Mondays, beginning November 3 for 4 weeks
6:30–9 p.m. AST
Got a strong opinion, a wild personal story, or a hot take on an important issue in the news? Freelance writing is exciting, but it can be a tough line of work to get into.
In this practical workshop, students will:
- Gain a step-by-step approach to developing ideas editors actually want.
- Learn how to pitch like a pro.
- Workshop pitches you can immediately send out.
- Develop the confidence to cold email/call without getting lost in the slush pile.
- Learn strategies to cope with rejection.
- Understand how to advocate for yourself around sensitive issues, such as freelance rights, payment, and copyright.
Tamara Baluja is an award-winning Canadian journalist and a bestselling author. She’s worked as a freelance writer and editor for several years before joining CBC News. In her current role as the First Person Producer for CBC News, she reviews multiple pitches from freelance writers and commissions, edits and fact-checks personal essays for a Canadian audience. As a producer, she’s skilled at finding the emotional heart of the story and identifying the missing elements that, if included, make the final content unforgettable. Her previous journalism credits include the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and Newstalk 1010. Tamara is also a creative storyteller with a passion for human-interest stories and strong narrative arcs. She is the co-author of The Heart of a Superfan, a memoir of the extraordinary life of Nav Bhatia, the Toronto Raptor’s greatest fan.
francesca ekwuyasi is a learner, artist and storyteller born in Lagos, Nigeria. She was awarded the Writers Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers in 2022 for her debut novel Butter Honey Pig Bread (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2020). Butter Honey Pig Bread was also shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award, the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award and longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Dublin Literary Award. Butter Honey Pig Bread placed second on CBC’s Canada Reads. Canada’s Annual Battle of the Books, where it was selected as one of five contenders in 2021 for “the one book that all of Canada should read.” francesca’s writing has appeared in the Malahat Review, Transition Magazine, Room Magazine, Brittle Paper, the Ex-Puritan, C-Magazine, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Canadian Art, Chatelaine and elsewhere. Her short story Ọrun is Heaven was longlisted for the 2019 Journey Prize. She co-authored Curious Sounds: A Dialogue in Three Movements (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2023), a multi-genre collaborative book with Roger Mooking.
Adrienne Gruber is an award-winning writer originally from Saskatoon. She is the author of five chapbooks, three books of poetry, including Q & A, Buoyancy Control, and This is the Nightmare, and the creative nonfiction collection, Monsters, Martyrs, and Marionettes: Essays on Motherhood. She won the 2015 Antigonish Review’s Great Blue Heron poetry contest, SubTerrain’s 2017 Lush Triumphant poetry contest, placed third in Event’s 2020 creative non-fiction contest, and was the winner of SubTerrain’s 2023 creative non-fiction contest. Both her poetry and non-fiction has been longlisted for the CBC Books awards. In 2012, Mimic was awarded the bp Nichol Chapbook Award. Adrienne lives with her partner and their three daughters on Nex̱wlélex̱m (Bowen Island), B.C., the traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples.
Lezlie Lowe teaches in the journalism program at the University of King’s College, the Dalhousie University Creative Writing program, and the King’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction program. Her first book, No Place To Go: How Public Toilets Fail Our Private Needs, was listed as a top-25 pick by CBC Books and The Toronto Star, and one of the top 100 books of the year by the Globe and Mail. The Volunteers: How Halifax Women Won the Second World War was released in 2022.
Genevieve Scott (she/her) is a Canadian writer and writing teacher based in Irvine, California. Genevieve has written two novels—Catch My Drift (2018) and The Damages (2023)—and is currently at work on her third novel, The Fortunate Ones, which will come out in summer 2027. For over a decade, Genevieve has written and story-edited for screen, working on both short and feature-length film scripts. Her short films Survival Guide and Kissing Drew have screened at festivals worldwide. She was Story Editor for the 2021 Canadian indie feature Jump, Darling, starring Cloris Leachman in her final role. This feature film has played at more than three dozen festivals around the world and received multiple awards. Genevieve teaches in the fiction MFA program at the University of King’s College, and also at the Laguna College of Art + Design in Laguna Beach, CA.