Humber’s distinguished School for Writers has helped introduce book lovers everywhere to an impressive array of authors, with more than 330 alumni who have gone on to publish over 1,000 books.

The school turns 25 this year. In honour of this milestone, keep reading for 10 prominent authors who have either studied or taught at the school over the years.

Vincent Lam

A past creative writing workshop attendee and correspondence student, Lam, who is also a doctor, wrote the 2006 Giller Prize winning Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures and bestseller The Headmaster’s Wager.

Lawrence Hill

Best known for The Book of Negroes, Hill is author of 10 books. He has taught creative writing in both the School for Writers workshop and correspondence program.

Mordecai Richler

The late Mordecai Richler helped promising writers hone their skills in the Workshop in Creative Writing. His published works include The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Joshua Then and Now and Barney’s Version.

Ann Y.K. Choi

Choi’s debut novel, Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety was a finalist for this year’s Toronto Book Award. She is a graduate of the School for Writers and a former student of David Adams Richards.

Nadia L. Hohn

A graduate of the Humber School for Writers Correspondence Program, Hohn won the 2016 Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario Children's Literature Award for her picture book Malaika’s Costume.

Carol Shields

The late Carol Shields, who wrote Unless and The Stone Diaries, among many other books of fiction, poetry and plays, taught in the Creative Writing workshop.

Shari Lapena

Lapena, a School for Writers graduate, was a lawyer and English teacher before she began writing fiction. Her suspense novel The Couple Next Door is a UK Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller.

Joe Kertes

Kertes founded the Humber School for Writers, as well as the Comedy Writing and Performance program. His first novel, Winter Tulips, won the Stephen Leacock  Medal for Humour. His third novel, Gratitude, won a Canadian Jewish Book Award and the U.S. National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. He retired last year from his role as Dean of the School of Creative and Performing Arts, a position he’d held since 2001.

Lynne Kutsukake

The author of The Translation of Love, grad Kutsukake was named one of the Toronto Star’s up-and-coming writers to watch in 2016, as well as a New Face of Fiction by Knopf Canada.

Cathy Marie Buchanan

Another illustrious School for Writers grad, Buchanan is bestselling author of The Day the Falls Stood Still and The Painted Girls.