The CW&P Students at Word on the Street and Pitch Day

CW&P students and faculty found lots of ways to connect this summer—most notably at Toronto’s Word on the Street Festival.

Professor Paul Vermeersch was there to promote The Ampersand Review, as well as his imprint, Buckrider Books, with Wolsak and Wynn. Associate Dean Genevieve Amaral was there along with Paul, promoting the CW&P degree. Now preparing its third issue under the leadership of Managing Editor Tali Voron, The Ampersand Review is a professional literary magazine that publishes innovative work by established and emerging Canadian writers.

They were joined by many current students and recent graduates from the CW&P degree, who came to say hello and participate in one of Toronto’s biggest literary events.

Pitch Day

Other events also brought CW&P students together this summer. In early July, the program got the first opportunity to run the central event of its summer course schedule in person—pitch day! For the first time since early 2020, the entire fourth year cohort was able to attend and sit in the same room and pose for a group photo.

Pitch day is an event that brings together the program’s two “Master Classes” – one in creative writing and one in publishing. The publishing students spend their semester working in small groups to create publishing houses, developing a mandate, and dividing roles between the group members. The writers spend the semester working on a manuscript and then have to rehearse and deliver a pitch to one of the publishing groups. A few students delivered their pitches virtually, but the event provided for many an opportunity to meet in person with fellow-students they may not have seen since the first year of their degree.

Congratulations on a successful pitch day, and a successful summer term for the CW&P degree!