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Faber & Faber to open Toronto writing school this fall

According to a report by The Globe and Mail‘s London-based columnist Leah McLaren, the independent British publishing house Faber & Faber is planning to launch a writing school in Toronto this fall. Set to open in October, the Faber Academy Toronto will employ at least one high-profile Canadian author: Miriam Toews, who is published by Faber in the U.K. and whom Academy head Patrick Keogh says will be “involved in an essential way” in the school.

From the Globe:

The Faber Academy, a successful offshoot of Faber’s core publishing business, was launched 18 months ago in Paris, with a course taught at the legendary English language bookstore Shakespeare and Company, by novelist Jeanette Winterson.

Since then, the school has expanded to included short and long courses in London, Dublin and Geneva, with an expansion to Edinburgh and Glasgow planned for later this year. Instructors have included Tracy Chevalier, Anne Enright, Paul Auster, Kazuo Ishiguro and Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney.

McLaren speculates whether Toronto has a deep enough talent pool to match London’s, though from the sounds of things, the school’s administrators are aiming high:

After taking a series of meetings with writers including Margaret Atwood, Anne Michaels, Michael Redhill, Madeleine Thien, Michael Helm, Andrew Pyper and Ken Babstock, Keogh says he is so confident the Toronto school will be a success, Faber is already looking into plans to expand the model to Montreal and Vancouver.