Situated in both the Department of English and the Département de langue et littérature françaises (DLLF) within the Faculty of Arts, this unique Program nurtures new talent by providing valuable insight into the creative process. The Mordecai Richler Writer-in-Residence Program offers students an enriching opportunity to study practical and theoretical approaches to writing for such media as television, film, radio, stage, interactive media and print publications. It also creates a more dynamic interface with existing literary translation programs in the Département de langue et littérature françaises and enhances the Program's visibility in the French-speaking cultural community both in Canada and abroad. This ability to attract accomplished writers from diverse stylistic and linguistic traditions to a single university is undoubtedly unique to Montreal and McGill University.
Writers selected for the prestigious writer-in- residence position are expected to teach one course each year, give public lectures and readings, advise undergraduate and graduate students as required, organize writing workshops and generally participate in the creative and intellectual life of the departments and the Faculty. One of the immediate goals of the Program is to establish a literary journal and to include the writers on the editorial board. These well-respected writers – with industry experience in areas ranging from poetry to digital media – enrich teaching, scholarship and public outreach in both departments. Their interdisciplinary backgrounds also help to create links with other departments, institutes and centres in the Faculty of Arts, including the Department of Art History and Communication Studies and the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC).