February 27, 2013 Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

Story and photo by Agnes Chick

Last Thursday, Andrew MacDonald, a King’s graduate of English Language and Literature, was featured as a guest reader for Fanshawe College’s Letters and Arts Society Reading Series. Selected from The Journey Prize Stories 22, MacDonald’s short story, Four Minutes, divulges the challenges a young man faces as he cares for his sister who lives with a mental disability.

Inspired by true events in his life, MacDonald spoke to the audience about the importance of empathy and why it is such a valuable attribute to have as a writer.

“All good story tellers have to imagine what it’s like to be someone else,” MacDonald points out after his reading. “It’s a testament to why we tell stories. It’s not often that you can take personal experiences and write from a different perspective.”

As a romantic gesture to win a girl’s heart in high school, MacDonald began writing poetry and soon discovered a true passion for writing. While completing a diploma in Liberal Arts from Fanshawe College, he began to explore his new interest and delved into the art of creative writing. After his degree from King’s, MacDonald earned a MA in Creative Writing from the University of Toronto, where he received the inaugural Adam Penn Gilders Award for Best Graduate Creative Thesis.

In 2010, MacDonald was a finalist for the Journey Prize and won a Western Magazine Award for Fiction. His essays, fiction and reviews have appeared in journals all over Canada and the United States, including The Fiddlehead, Event, PRISM International, Taddle Creek, The Pilot Pocketbook, Matrix, Feathertale, The Pinch, The Windsor Review: Best Canadian Writers Under 35, The Journey Prize Stories 22: Canada’s Best Young Writers, and A Manner of Being: Writers on their Mentors.

MacDonald now lives in Toronto, where he teaches creative writing at a private school. He is also in the process of writing his first novel and more short stories.

To read MacDonald’s blog, please visit caughtwithstring.blogspot.ca/

For more information about King’s English Language and Literature program, please visit www.kings.uwo.ca/academics/english/