Our Ethics

We cultivate captivating stories from all voices.

The Sarah Selecky Writing School is an online creative writing community dedicated to supporting imaginative and conscious writers with their practice.

This is a space where you are welcome, exactly and especially as you are.

We believe you deserve to know where we stand on social justice issues, and if our values align.

We are committed to dismantling systems of oppression including white supremacy and patriarchy, which have caused lasting damage through generations. We know this requires a lifelong commitment to healing.

We are committed to being part of this healing. This is why and how we support writers and culture-makers, individually and collectively.

We celebrate and honour the full human experience. That means that our school is inclusive of race, culture, ethnicity, sex, gender identity and expression, age, colour, religion, sexual orientation, disability, neurodiversity, physical or mental ability, perspective, or any other aspect which makes it unique.

Complexity and empathy give strength to our stories, and our stories create our culture. The culture we want to create is one where everyone can flourish.

If there are students who don’t reflect or uphold our code of ethics, please know that we do not affiliate with their views.

We are aiming to foster transformations for curious writers who align with our values.

This is not a space where any form of discrimination will be tolerated.

This is a space that strives to be generous, safe, supportive, and respectful for everyone.

This is a space of belonging.

We want you to be celebrated if you choose to write from your own experience. We create a brave learning environment that encourages dialogue, mutual learning and responsibility. Please share your experience, if you feel comfortable doing so.

Now that our stance is clear, here are the tangible steps we are taking in our programming:

DECOLONIZE AND DIVERSIFY OUR PROGRAMMING

• Centre the works of BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, disabled writers, and other underrepresented groups within our courses, readings, and overall programming.
• Train teachers so that they are prepared to acknowledge and discuss how racial trauma affects BIPOC students.

DIVERSIFY OUR FACULTY AND STUDENTS

• Hire teachers and team members who are more representative of the inclusive culture we are trying to foster.

MAKE OUR CONTENT MORE ACCESSIBLE

• Add captions to our videos.
• Provide transcripts for audio recordings.
• Make sure course content is available in different formats to suit different needs.
• Audit our online content and update it according to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

NURTURE A hEART-CENTERED ONLINE CLASSROOM 

• Critique sessions have a supportive framework that focuses on positive transformations.
• Our critique document includes guidance on how to have a more nuanced understanding when engaging with race in stories.
• Guidance on how to engage with stories, cultures, and traditions that are not your own with empathy and respect.
• Foster a safe and supportive environment where “write what you want to read” is inclusive of everyone.

TRANSPARENCY

• Be honest about where our efforts are in improving things right now and where we want to be in the future. 

FAIR COMPENSATION

• Put people over profit: pay our teachers, guest authors, and other faculty very well.

MENTAL HEALTH AND PROCESSING SUPPORT

• In the Story Course Intensive, our mental health consultant is available for a Q&A call during the program if requested. They’ll provide direction as our writers work through the sometimes confronting and personal aspects of storytelling.

Thank you for taking the time to read our Ethics page.

Get in touch

We know that we are always learning, and continue to shine light into unseen areas of perception. Have questions or suggestions on how we can take our ethics further?

Send us an email.