Sheridan Professor Launches Debut Novel to Widespread Acclaim

Thea Lim, a professor in Sheridan’s Honours Bachelor of Creative Writing and Publishing program, has been receiving critical acclaim for her debut novel, An Ocean of Minutes, since it was published at the end of June. CBC Books describes it as “a gorgeous, devastating novel about courage, yearning, the cost of holding onto the past and the price of letting it go.” Lim herself describes the book as “either a rip-roaring time travel love story, or a contemplative inquiry into the nature of displacement, the global economy, and what it means to be mortal.”  

Born in Toronto, Lim grew up mostly in Singapore. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Houston, and a BA in Political Science from the University of Toronto. She published a novella, The Same Woman, in 2007, and has seen her work appear in The Southampton Review, GRIST, The Guardian, Salon, and Utne Reader, among other publications.

Professor Lim joined Sheridan in September, 2017 as faculty in the new Honours Bachelor of Creative Writing and Publishing, a unique program that allows students to pursue their interests in writing, publishing and literary studies, while also pursuing courses in the arts and business that support their individual goals.

The program has attracted students like Sara Ibrahim, who tried other educational avenues before learning of the creative writing and publishing program. Ibrahim had been developing her writing skills over the past ten years, but the program and specifically Lim have changed her outlook. “While I felt fiction and non-fiction were things I knew well, with Thea I learned new ways of reading and writing.  I discovered new things about the structure of stories, about how characters move the story, and how poetry and non-fiction are linked,” she says. “Anyone who has taught knows how hard it is to teach someone who thinks they know everything there is to know about a topic, but Thea surprised me by teaching me about things I thought I already knew.”

The Honours Bachelor of Creative Writing and Publishing is taught by faculty who have collectively written and edited in nearly every genre. To learn more, click here.

To see some of the reviews of An Ocean of Minutes, click on the links below.

https://www.cbc.ca/books/an-ocean-of-minutes-1.4480635

https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/reviews/2018/06/29/thea-lims-book-an-ocean-of-minutes-draws-on-the-best-of-old-and-new-canlit.html

https://nowtoronto.com/culture/books/thea-lim-ocean-of-minutes/

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/thea-lim/an-ocean-of-minutes/

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/an-ocean-of-minutes-by-thea-lim-review-a-timely-debut-novel-1.3524089

Pictured at top of page: Thea Lim. Photo by Elisha Lim.