Writer in Residence

The Department of English annually sponsors a writer-in-residence, both to offer support to Canadian writers and to give students direct access to the writer's advice and experience. The writer-in-residence holds regular office hours for students who wish to discuss their own work, visits classes upon invitation, gives public readings, and on occasion teaches a course.

The program is funded jointly by the Faculty of Arts and the Canada Council. For further information about the writer-in-residence program, please contact the Department Chair.

Souvankham Thammavongsa - 2017-2018

Thammavongsa was born in the (Lao) Nong Khai refugee camp in Thailand in 1978. She and her parents were sponsored by a family in Canada when she was one year old. She was raised and educated in Toronto, Ontario.

Her first book, Small Arguments, won a ReLit Award in 2004. Her second book, Found, was made into a short film by Paramita Nath. Her third book, Light, won the Trillium Book Award for Poetry in 2014. Her short story How to Pronounce Knife was shortlisted for the 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize out of 4000 entries.