April 30, 2019

Waterloo – Wilfrid Laurier University’s Faculty of Arts is seeking applications from Canadian writers for the Edna Staebler Laurier Writer-in-Residence position for the winter 2020 academic term. The writer-in-residence will receive $25,000 for a 12-week residency from Jan. 20 to April 10, 2020. Eleven weeks will be spent on Laurier’s Waterloo campus, and one week on Laurier’s Brantford campus.

All Canadian writers of established literary reputation are encouraged to apply for this position. Wilfrid Laurier University is committed to equity and values diversity. We welcome applications from all qualified persons, women and men, including people who identify as Indigenous, racialized, having disabilities and persons of any sexual identities and gender identities. Laurier encourages all those who may contribute to the further diversification of our campus to apply. Members of the designated groups who wish to do so should self-identify to the applications committee.

The full-time position (40 hours/week) requires 40 per cent of the author’s time to be spent on planning and facilitating community programming for writers of all skill levels, leaving 60 per cent of the work week available for the writer’s own creative projects. Community programming can include: reading manuscripts and consulting with students and the public, visiting classrooms, giving readings and craft talks, and/or leading workshops. Laurier will provide accommodation close to campus for the chosen writer.

Applicants should be in the midst of a new writing project intended for book-length publication and be active participants in the writing community. Applications must be received by 5 p.m., June 10, 2019.

To see a full list of requirements or to apply for the Edna Staebler Laurier Writer-in-Residence position, visit the Edna Staebler Laurier Writer-in-Residence web page. Further questions may be addressed to the chair of the selection committee, Tanis MacDonald, at tmacdonald@wlu.ca.

Edna Staebler (1906–2006) was a member of the Order of Canada, an award-winning journalist and the author of 21 books, including the bestselling Schmecks series. She was a regular contributor to Maclean’s, Saturday Night, The Toronto Star, Chatelaine and many other newspapers and magazines. Staebler achieved her writing success later in life, much of which she attributed to the mentoring of a passionate teacher. She was determined to provide that same encouragement to developing writers, and as a result, the Edna Staebler Laurier Writer-in-Residence position was inaugurated in 2013. Previous Staebler writers-in-residence have included Gary Barwin (Winter 2019), Alison Pick (Fall 2018), Emily Urquhart (Winter 2018), Ashley Little (Winter 2017), Pasha Malla (Fall 2017), Drew Hayden Taylor (Winter 2016) and Sonnet L’Abbé (Winter 2015).

Wilfrid Laurier University’s Faculty of Arts is the proud administrator of Staebler’s legacy in the forms of the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction (established 1991) as well as the Edna Staebler Laurier Writer-in-Residence program.