Bleak Futures & The Sheridan College Creative Writing & Publishing Program

“Heartbroken” is the word I would use to describe my reaction to finding out the Creative Writing & Publishing Program at Sheridan College is one of forty programs being cut. The suspension of the program comes from expected loss of revenue following international student caps. It’s one of the few programs that offers education in publishing at the undergraduate level.  

My connection to the program is slant. My family lives in Mississauga; it’s a city I lived in for almost four years following my undergraduate degree, and one I return to frequently. The program itself didn’t exist when I was applying to post-secondary. I didn’t even know that kind of program—one that sees creative writing and publishing as interlinked—was possible. I work in publishing now, and despite the challenges of working in the arts, it is work that I enjoy. 

And I loved having a festival a ten-minute drive from where I lived, instead of the hours-long commute to get into Toronto for events. As an attendee, panelist, and exhibitor, I loved talking to the students and professors about their visions for the program and what it would bring to Mississauga and to Canadian publishing more broadly. The program and its offerings felt like the start of something exciting, that is now abruptly cut short. 

Using the word “heartbroken” as a reaction to the suspension of this program is part of a bigger bleak future in publishing that is currently facing a host of issues, mostly financial. With funding cuts and budget freezes, there are fewer opportunities for people to work in publishing. One person is often left doing the job of three, because there just isn’t the money to pay that many salaries. 

As we approach the end of the year, it’s difficult to not approach this time with a sense of dread. This feeling isn’t only from the suspension of this one program, of course. It’s about the condescending language that governing bodies like Sheridan give in response to the passionate letters that many writers and publishing associations sent asking them to reconsider cutting the program. 

Even though this column is titled “Bleak Futures,” I don’t want to end it on a bleak note. As I said in an interview about the Sheridan cuts for Mississauga News, “you don’t put in that much effort for something you don’t feel passionately or strongly about.” As much as the world of shareholders and boards can dismiss literature, there is no denying its impact and necessity in the world.