From Burgeoning Student to Sheridan Alumna
- daniarieli
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
On the eleventh of June, twenty-twenty-six, I pranced across the stage with a grin I hadn't been privy to for years---attempting not to trip in the face of the spotlight's flash-bang---and quite literally stepped into the next chapter of my life. I shared looks of timorous curiosity and anticipation whilst I chortled over home-baked cake (at 9am) and lemon-kissed water with the other graduands, and although I had to muster every fibre of my being not to weep over the departure of my professors and peers, I knew---in that strangely magical moment---that I would see them again. The CanLit world is vast in its reach and inspiration, but the circle is small; it is intimate and it exists waiting to welcome this new company of writers and publishers and editors and all-things literary (a murder of CW&Pals, if you will).
...Those thiry minutes spent backstage will be what my brain rewinds back to when I take my last breath.
So---that's it, then! I am now the proud holder of an Honours Bachelor of Creative Writing and Publishing. Everything I have done in my life, up until now, has led to this moment—with these people: friends, family, and irreplaceable mentors. I love these goobers so much. CW&P has been an extension of my family for the last four years, and I am fighting not to cry as I write this; but, as our 2026 Grad Anthology (Exlt Lines) places great emphasis, this is merely an exit line. This is not the end; rather, the next chapter.
And, of course, to the professors:
TO GLENN, who managed to draw gutturally burning-oesophageal laughter out of me at 8am; the man who believes The Beatle I am most akin to is George Harrison. I would like to, formally, apologise for Jess and I’s crazed antics in the wee hours of the morning… Not.
TO PAUL, who trod me down the proper beginnings of the eccentric mesa that is poetry—for I never would have given poems the proper gleam of day otherwise. Poetry has bolstered my prose tenfold, which has marched me unto my current projects.
TO ALEX, who only—wittily—stoked the raging fire of passion that is my veneration for archaic texts and the Middle Ages. I learned that writers from centuries past, too, have incredibly raunchy humour—and, damn, were those class-read-alongs something of legend.
TO A.G.A., who lent an (eager) ear unto my nerdy interests and outwardly related to me in places I never thought a mentor could. P.S. You will only be hearing more of my Resident Evil lunatic maundering.
TO JENNIFER, who was subjected to my fictitious debauchery and perilous prose, supporting me with such enthusiasm and interest I will never forget as I continue forth with my manuscript. She was the first pair of eyes on A Sodomite Out of Principle! :0
TO TALI, who tenderly showed us the many doors in the world of publishing that I otherwise wouldn’t have seen; crafting zines that truly kickstarted my love of online, literary communities.
And, finally, to OWEN OF ROHAN, who brought forth this life-changing program (and his attractive witticisms); for I dare not imagine how different my life would have been without CW&P—a community that became my outlet, my family, to nurture and watch my love of writing grow into something so raw and beautiful, I feel wedded to it. I also have this guy to blame for my love of Gothic/anti-Westerns. #McCarthymaxxing
“The world into which you are graduating has changed since you entered CW&P many years ago. In many ways it is more fractured, more volatile, and more uncertain of its own potential. It has never, in short, needed you more—you poets to sing truth in the face of lies, you storytellers to imagine the way forward into brightness, and you publishers to connect wanting readers with visions of the beautiful and the possible. Go, Class of 2026, with courage and conviction, show, don’t tell, and ply your hard-earned skills in service of the world you want to live in; this is how you make it so.” - OWEN PERCY
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