Richard Kelly Kemick joins UFV as 2026 Writer-in-Residence

The University of the Fraser Valley welcomes its 24th writer-in-residence, Richard Kelly Kemick, with a launch event on January 13. The Canadian National Magazine Award-winning author, journalist, playwright and podcaster will be bringing his expertise to readers and writers alike for the entire winter semester through guest lectures, events, and one-on-one consultations.

He was drawn to UFV after attending as a presenter at the Fraser Valley Writers Festival in 2024.

“Through that, I became familiar with a couple of people who worked here, and it seemed like a really kind department. And a lot of student buy-in, far more than I expected from anywhere,” Richard says. “So that makes for a vibrant community. When the writer-in-residence posting came up, I threw my hat in the ring.”

Thinking back to the support he received from writers-in-residence as a university student, Richard recalls, “It’s kind of hard to know where to start as a writer, what to do. Those writers were really helpful to me and guided me through the trajectory steps of getting published. I remember being really empowered by how seriously they took my work. I feel like that was a significant moment, in a way.”

After earning a BA in English from the University of British Columbia, an MA from the University of New Brunswick, and a PhD in English literature from the University of Calgary, Richard hopes to provide the same mentorship for others.

For him, the most compelling writing is clear, concise, and honest. He cites Hilary Mantel, Tobias Wolff, Alice Munro, and William Shakespeare as some of his biggest literary inspirations; their influence may be spotted in Hello, Horse, his debut collection of short stories, I Am Herod (shortlisted for the Writers’ Guild of Alberta best non-fiction book of the year), his poetry collection Caribou Run, and the stage play Amor De Cosmos: A Delusional Musical.

What he loves most about writing is building something from nothing, by putting just the right words in just the right order.

“When you distill this idea into this quantifiable sentence or paragraph, there’s a feeling when it rings with, like, a clarity. It was just exactly right. There’s a catharsis.”

Richard looks forward to seeing new faces during his time as writer-in-residence. “It’s really nice to meet students who are jazzed about writing. It’s kind of refreshing and exciting,” he says.

He aims to demystify the artform for any discouraged budding creatives. “There’s really no trick to it, there’s just, like, doing. It’d be easier if there were a trick to it,” he says with a laugh.

Richard encourages new writers to push through their rough initial drafts; though what first comes out on the page might not look anything like what the writer hoped, that doesn’t mean their writing is bad.

“It’s about narrowing the distance between what they want it to be and what it is. The only way is to keep working on it.”

Be sure to visit the UFV Library in Abbotsford on January 13 from 4 to 5 pm to attend the writer-in-residence welcome event and enjoy a presentation from Richard Kelly Kemick.

Looking for feedback on your writing? Click here to book a consultation with the writer-in-residence. More information about Richard and his work can be found on his website .