Don Sedgwick has been appointed executive director of the university’s new master of fine arts in creative nonfiction program (pending MPHEC approval). The new degree is a first for Canada.
Sedgwick has worked in the Canadian book and magazine industries for 35 years as a writer, editor, publisher, and literary agent. He is currently the chair and past-president of the Transatlantic Agency, which represents more than 250 authors in Canada and around the world. He was previously the publisher of Doubleday Canada, editorial director of Scholastic Canada, and national marketing director at McClelland & Stewart. For five years he directed the Book & Magazine Publishing Program at Centennial College in Toronto.
Sedgwick has also taught at the Humber School for Writers, Ryerson University, and in the graduate publishing program at Simon Fraser University. He has served as a board member with the Nova Scotia Talent Trust, a juror for the Canada Council for the Arts, and now as a provincially appointed member of Arts Nova Scotia.
In addition to editing books and writing magazine articles, he is currently mentoring students in the master of journalism program at the University of King’s College.
Sedgwick has a BFA (Hons) from York University and he recently completed his MBA at Saint Mary’s University, where his dissertation focused on new business models for e-books.
“We are thrilled to find someone of Don’s calibre and experience to shepherd this new program,” says Kelly Toughill, director of the King’s School of Journalism “He is the perfect fit for what we believe is an important new opportunity for writers who want to publish and hone their craft.”
King’s new two-year limited residency MFA in creative nonfiction program will welcome its first students in August 2013.
