Toronto’s literary and cultural scene is full of independent organizations making creative work that reflects the diversity and energy of our city. From local publishing houses such as Coach House Press, to small artists’ studios in paper-making, letterpress printing, and graphic communication, this city is home to material makers and visual artists engaging with words and with books. For this LEAF project, I developed and implemented a materials-based approach to teaching creative writing that connects hands-on practices in book-making and publishing with writing and literary creative practice. The pilot course in this initiative was a 3rd year creative writing class on ‘chapbooks’ (small literary handmade pamphlet-sized books). The course combined a historical examination of the small-run chapbook as a medium for literary production (through visits to the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library and the Massey College Library) with a project-based approach in which students wrote and made their own chapbooks in small runs of 25 copies over the course of the semester.