The University of Manitoba’s Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture is pleased to announce the arrival of Sally Ito, its new Writer-in-Residence. Ito will hold the position through December 10, 2012. 

A poet, essayist and short fiction writer, Ito will visit classes, mentor writers and give workshops over the fall term. In addition, she will be working on a family history for which she has done extensive research and translation from the Japanese. 

Of her new post, Ito says, “I am pleased and honored to be chosen as this year’s writer-in-residence for the CCWOC. I welcome writers to consult me with their work, and look forward to interacting with the larger university community where being a ‘resident’ has such rich and stimulating potential.” 

A former Monbukagakusho Scholar, Ito holds a BFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and an MA from the University of Alberta.  She has published three books of poetry: Frogs in the Rain Barrel (Nightwood Editions, 1995), Season of Mercy (Nightwood Editions, 1998), and, in 2011, Alert to Glory (Turnstone Press).  Ito's work in short fiction and creative non-fiction has been published in various literary journals as well as in a collection of short stories entitled Floating Shore (Mercury Press, 1998). In addition to writing, Ito also teaches creative writing at the Canadian Mennonite University.

"I want to extend a warm welcome to this term's writer-in-residence, Sally Ito," says Renate Eigenbrod, acting director of the Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture. "We are looking forward to an exciting series of workshops and readings."

The Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture was created to provide a space for scholars, students and visiting artists to collaborate, create works of verbal art and study the relationship between oral and written culture.

More information about Sally Ito can be found here.