Creative Writing in Cabbagetown : BIO

Prim Pemberton taught Creative Writing at York University for several years while at the same time writing drama scripts for television and selling short stories to magazines.

The combination of working in the real world of television production, of chasing dreams through her fiction and teaching the uninitiated, brings a clarity and sympathy to her teaching that is rare.

For the past eleven years she has been running workshops for writers with work in progress out of her house in Cabbagetown. The groups are small, the work being developed is varied and the writers range from people writing their first novel or play to writers whose work has been published or produced.

“Prim’s workshop has been invaluable to me. As a working writer, author, actor, and mother, it’s become increasingly difficult to find the time, energy and passion to focus on the writing that means the most to me, a new novel. Bringing new material to Prim’s workshop each week; reading and discussing the varied and inspiring material brought in by the group of fascinating writers who attend with me; and benefiting from the group’s - and especially Prim’s - gentle, wise, and discerning feedback, has become a highlight of my week. Without the workshop, I am absolutely certain that I would not be writing this novel. I’d recommend it to anyone to whom writing is a passion, a cherished secret, or a job. Prim’s workshop can work wonders.”
Diane Flacks, writer/actor

"Prim got me writing and (perhaps even more importantly) kept me at it. She nourishes an insightful, nurturing, and open atmosphere. Her workshop has supported me as I wrote dance-theatre scripts that have been produced in Toronto, Peterborough, and St. John's, and my first novel is currently under consideration by a mid-sized publisher. Connecting with other writers who have experience in various genres has pushed my own work; participants range from newer writers to established, but in Prim's workshop it always comes down to the work at hand; it is the work that matters. Over time the other workshop participants have become not only colleagues but friends."
Kate Story, writer/actor

"It is obvious that the teaching of creative writing calls for an unusual combination of objective judgment, personal support and practical guidance: Prim was able to provide all these skillfully, tactfully and (as it seemed) effortlessly and her teaching is of an extremely high order, carefully planned and prepared, scrupulous in detail, and sensitive to the capacity and aptitudes of each individual student."
D.R.Ewen, Professor of English, York University

"Prim is an excellent critic and editor of student's work, and her own experience and ability in writing drama and fiction give her insights into the problems of student writers and how they may be solved ... She leads them, rather than pushes them ... I find it hard to conceive of a better teacher of this course."
Bob Simmons, Professor of English, Glendon College, York University