Lily Wang

Subject: Language Arts / Creative Writing

What will my child walk away with? A deeper relationship with language as a tool for connection, exploration, and self-expression, developed through the guidance of a published poet and novelist whose work has been recognized nationally. I believe literary arts are not a luxury in education — they are how we learn to understand ourselves and the world, and I teach them with that conviction.

What can families expect? A writing mentor whose debut poetry collection Saturn Peach was listed on CBC’s Best Canadian Poetry of 2020, and whose debut novel Silver Repetition was published by House of Anansi in Canada and The New Press in the United States. Students work with someone whose relationship to language is both scholarly and deeply personal.

What does class actually feel like? Thoughtful, joyful, and literary. I teach courses ranging from Effective Writing to Creative Writing at the University of Toronto, and I bring that same range to Brain Power — the technical rigor of craft instruction alongside the genuine pleasure of making something with language.

How do you challenge a curious mind? I give students the full toolkit: the theoretical understanding of how literary techniques work, the editorial instinct to evaluate their own writing, and the creative freedom to take genuine risks on the page. Curious students who already love writing benefit most from that combination of structure and freedom.

Credentials and Experience Honours M.A. in English (Creative Writing), University of Toronto. Honours B.A. in English, University of Toronto. Invited speaker at poetry seminars at the University of Toronto. Writing mentor for ECW Press. Debut poetry collection Saturn Peach (Gordon Hill Press, 2020), listed on CBC’s Best Canadian Poetry of 2020. Debut novel Silver Repetition (House of Anansi/The New Press, 2024). Teaching experience at the University of Toronto across Effective Writing and Creative Writing.