University Teaching

Lauren is an Assistant Professor of English at Toronto Metropolitan University and the winner of the 2020 New Faculty Teaching Award.

Lauren’s courses focus on helping students find their unique writing voices, hone a range of creative writing skills, and read and edit like writers. Her lectures break the writing process down into manageable parts and many of her students say they have completed her courses stronger writers and readers, with a tried and tested writing practice of their own.

Lauren’s courses are interactive and include a balance of writing practice and instruction on creative writing craft and theory. Students can expect to learn theories of fiction writing (what authors have said about their process and motivation); the fundamentals of process (free writing and more); techniques and craft (including characterization, scene, dialogue); and how to polish work through three stages of editing.

Lauren’s courses focus on how to read as creative writers. Through close readings and discussions, students will dissect stories and pay careful attention to how they are constructed, considering issues like plot, themes, language, narrative mode, and much, much more.

Finally, throughout the course students will read fiction from a range of authors including Lucia Berlin, Raymond Carver, Amy Hempel, Maya Angelou, James Joyce, Anton Chekhov, and Grace Paley, as well as poetry and selections from graphic novels.

  • Lauren’s passion for writing is inspiring! She gave our class a great balance of creative freedom and guidance. This is a class that has allowed me to grow in ways I didn’t expect.

  • This has been the best class I’ve taken. Lauren is passionate, knowledgeable, and witty, a combination that makes me excited to come to class every week.

  • Lauren is perhaps the most enthusiastic and devoted professor I have ever had. This course was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in creative writing. You have taught me to love writing again.

  • Lauren’s course, hands down, is the best course I’ve taken at TMU. I’ve been watching myself improve and learn as a writer.

  •  We all need honest encouragement and honest critique – Lauren is able to give both without ballooning or shredding the ego. I learned a great deal about the writer's craft from Lauren.

  • Even though I have already taken a bunch of creative writing classes, for the first time I felt like my writing actually significantly improved.

Community Arts Leadership

Hailed by The Toronto Star as a groundbreaking program, Sister Writes is now in its twelfth year.

Lauren is the Founding Director of Sister Writes, an award-winning creative writing program that offers marginalized women free creative writing classes and mentorship with acclaimed women writers. Hailed by The Toronto Star as groundbreaking, Sister Writes’ public events and literary magazines are devoted to honouring women and sharing vital stories about women’s lives.

Beyond Sister Writes, Lauren’s inclusive and innovative arts leadership has included designing programming for organizations including Harbourfront Centre, Luminato Festival of Arts + Creativity, and The Toronto Public Library.She has facilitated hundreds of workshops for writers from age 8 to 93 in settings including schools, hospitals, libraries, activist collectives, long-term care homes, and refuges for women escaping domestic violence. She hasrun a poetry salon for inpatients at The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, mentored emerging writers through the Diaspora Dialogues Program, and served as Canada Council Writer-in-Residence in a 1902 Carnegie library in southwestern Ontario. Her Young Authors Project was a finalist for Ontario Government Minister’s Award for Innovation in Arts.

Her other initiatives have included the Generations of Writers Project, a digital oral history program, and Sister Writes at Jessie’s, which placed young mothers in collaboration with acclaimed women writers. Sister Writes on the Road, in development, will culminate in an digital exhibition and a public oral history archive.

Her programs have won the support of The Toronto Arts Council, The Ontario Council, The Ontario Trillium Foundation, and The Canada Council for the Arts.

Lauren’s Community Arts Leadership in the Press

University Teaching

Lauren is an Assistant Professor of English at Toronto Metropolitan University and the winner of the 2020 New Faculty Teaching Award.

Lauren’s courses focus on helping students find their unique writing voices, hone a range of creative writing skills, and read and edit like writers. Her lectures break the writing process down into manageable parts and many of her students say they have completed her courses stronger writers and readers, with a tried and tested writing practice of their own.

Lauren’s courses are interactive and include a balance of writing practice and instruction on creative writing craft and theory. Students can expect to learn theories of fiction writing (what authors have said about their process and motivation); the fundamentals of process (free writing and more); techniques and craft (including characterization, scene, dialogue); and how to polish work through three stages of editing.

Lauren’s courses focus on how to read as creative writers. Through close readings and discussions, students will dissect stories and pay careful attention to how they are constructed, considering issues like plot, themes, language, narrative mode, and much, much more.

Finally, throughout the course students will read fiction from a range of authors including Lucia Berlin, Raymond Carver, Amy Hempel, Maya Angelou, James Joyce, Anton Chekhov, and Grace Paley, as well as poetry and selections from graphic novels.

Want to see a syllabus?
ENG340 Making Little Magazines
CENG505 Creative Writing 

  • Lauren’s passion for writing is inspiring! She gave our class a great balance of creative freedom and guidance. This is a class that has allowed me to grow in ways I didn’t expect.

  • This has been the best class I’ve taken. Lauren is passionate, knowledgeable, and witty, a combination that makes me excited to come to class every week.

  • Lauren is perhaps the most enthusiastic and devoted professor I have ever had. This course was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in creative writing. You have taught me to love writing again.

  • Lauren’s course, hands down, is the best course I’ve taken at TMU. I’ve been watching myself improve and learn as a writer.

  •  We all need honest encouragement and honest critique – Lauren is able to give both without ballooning or shredding the ego. I learned a great deal about the writer's craft from Lauren.

  • Even though I have already taken a bunch of creative writing classes, for the first time I felt like my writing actually significantly improved.

Community Arts Leadership

Hailed by The Toronto Star as a groundbreaking program, Sister Writes is now in its twelfth year.

Lauren is the Founding Director of Sister Writes, an award-winning creative writing program that offers marginalized women free creative writing classes and mentorship with acclaimed women writers. Hailed by The Toronto Star as groundbreaking, Sister Writes’ public events and literary magazines are devoted to honouring women and sharing vital stories about women’s lives.

Beyond Sister Writes, Lauren’s inclusive and innovative arts leadership has included designing programming for organizations including Harbourfront Centre, Luminato Festival of Arts + Creativity, and The Toronto Public Library. She has facilitated hundreds of workshops for writers from age 8 to 93 in settings including schools, hospitals, libraries, activist collectives, long-term care homes, and refuges for women escaping domestic violence.

She has run a poetry salon for inpatients at The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, mentored emerging writers through the Diaspora Dialogues Program, and served as Canada Council Writer-in-Residence in a 1902 Carnegie library in southwestern Ontario. Her Young Authors Project was a finalist for Ontario Government Minister’s Award for Innovation in Arts.

Her other initiatives have included the Generations of Writers Project, a digital oral history program, and Sister Writes at Jessie’s, which placed young mothers in collaboration with acclaimed women writers. Sister Writes on the Road, in development, will culminate in an digital exhibition and a public oral history archive.

Her programs have won the support of The Toronto Arts Council, The Ontario Council, The Ontario Trillium Foundation, and The Canada Council for the Arts.

Lauren’s Community Arts Leadership in the Press