Writing doesn’t have to be a solitary activity, says Rijaa Zehra Khan.
While finishing a BA in English and BASc in Psychology at McMaster, Khan completed the Concurrent Certificate in Creative Writing and Narrative Arts (CWNA).
“I learned from my peers that you can radically improve your writing by being part of the world and engaging deeply with the communities that are around you,” she says.
Offered by the Department of English and Cultural Studies, the (CWNA) is open to undergraduate students from all faculties interested in developing creative writing skills.
Students completing the CWNA join a community of writers and participate in workshops, engage in public-facing community work and complete a capstone individual project.
We spoke with two students who are part of the CWNA community to learn about their experiences in the program, the writing community they’ve found, and using stories to make an impact.
Rijaa Zehra Khan
Khan was part of the first cohort of the CWNA in 2022-2023. The capstone project she completed later became a foundation for her English MA degree and continues to connect her to a community of writers.
Can you tell us about your capstone project?
I wrote a 25-page collection of poetry that I still take from and reflect on. It was a very polished piece and was workshopped throughout my final semester in the certificate program. I got invaluable feedback from my peers and my professors, and have now published many pieces from that collection.
At the time I didn’t think anything of it; I thought I was simply fulfilling a class requirement, but so much has come out of that collection now.
Khan (right), pictured with Daniel Coleman (middle), professor emeritus in English and Cultural Studies and the first Director of the CWNA program, and Mayson Broccoli-Romanowska (left), BA graduate in Indigenous Studies and English and Cultural Studies, at a Gala they hosted for new students and recent alumni of the CWNA.
Why did you choose poetry?
I’ve always written in the poetry medium, and so, before I began my capstone project, I wanted to wholeheartedly challenge myself in the certificate. Throughout the certificate program, there was a ton of experimentation going on with a lot of different literary forms amongst my peers. I think we all wanted to challenge ourselves.
In the end, my capstone project became a collection of very durable pieces that were thematically grounded in explorations of family, hardships I had been enduring, and questions I had about my life on Earth at that point. It was deeply personal and helped me engage further with myself.
How have you incorporated this creative side of yourself after graduation?
I actually incorporated some of the poetry I wrote from the certificate program in my major research project for my master’s program.
I found that before the certificate, I wrote, but I didn’t really know how I was doing it. The certificate enabled me to question where from within me that writing was coming from, and fine tune. So, when I pursued my master’s degree, I was much more aware of how I was writing and where I was writing from. This included “formal” literary forms such as essays and other nonfiction.
I know that critical writing may seem separate from creativity, but there is a lot of overlooked creative energy put into it as well; I was able to apprehend that with much more nuance, because the certificate taught me how to tap into that part of myself.
As an alumna, I’m a part a writing group with my certificate cohort. We come together from time to time, continue to inspire one another, and hold each other accountable for our ongoing projects. There’s a strong sense of camaraderie between us. I have gone on to publish many of my pieces, and so have they, because we continue to edit each other’s works.
Maya Dagenais
For Maya Dagenais, a third-year English and cultural studies undergraduate student, completing the Concurrent Certificate in CWNA was an opportunity to develop a project on protecting local wildlife.
Can you tell us about your capstone project?
Right now, I’m creating a book-zine project that’s all about the life and needs of the eastern monarch butterflies that migrate to Ontario each year. It starts out by showing the viewer the life cycle of the monarch butterfly, from egg to hatching, then it goes into the native wildflowers and the native plants that monarch butterflies need and have been working with for hundreds of years before humans have started changing their habitats.
The purpose of the zine is to give the public more information on how to create good habitats in their areas for monarch butterflies and how to curb and stop harmful practices that are affecting them. Practices such as taking monarchs from their milkweed plants and raising them inside is actually very harmful for their immune systems and their population size.
In the neighbourhood I grew up in, I see a lot of these harmful practices including urban sprawl and habitat relocation, so the purpose of my zine is to distribute to the public and hopefully see a change in these behaviours and a positive effect to the eastern monarch butterfly population.
How did the certificate inspire you or help you create and improve your art?
When I took the Genre and Creative Writing class as part of the certificate requirements, it didn’t just give me the foundational skills on how to write creatively, but also helped me learn to critically engage with my peer’s work, and give and receive good feedback.
I learned a lot, which I applied to a children’s book script I was working on. When taking Creating Writing in/for/with Communities, we got support throughout the writing process for our final projects with individual meetings and feedback from our professor. It has made my work ten times better than it would have been. I’ve learned how to better engage with my professors, my peers, and connect with other people in the art and insect communities who are already doing amazing work taking care of monarch butterflies in Ontario.
Applications for the CWNA are being accepted now until April 20, 2026. Learn more here.