Stephen Hume has done every newspaper job from copy chaser to editor-in-chief and has covered everything from prize fights to prime ministers. He has written for newspapers, magazines and provided commentary for national radio and television. He has been senior writer and columnist at The Vancouver Sun for 27 years. Hume has written nine books of poetry, essays, biography, natural history and history and he has contributed to two dozen more. He has been short-listed for 15 journalism awards and has three National Newspaper Award citations, a Canadian Policy Research Award, a Dolly Connelly Award for environmental writing and he’s been nominated for Jack Webster Awards eight times. He won his first literary prize as a second-year student at the University of Victoria with the English department’s essay prize. Since then his literary work has been short-listed a dozen times for book prizes and he has won four.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
My teaching style is simple and laid-back. We learn to write by writing and then talking about what’s been written and then writing again. I begin with the principle that skill in writing is the most valuable instrument in the toolkit for any successful career path in an information economy. I believe that writing workshops should be fun.
Email: stephen.hume@viu.ca