The school was started by Jay Millar and Jenny Sampirisi and according to Sampirisi, “The whole idea is to fill what we see as a huge gap in the writing and educational communities by offering courses that don’t necessarily lead to a ‘marketable’ end product, like a crime novel or a screenplay, but actually engage people in the process and art of thinking about language and writing. With many of the courses that are available through the universities, there’s little room for thinking about writing and language as a practice that is grounded in history, in theory and in experimentation. The writers who facilitate the classes at TNSoW have a genuine curiosity about the topics their courses deal with. It’s not only something they practice, but something they’ve spent a lot of time thinking about. They’re invested in and excited about this stuff, and that goes a long way to getting other writers excited about it too.”

The TNSoW web site allows school staff to completely manage class and workshop listings while visitors to the TNSoW web site can read complete information on all upcoming classes and instructors, view a complete online course calendar, join the TNSoW email list, and sign-up and pay for classes through the online order system.

During the one year period from January 2011 to January 2012 the TNSoW web site delivered a 500% return on investment and helped turn an idea into a very successful business venture.

“John has taken the Toronto New School of Writing from a group of artists with an idea, to a recognizable brand with a national reach. John has allowed the New School to compete with the big players and has created a product that appeals to audiences previously unavailable to us.” – Jenny Sampirisi, TNSoW

You can visit the TNSoW web site here: http://www.tnsow.com

Known to it’s legion of loyal customers and fans simply as, The Hairy-T, the store and it’s friendly and knowledgeable staff have been serving the video, gaming, and comic needs of customers of all ages for years.

The new site will focus on providing customers with as much pre-visit information as possible including event listings, buy lists, reviews, and news and information on current and upcoming product releases. In addition, the new site will include an online store where customers from all across Canada will be able to purchase all their DVD, video game, Manga, board game, and card game needs from one convenient location and have them shipped directly to their door.

In his lifetime, Governor General award winner Robert Kroetsch made an important contribution to the Canadian literary landscape publishing approximately seven works of non-fiction, nine works of fiction, and 14 collections of poetry.

The primary goal of the web site is to provide the world with access to media and information pertaining to this important Canadian literary icon, as well as a place to blog about Robert Kroetsch and his work.