Creative Writing - School of Creative & Performing Arts
"I am quite proud of the fact that many of my former students have had work accepted for publication they originally created or revised in one of my classes."
Richard Scarsbrook is a Canadian author, teacher, songwriter,
singer and musician. His fiction and poetry have been published
widely in literary magazines, anthologies and journals, his books
Cheeseburger Subversive, Featherless Bipeds, and Destiny’s Telescope
have been nominated for multiple prizes, and he has two new novels
forthcoming: The Monkeyface Chronicles (March 2010) and The Indifference League (pre-publication).
Born and raised in Olinda (near Leamington, Ontario) Richard earned an Honours BA in History from the University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor of Education degree from Ottawa. For fifteen years, he taught middle and high school, but for the last five he has taught creative writing courses at various colleges, recently including Humber.
"Teaching a subject that I love, to students who have the drive and desire to learn about it, is incredibly rewarding. My students produce interesting work and ask thoughtful questions, which causes me to think more about different aspects of the craft of writing, which in turn makes me a better writer. It is great to be able to learn and teach at the same time!"
Richard enjoys interacting with his students. In one of his first creative classes, as part of the evaluation process, students read their stories aloud to the class. One particular student seemed terrified at the prospect of sharing her work, and this fear had caused her to withdraw from several other writing courses. With encouragement and understanding, Richard convinced the student to stay in the course and let others enjoy her work. Since then, not only has the student’s fear disappeared, but several of her stories have been published!
For more information about Richard, view his website at: www.richardscarsbrook.com. Photo by Ken Tsung.
