to
reading their work throughout the year. I’m planning on writing another blog at
the end of April letting you all know how it went, but for now I’m very excited
to get started!
Cassidy McFadzean is the author of three books of poetry: Crying Dress (House of Anansi, 2024), Drolleries (McClelland & Stewart 2019), shortlisted for the Raymond Souster Award, and Hacker Packer (M&S 2015), winner of two Saskatchewan Book Awards and finalist for the Gerald Lampert Award. Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Joyland, The Walrus, Hazlitt, and Dead Writers (Invisible Publishing, 2025). Cassidy was born in Regina, earned an MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, an MFA in fiction from Brooklyn College, and currently lives in Toronto.