The Borderlines Writers Circle is an intercultural initiative which aims to serve multilingual, multicultural writers who are finding their way around the professional writing world in Canada. The program is designed to yield new literary works, thoughtful exploration of the Immigrant experience, dialogue that celebrates our diversity and contributes to a deeper understanding of one another, and engagement with contemporary issues around the world. Every year, a small group is selected to participate in activities which increase their connections within the local writing community and to advance their writing career in a Canadian context. Through mentorship, multicultural writers produce literature in English, participate in workshops on publishing and presence on social media, and share their experience and creative works through public events and podcasts.
“I am particularly attracted to its mentoring program… The writer's community and the mentorship are not usually available to people who write in English as a second language. The Borderlines Writers Circle is therefore a great facilitator for the productivity of ESL writers. In addition, I see the Borderlines Writers Circle as a great contribution to the literary and cultural diversity of Alberta and Canada.”—Leilei Chen
"The program was great. It provided lots of great opportunities, valuable insight and lots of useful information. I particularly enjoyed the mentorship part as I feel I gained a lot from it, and it exceeded my (quite high) expectations. Frequency of the meetings was perfect; podcasts were a lot of fun. Speaking at the U of A class was also a fun experience. Overall—I'm very happy I got to be part of this program. I really appreciate everything I got from it and really hope to give something back to the community from the knowledge and experienced that I gained.”--anonymous
