Masters Degrees (Writing)

Visit our website for more information on fees, scholarships, postgraduate loans and other funding options to study Creative Writing (Extended) at Swansea University - 'Welsh University of the Year 2017' (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017).

The MA in Creative Writing is a unique programme that offers integrated training in the writing of literary and media text. The MA in Creative Writing is taught by prize-winning writers of fiction, poetry and drama who provide core training and individual pathways in the major genres of contemporary literary and media writing. Modules on the Creative Writing programme are taught through workshop sessions, group work and one-to-one mentoring between students and a tutor. Courses include the writing of prose fiction, poetry, drama, screenwriting and creative nonfiction. Writers and representatives from the arts world and the publishing industry are invited to address the MA Creative Writing group about creative work and publishing. We have strong links with Swansea’s Dylan Thomas Centre, which offers a lively programme of events throughout the year.

The Extended MA (EMA) in Creative Writing is a 240-credit postgraduate qualification that is equivalent to 120 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) and is thus a recognised Masters qualification throughout the European Union. The EMA is a standard UK MA plus an additional 60 credits (30 ECTS) and this additional coursework is undertaken in one semester at a partner institution overseas. The EMA is therefore not only an EU recognised postgraduate qualification it also adds a study abroad experience thus enhancing the qualification’s employability credentials.

Key Features of the MA in Creative Writing

- The MA in Creative Writing is taught by experienced writers and offers a wide range of writing genres including fiction, short story, poetry, drama, screenwriting and creative non-fiction.

- Drama writing is a particular strength, including the relatively new and unexplored field of Dramaturgy.

- Regular play readings and students' dramatic writing is often performed by professional actors in the Rough Diamonds mini-festival in the summer.

- Creative Writers have a close relationship with National Theatre Wales and also open-mic poetry events at local venues such as the Dylan Thomas Centre and Howl.

- There is scope for work experience with local publishers.

- The writing programme has an online journal, The Swansea Review, and students write for The Siren, a student-run online journal, and The Waterfront student newspaper.

- Creative Writing students have free membership of Literature Wales, the national literature promotion agency.

- Students are involved in the annual Writers’ Day at the Dylan Thomas Centre, where they meet editors, agents, publishers and writers to discuss the ins and outs of publication and the craft of writing.

- Students are part of a vibrant community of writers and artists – Swansea, the birthplace of Dylan Thomas, having a fair claim to being Wales’s city of culture.

- The programme has connection with and experience of the unique literary culture of Wales, home to possibly the oldest (but still vibrant) bardic tradition in Europe.

Modules

Modules on the MA in Creative Writing typically include:

• Writing Fiction

• Writing Poetry

• Genre: Writing for Stage

• Creative Non-Fiction and Travel Writing

• Nature Writing

• Screenwriting

• Writing Radio Drama

• The Art of Short Story

• Writing the Self

• International Dramaturgy

Who should Apply?

Students or Professionals interested in Creative and Professional Writing. Students interested in preparation for postgraduate research, MPhil or PhD.

MA in Creative Writing Aims

- To offer students the chance to belong to a warmly supportive community of writers, passionate about their art.

- To give students the opportunity to discuss literary matters with agents, editors and publishers.

- To provide active participation in Swansea’s burgeoning literary scene and have students’ dramatic writing performed by professional actors at the Dylan Thomas Literature Centre.

- To offer research seminars presented by eminent creative writers and academics.

- To develop study and research skills in Creative Writing research and practice methodologies.

Career Prospects

Career expectations are excellent for Creative Writing graduates. MA degree holders enter careers in professional and creative writing, publishing, education, global marketing and advertising, media, business, heritage and tourism, and performing arts. Some graduates go on to pursue further postgraduate study leading to a PhD and a career in Academia.

Student Quote

"Since graduating with an MA with Distinction in Creative Writing from Swansea University, I have published three collections of poetry, founded Grievous Jones Press, and begun lecturing in Creative Writing. In the near future I will finish my PhD in Creative Writing and have books forthcoming with Blackheath Books and Seren Books. The training, experience, and rigour of the Swansea MA in Creative Writing was invaluable for launching my career as a writer and publisher. Without the inspiration, guidance, and critique of the excellent faculty and peers, my own writing would not have grown and my flame for creation might have faltered."

David Oprava, Creative Writing, MA

Read less

Course Overview

​The MA Creative Writing at Cardiff Metropolitan University is taught by published writers and researchers. The course is aimed to support you while you develop and hone your critical and creative writing skills, particularly in the field of fiction. You can take our MA for professional development purposes, in order to enhance your career, and to increase your likelihood of publication. The MA will also help you specialise in the areas of creative practice and contemporary writing in order to pave the way for doctoral study.

We have expertise across a number of fields and our academic community is vibrant and dynamic with strong industry links. We have a focus on the contemporary that is underpinned with expertise in historical periods.

One of the great strengths of the programme is its flexibility. MA Creative Writing can be studied either full or part time. Modules can be taken individually, allowing you to control the pace and depth of your postgraduate study. Programme delivery is enhanced by the university's commitment to e-learning.

See the website https://www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/education/courses/Pages/Creative-Writing---MA.aspx

​Course Content​​

All of our modules are co​re and are delivered over one year full time or two years part time.

Term 1
- Researching Humanities
Researching Humanities will introduce you to research methods at MA level. The module provides a thorough breakdown of research methods across the fields of Creative Writing and English Literature. This module is taught across all of our MA Creative Writing and English Literature pathways and it is also a great opportunity for you to get to know your peers.

- Short Story Writing
Short Story Writing provides a thorough introduction to the short story. This is done through two distinct, but integrated, approaches: a critical analysis of the development of the short story, with particular focus on twentieth century and contemporary writing; and through the creative practice itself. Each week you'll be encouraged to explore key techniques and approaches in your own writing through writing workshops.

- New & Experimental Writing
In New and Experimental Writing you will encounter a range of transgressive texts from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Starting with the avant-garde, the module proceeds chronologically to the contemporary. We interrogate what it means to transgress aesthetic norms at various points in time and take into consideration historical and cultural context to consider whether there might be a connection between the challenging of literary and social standards. You will be able to approach these texts via a number of methodologies, including theoretical and creative.

Term 2
- Novel Writing
Novel Writing extends and deepens your engagement with fiction writing. The module provides you with a thorough introduction to the novel as a distinct fictional genre focussing on the contemporary. As well as examining key works, you'll also be working on your own creative practice. A key part of the module focuses on the preparation of your work for publication.

- Writing the City
In Writing the City you'll explore representations of urban space through set texts and in your own creative writing. In this module you’ll examine texts that explore the urban in literary fiction, particularly throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

- Critical Practice
Critical Practice prepares you for your dissertation through which you'll be able to submit a substantial body of creative work along with a contextualising critical commentary.

- Dissertation
The Dissertation module is your opportunity to create a portfolio of writing, such as a collection of short stories or an excerpt of a novel that you are working on. The creative work will be accompanied by a critical reflection in which you contextualise your writing within a critical framework and with reference to other texts.

Learning & Teaching​

​Most modules are taught through group workshops and seminars. Some modules will also include individual tutorials and the dissertation module is delivered entirely through one-to-one tutorials with your supervisor.

In workshops and seminars full use is made of University technology and course materials will be delivered and stored through our Virtual Learning Environment. It will be possible for you to access the Virtual Learning Environment remotely and you will be encouraged to do so.

Most modules are 20 or 30 credits although we also have a 10 credit module and the dissertation is worth 60 credits. In a 10 credit module you will receive 11 hours of timetabled teaching and you will be expected to conduct 89 hours of independent study. In a 20 credit module you will receive 22 hours of timetabled teaching and you will be expected to conduct 178 hours of independent study. In a 30 credit module you will receive 33 hours of timetabled teaching and you will be expected to conduct 267 hours of independent study. The 60 credit dissertation is mainly conducted with independent study. You will receive 6 hours of tutorial supervision (this includes supervisors looking over your work) and you will be expected to conduct 594 hours of independent study.

Each student is appointed a personal tutor who will be available for academic advice, pastoral support and personal development planning. Tutors also have weekly office hours.

A critical but supportive environment is achieved through a combination of workshops, research seminars and e-learning. You will be introduced to the practicalities of preparing and submitting your work for publication.

Assessment

We have a variety of approaches to assessment across the programme depending upon the module. All creative practice modules (Short Story Writing, Novel Writing, Dissertation) are assessed through portfolios of creative work and accompanying critical essays in which you are required to reflect on your creative practice and to contextualise your work with reference to other texts. These modules also include class-based formative peer-assessment in the form of writing workshops. These do not count towards your final grade but the sessions do help you grow and reflect as a critical and creative writer.

In some modules (New and Experimental Writing, Writing the City) you can choose your method of assessment (creative portfolio and critical essay, or essay, or reflection, for example).

In the introductory Researching the Humanities module you will be ask to produce a visual representation of a chosen research method, in the form of a poster. In other modules, such as Writing the City, you will be asked to post your work to a reflective blog.

Modules also make use of Virtual Learning Environments for assessments and you may be asked to view material online and then to respond to it.

You will receive tutor support in class and through our VLE in order to prepare you for each assessment point. We also have library facilities online and at campus.

Employability & Careers​

Many of our students use the course to generate and hone their own writing for publication. Our creative practice modules are designed with eventual publication in mind. For example, in our Novel Writing module you will be taught how to write a synopsis for submission to an agent or publisher. Several of our students have had publication success (see below).

The MA is also a great choice for those wishing to enhance their employment and professional opportunities in editorial and publishing careers. The programme is suitable for those who would like to become teachers of creative writing or who are already teachers. For example, teachers of English at ‘A’ Level and GCSE often find the course suitable for professional development purposes, providing them with skills to enhance their teaching of creative writing within their current curricula or skilling them up to deliver the new Creative Writing ‘A’ Level.

Our MA is appropriate for those who would like careers in community-based education and practice. The course also prepares you for further study at PhD level at Cardiff Metropolitan University and beyond.

This degree will encourage you to develop the valuable transferable skills of autonomy, effective collaboration, self-direction, organisation, initiative and adaptability that are highly regarded in the workplace.

Recent student publishing successes:
Barbara A Stensland (MA Creative Writing) writes a blog about living with MS that has recently been published as a book, Stumbling in Flats (2015). It has been shortlisted for The International Rubery Book Award 2015.

Emre Karatoprak (MA Creative Writing) had his first novel published on Amazon, Türbülans (2013).

Alex Sambrook (MA Creative Writing) had a short story shortlisted in the prestigious Bridport Short Story Competition (2012).

Stacey Taylor, (MA English & Creative Writing), won the It Started With a Kiss competition run by Authonomy in November 2011 with a 416 word flash fiction.

Find information on Scholarships here https://www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/scholarships

Find out how to apply here https://www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/howtoapply

Read less

Visit our website for more information on fees, scholarships, postgraduate loans and other funding options to study Creative Writing at Swansea University - 'Welsh University of the Year 2017' (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017).

The MA in Creative Writing is a unique programme that offers integrated training in the writing of literary and media text. The MA in Creative Writing is taught by prize-winning writers of fiction, poetry and drama who provide core training and individual pathways in the major genres of contemporary literary and media writing. Modules on the Creative Writing programme are taught through workshop sessions, group work and one-to-one mentoring between students and a tutor. Courses include the writing of prose fiction, poetry, drama, screenwriting and creative nonfiction. Writers and representatives from the arts world and the publishing industry are invited to address the MA Creative Writing group about creative work and publishing. We have strong links with Swansea’s Dylan Thomas Centre, which offers a lively programme of events throughout the year.

Key Features of the MA in Creative Writing

- The MA in Creative Writing is taught by experienced writers and offers a wide range of writing genres including fiction, short story, poetry, drama, screenwriting and creative non-fiction.

- Drama writing is a particular strength, including the relatively new and unexplored field of Dramaturgy.

- Regular play readings and students' dramatic writing is often performed by professional actors in the Rough Diamonds mini-festival in the summer.

- Creative Writers have a close relationship with National Theatre Wales and also open-mic poetry events at local venues such as the Dylan Thomas Centre and Howl.

- There is scope for work experience with local publishers.

- The writing programme has an online journal, The Swansea Review, and students write for The Siren, a student-run online journal, and The Waterfront student newspaper.

- Creative Writing students have free membership of Literature Wales, the national literature promotion agency.

- Students are involved in the annual Writers’ Day at the Dylan Thomas Centre, where they meet editors, agents, publishers and writers to discuss the ins and outs of publication and the craft of writing.

- Students are part of a vibrant community of writers and artists – Swansea, the birthplace of Dylan Thomas, having a fair claim to being Wales’s city of culture.

- The programme has connection with and experience of the unique literary culture of Wales, home to possibly the oldest (but still vibrant) bardic tradition in Europe.

Modules

Modules on the MA in Creative Writing typically include:

• Writing Fiction

• Writing Poetry

• Genre: Writing for Stage

• Creative Non-Fiction and Travel Writing

• Nature Writing

• Screenwriting

• Writing Radio Drama

• The Art of Short Story

• Writing the Self

• International Dramaturgy

Who should Apply?

Students or Professionals interested in Creative and Professional Writing. Students interested in preparation for postgraduate research, MPhil or PhD.

MA in Creative Writing Aims

- To offer students the chance to belong to a warmly supportive community of writers, passionate about their art.

- To give students the opportunity to discuss literary matters with agents, editors and publishers.

- To provide active participation in Swansea’s burgeoning literary scene and have students’ dramatic writing performed by professional actors at the Dylan Thomas Literature Centre.

- To offer research seminars presented by eminent creative writers and academics.

- To develop study and research skills in Creative Writing research and practice methodologies.

Career Prospects

Career expectations are excellent for Creative Writing graduates. MA degree holders enter careers in professional and creative writing, publishing, education, global marketing and advertising, media, business, heritage and tourism, and performing arts. Some graduates go on to pursue further postgraduate study leading to a PhD and a career in Academia.

Student Quote

"Since graduating with an MA with Distinction in Creative Writing from Swansea University, I have published three collections of poetry, founded Grievous Jones Press, and begun lecturing in Creative Writing. In the near future I will finish my PhD in Creative Writing and have books forthcoming with Blackheath Books and Seren Books. The training, experience, and rigour of the Swansea MA in Creative Writing was invaluable for launching my career as a writer and publisher. Without the inspiration, guidance, and critique of the excellent faculty and peers, my own writing would not have grown and my flame for creation might have faltered."

David Oprava, Creative Writing, MA

Read less

Course Overview

​MA English Literature & Creative Writing is a rewarding taught degree, combining the study of English Literature with the theoretical and practical component of fiction writing.

The MA is taught by published writers and researchers. The course is aimed to support you while you develop and hone your critical and creative writing skills, particularly in the field of fiction. You can take our MA for professional development purposes, in order to enhance your career and to increase your likelihood of publication. The MA will also help you specialise in the areas of creative practice as well as contemporary and historical literature in relation to place and space in order to pave the way for doctoral study.

We have expertise across a number of fields and our academic community is vibrant and dynamic with strong industry links.

The English Literature part of the degree analyses historic and contemporary textual representations of place, theorising cultural practices of location and space. The Creative Writing modules are specifically designed to develop you as a writer of fiction.

One of the great strengths of the programme is its flexibility. MA English Literature and Creative Writing can be studied either full or part time. Modules can be taken individually, allowing you to control the pace and depth of your postgraduate study. Programme delivery is enhanced by the university’s commitment to e-learning​.

See the website https://www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/education/courses/Pages/English-and-Creative-Writing---MA.aspx

Course Content​​

All of our modules are core and are delivered over one year full time or two years part time.
Term 1
- Researching Humanities
Researching Humanities will introduce you to research methods at MA level. The module provides a thorough breakdown of research methods across the fields of Creative Writing and English Literature. This module is taught across all of our MA Creative Writing and English Literature pathways and it is also a great opportunity for you to get to know your peers.

- Short Story Writing
Short Story Writing provides a thorough introduction to the short story. This is done through two distinct, but integrated, approaches: a critical analysis of the development of the short story, with particular focus on twentieth century and contemporary writing; and through the creative practice itself. Each week you'll be encouraged to explore key techniques and approaches in your own writing through writing workshops.

- Literature and Landscapes
In Literature and Landscapes, you’ll examine artistic and literary representations of landscape, and engage with the complex social, cultural and aesthetic factors that contribute to the formation of identity. The module provides a comparative foundation from which you’ll consider representations of the urban encountered in Writing the City.

Term 2
- Novel Writing
Novel Writing extends and deepens your engagement with fiction writing. The module provides you with a thorough introduction to the novel as a distinct fictional genre focussing on the contemporary. As well as examining key works, you'll also be working on your own creative practice. A key part of the module focuses on the preparation of your work for publication.

- Writing the City
In Writing the City you'll explore representations of urban space through set texts and in your own creative writing. In this module you’ll examine texts that explore the urban in literary fiction, particularly throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

- Critical Practice
Critical Practice prepares you for your dissertation through which you'll be able to submit a substantial body of creative work along with a contextualising critical commentary.

- Dissertation
The Dissertation module is your opportunity to create a portfolio of writing, such as a collection of short stories or an excerpt of a novel that you are working on. The creative work will be accompanied by a critical reflection in which you contextualise your writing within a critical framework and with reference to other texts.

Learning & Teaching​

​Most modules are taught through group workshops and seminars. Some modules will also include individual tutorials and the dissertation module is delivered entirely through one-to-one tutorials with your supervisor.

In workshops and seminars full use is made of University technology and course materials will be delivered and stored through our Virtual Learning Environment. It will be possible for you to access the Virtual Learning Environment remotely and you will be encouraged to do so.

Most modules are 20 or 30 credits although we also have a 10-credit module and the dissertation is worth 60 credits.

In a 10-credit module you will receive 11 hours of timetabled teaching and you will be expected to conduct 89 hours of independent study. In a 20-credit module you will receive 22 hours of timetabled teaching and you will be expected to conduct 178 hours of independent study. In a 30-credit module you will receive 33 hours of timetabled teaching and you will be expected to conduct 267 hours of independent study. The 60-credit dissertation is mainly conducted with independent study. You will receive 6 hours of tutorial supervision (this includes supervisors looking over your work) and you will be expected to conduct 594 hours of independent study.

Each student is appointed a personal tutor who will be available for academic advice, pastoral support and personal development planning. Tutors also have weekly office hours.

A critical but supportive environment is achieved through a combination of workshops, research seminars and e-learning. You will be introduced to the practicalities of preparing and submitting your work for possible publication.

Assessment

We have a variety of approaches to assessment across the programme depending upon the module. All creative practice modules (Short Story Writing, Novel Writing, Dissertation) are assessed through portfolios of creative work and accompanying critical essays in which you are required to reflect on your creative practice and to contextualise your work with reference to other texts. These modules also include class-based formative peer-assessment in the form of writing workshops. These do not count towards your final grade but the sessions do help you grow and reflect as a critical and creative writer.

In some modules (Writing the City) you can choose your method of assessment (creative portfolio and critical essay, or essay, or reflection, for example). In other modules (Literature and Landscapes) you will be asked to produce an essay.

In the introductory Researching the Humanities module you will be ask to produce a visual representation of a chosen research method, in the form of a poster. In other modules, such as Writing the City, you will be asked to post your work to a reflective blog.

Modules also make use of Virtual Learning Environments for assessments and you may be asked to view material online and then to respond to it.

You will receive tutor support in class and through our VLE in order to prepare you for each assessment point. We also have library facilities online and at campus.​

Employability & Careers​

Many of our students use the course to generate and hone their own writing for publication. Our creative practice modules are designed with eventual publication in mind. For example, in our Novel Writing module you will be taught how to write a synopsis for submission to an agent or publisher. Several of our students have had publication success (see below).

The MA is also a great choice for those wishing to enhance their employment and professional opportunities in editorial and publishing careers. The programme is suitable for those who would like to become teachers of English literature and creative writing as well as those who are already teachers. For example, teachers of English at ‘A’ Level and GCSE often find the course suitable for professional development purposes, providing them with skills to enhance their teaching of English literature creative writing within their current curricula or skilling them up to deliver the new Creative Writing ‘A’ Level.

Our MA is appropriate for those who would like careers in community-based education and practice. The course also prepares you for further study at PhD level at Cardiff Metropolitan University and beyond.

This degree will encourage you to develop the valuable transferable skills of autonomy, effective collaboration, self-direction, organisation, initiative and adaptability that are highly regarded in the workplace.

Recent student publishing successes:
Barbara A Stensland (MA Creative Writing) writes a blog about living with MS that has recently been published as a book, Stumbling in Flats (2015). It has been shortlisted for The International Rubery Book Award 2015.

Emre Karatoprak (MA Creative Writing) had his first novel published on Amazon, Türbülans (2013).

Alex Sambrook (MA Creative Writing) had a short story shortlisted in the prestigious Bridport Short Story Competition (2012).

​Stacey Taylor, (MA English & Creative Writing), won the It Started With a Kiss competition run by Authonomy in November 2011 with a 416 word flash fiction.

Find information on Scholarships here https://www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/scholarships

Find out how to apply here https://www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/howtoapply

Read less

Do you have a passion and talent for writing? Want to develop your confidence and ability as a writer and dream of being published?

Our MA in Creative Writing at Northumbria offers you the opportunity to explore your writing craft at an advanced level. You’ll gain a solid grounding in the techniques and skills of writing fiction, learn how to critique your own work and experiment with your writing voice.

A combination of core and option modules gives you the chance to develop your critical and analytical thinking. This course builds on your passion for creative writing, enhancing your career prospects as you develop a portfolio that reflects a broad range of genres.

You’ll graduate as a critical thinker with skills that will help you make a big difference in your chosen area of work and creative practice.

This course can also be taken part time, for more information, please view this web-page: https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/study-at-northumbria/courses/creative-writing-dtpcwr6/

Learn From The Best

Creative Writing at Northumbria enjoys international recognition for the quality of teaching and research, and our publications in Creative Writing and English Studies are ranked 15th in the country for their quality, by the 2014 Research Excellence Framework.

Our Creative Writing team is made up of award-winning novelist and poets, who are major figures in their field. Furthermore, through our partnership with New Writing North, the foremost literary promotion agency in the north of England, we give you opportunities to meet and learn from agents, publishers, and writers from across the country.

Teaching And Assessment

We aim to challenge you, to offer new insights and ways of thinking, while providing a firm grounding in creative writing techniques. You’re encouraged to experiment with and develop your own writing voice while being aware of the demands of the writing industry.

Workshops, seminars, critiquing sessions and small groups led by writers and editors provide an intellectually stimulating environment within which you can develop confidence in literary forms and techniques.

You’ll produce a portfolio of creative writing, including an accompanying commentary for assessment for each module. This is a substantial body of work that demonstrates your ability to develop your own writing voice and edit your own work.

You will build up your skills through core and option modules assessed by formative (non-graded) and summative (graded) assignments. A virtual learning platform (Blackboard) offers you space to share ideas, engage with interactive tasks and access online resources including reading lists.

Module Overview
EF0126 - E.S.A.P. in FADSS Level 7 (Optional, 0 Credits)
EL7010 - Approaches to Writing (Optional, 30 Credits)
EL7011 - Creativity (Core, 30 Credits)
EL7012 - Experiments in Form (Optional, 30 Credits)
EL7020 - Professional Practice: Writing in an Industry Context (Core, 30 Credits)
EL7023 - Writing Research 1 (Optional, 30 Credits)
EL7024 - Writing Portfolio (Core, 60 Credits)
EL7025 - Writing Research 2 (Optional, 30 Credits)

Learning Environment

Humanities at Northumbria is composed of three subject teams: History, Literature & Creative Writing, and English Language & Linguistics, and is also developing strengths in the fields of American Studies and Heritage Studies.

The Humanities department is made up of a community of learners all the way through from first year undergraduate to final year PhD level. All Humanities staff are engaged in research and actively create the knowledge that is taught in the department. Our Creative Writing team are all published and highly acclaimed for their work.

Creative Writing students, as part of Northumbria’s Humanities department, have access to the new Institute for Humanities which houses a range of specialist research resources. You’ll also get the chance to work with a range of cultural partners including New Writing North, who provide unique opportunities for creative writers.

The research of the Institute brings together the disciplines of Art History, American Studies, Creative Writing, English Language and Linguistics, English Literature, History and Media Studies.

Research-Rich Learning

We are recognised for world-leading research in all our Humanities’ disciplines. Our staff have attracted major funding from Research Councils UK as well as the British Academy, Leverhulme Trust and Nuffield Foundation.

Northumbria is rated in the UK top 15 for the quality of its English Literature, Language and Creative Writing publications. You can explore some of the key themes here.

The Creative Writing team work across a range of genres and their interests encompass everything from identity, displacement and narratives of cultural difference to astronomy and visual perception, and how we represent animals in language.

You will join a lively community that regularly gives public readings and, through our association with the regional writing agency New Writing North, is formally involved with the Durham Book Festival and the Northern Writers' Awards.

Furthermore, you will have the opportunity to engage with the activities of the Institute for Humanities, which is home to five international journals and which regularly hosts an exciting range of seminars, symposia and conferences on topics as varied as Memory, Heritage and Identity; Transnationalism and Societal Change; Digital Humanities; Medical Humanities; and American Studies.

Give Your Career An Edge

Employability, in the form of critical and creative skills, presentation skills and reflective and evaluative abilities, is embedded into your course. You will be able to demonstrate that you are self-motivated, show initiative and personal responsibility, and possess a thirst for independent learning.

During your course, you’ll be in constant contact with a range of professionals working in the arts and creative industries, helping you to build up networks and gain relevant experience.

All modules play a crucial role in developing the advanced skills and attributes necessary for employment, including effective time and workload management, oral and written communication, teamwork and creative analysis of complex problems. The core module, Professional Practice, is designed to give you insight into the world of literary publishing.

You will graduate with a qualification which may enhance your promotion prospects in professions such as the literary industries, partnerships and agencies, marketing and advertising.

Your Future

Given the postgraduate nature of this course the tutors (all published writers themselves) will be looking for signs of the ability to write at a professional level.

MA graduates have achieved notable success. Dan Smith publishes novels for adults and younger readers, most recently Boy X. Celia Bryce is an acclaimed novelist whose book Anthem for Jackson Dawes was nominated for the Carnegie Medal in 2014.

Helen Laws is a highly successful TV scriptwriter who originated 32 Brinkburn Street for BBC TV and has written for Casualty, Eastenders, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Shameless and Doctors. She says the MA taught her the importance of story and gave her the confidence to keep trying.

There are also opportunities for you to advance your studies further with advice in writing PhD and funding applications available.

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About the course

The Aberystwyth MA in Creative Writing will help you develop your creative vision and writing abilities through a balanced programme of reading, analysis and writing workshops. You will be exposed to a range of contemporary writers of both prose and poetry, so that your own creative approach may be stimulated and develop in confidence and maturity. You will also engage in discussions about technique and undertake an exploration of the wider issues related to the practice of writing, such as the significance of genre and the mechanics of publication.

You will receive individual tuition from the excellent Departmental staff, all of whom are published creative writers. Under their guidance, you will produce a substantial portfolio in the form of a collection of poetry or an extended piece of prose fiction. In addition, you will develop a host of key transferrable skills that will benefit you in a range of academic or employment contexts.

This degree will suit you:

- If you want comprehensive training in advanced methods of creative writing
- If you want to develop your creative vision and writing skills to the highest levels
- If you are looking for a detailed and constructive critique of your work
- If you want to work within a dynamic and supportive environment while producing a portfolio of creative writing

Course content and structure

You will study two core modules together with four option modules from the Department’s portfolio of MA provision or other relevant study areas, including Literary Studies. The core modules will equip you with the research skills and subject-specific knowledge required to master a range of practical and theoretical approaches to writing; and the option modules will enable you to direct your study into areas of specific interest. Each module comprises ten weeks of study with a weekly two-hour group meeting and provision for tutorial consultation. This framework for learning will inspire you to widen your artistic horizons and push you to develop your abilities within a constructive critical environment.

The centrally important component of the course is your Writing Portfolio. This piece, to comprise either prose or poetry, will be accompanied by a critical commentary explaining the work in its context and in appropriate analytical terms. We will take great care in assigning a supervisor to guide you whose interests will be as closely matched to your own as possible.

Core modules:

Research Skills
The Writing Portfolio
Writing and Publication

Optional modules:

Writing Fiction: Methods and Techniques
Writing Poetry: Rhymes and Reasons
Understanding Creativity
Writing Fiction: Wider Explorations
Writing Poetry: Modes in Contemporary Poetry

Assessment

Assessment takes the form of: portfolios of prose and poetry, including critical commentaries and annotated bibliographies; a case study of a research project; and a study of a particular publisher of creative writing or type of publication. In the third semester, each student will complete a Writing Portfolio of creative writing with a critical commentary. The Portfolio can be in the form of poetry (30 pages plus 6,000 words) or prose fiction (14,000 plus 6000 words), but not a combination of the two.

Employability

Every MA course at Aberystwyth University is specifically designed to enhance your employability. In addition to developing your writing and research abilities. This course will help you to master key skills that are required in wide variety of workplaces. You will be pushed to improve your approaches to planning, analysis and presentation so that you can tackle complex projects thoroughly and with professional independence, and confidently present robust projects to the scrutiny of a group. Your MA in Creative Writing will place you in the jobs marketplace as a professional writer with highly desirable skills suitable for a career in the arts, literature, journalism or many other fields.

Key Skills and Competencies

Upon graduating from this MA in Creative Writing, you will have mastered an array of technical and creative skills relating to writing. You will be highly competent in factual research, evaluative writing and problem-solving through the process of writing. You will understand genre and register, narrative viewpoint and voice, and be able to justify your creative choices within your chosen form. You will possess an awareness of your intended readership and identify your place in the wider context of literary fiction and/or poetry. You will also have experience in giving and receiving stringent but supportive criticism within a positive group setting.

Self-Motivation and Discipline

Studying at MA level requires high levels of discipline and self-motivation from every candidate. Though you will have access to the expertise and helpful guidance of Departmental staff, you are ultimately responsible for devising and completing a sustained programme of scholarly research in pursuit of your MA degree. This process will strengthen your skills in planning, executing and analysing work projects in ways that reflect standard practice in the world of employed work.

Transferable Skills

The MA is designed to give you a range of transferable skills that you can apply in a variety of academic and employment contexts. A significant proportion of postgraduate jobs demand both particular expertise and strength in breadth. Therefore, as a trained writer with proven creative abilities, you will be desirable to any employer seeking individuals who can balance creative flair and artistic vision with a dependable work ethic and highly adaptable writing skills.

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This course is subject to validation.

The Creative Writing MAs at Canterbury Christ Church offer stimulating courses with a commercial edge, taught by experienced tutors who are successful writers themselves. We believe that all writers need a core toolkit of skills, but we also understand that our students often want to specialise in an area of writing about which they’re passionate; that’s why we offer pathways in Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror, Commercial Fiction, Writing for Children and Creative Non-Fiction. Our courses are designed with busy lives in mind, and are taught through a combination of intensive weekends, high-quality distance learning and one-to-one tutorials, either in person or via Skype. We also offer a strong focus on developing professional practice in writers, looking at skills such as self-presentation, pitching and understanding the publishing industry.

Our Pathways

Commercial Fiction:
Students selecting this pathway will explore literary and more commercial forms of creative writing, fiction, poetry and non-fiction. This degree will appeal to students who wish to generally enrich their writing skills, or whose practice falls broadly into these areas.

Fantasy, Science-Fiction and Horror:
This pathway is aimed at students who wish to specialise in speculative fiction genres. You will develop a detailed understanding of the history and diversity of these literary forms, and work on techniques such as world-building, metaphor and narrative structure.

Creative Non-Fiction:
This pathway allows students to explore the creative aspects of non-fiction writing, including memoir, features journalism and travel/nature writing. Students will explore the creative tension between fact and fiction, and will develop practical skills in pitching and selling their work.

Writing for Children:
An ideal choice for those who want to develop a career in writing novels, picture books or children’s non-fiction, this pathway will develop the specific writing skills needed for writing for under-12s, and give students a practical understanding of issues such as the specific publishing environment for this practice, working with illustrators and interfacing with school curricula.

Steeped in literary history, Canterbury is an excellent setting for the next chapter of your Creative Writing story. Canterbury Christ Church University is a young, dynamic university, and the degree is run by a team of writers who have live experience of the publishing market. We pride ourselves in taking innovative approaches to the way our students learn, offering flexible options that help you to fit an MA into your life. We also have strong links to publishers, agents and literary festivals, and work hard to create opportunities for our students to develop their writing practice and career.

The MA Creative Writing includes core modules in The Craft of Writing, Professional Practice and Research Skills, which develop a toolkit for great writing across all genres. In all other modules, you will specialise in your chosen pathway of either Commercial Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction, Writing for Children or Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Horror. You will study in guided reading groups to develop a critical understanding (and warm appreciation) of your specialised area of writing, and will work intensively to develop your practice in termly residential weekends. Finally, every student submits a 15,000 word piece of extended writing, working closely with a prominent writer from their chosen area of specialism.

Who Is The Course For?

The programme is aimed at adults who are passionate about writing, and want to hone their craft while developing an understanding of the publishing market and how to access it. Unlike traditional MAs, we ensure that our teaching falls outside of office hours, which allows students to learn at times that suit them. It may appeal to recent graduates who wish to specialise further in their chosen writing practice, or to adult learners who have been writing independently for a while, and are now ready to take the next steps towards a writing career. We are proud to work with many mature students, and aim to continue to do so in the future.

Students completing this MA could go on to a Creative Writing PhD, or could undertake a teaching qualification to take their practice into a school, FE or HE setting.

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Do you enjoy writing about people, places and wildlife? Are you interested in environmental issues in Britain and around the world? Would you like to be published, and make a living as a travel or nature writer? Then this course is for you.

The MA in Travel and Nature Writing focuses on learning to write from your own experience in the field. You’ll develop your writing skills and techniques, learn from established writers, and examine the history, context and genres of travel and nature writing.

By meeting practitioners – writers, editors, agents and publishers – you’ll gain a unique insight into the professional skills you require to get your writing published.

This low-residency course allows you to be based wherever you wish, so you can pursue your academic work while maintaining your current lifestyle. It can be taken full-time over one year, or part-time over two.

COURSE STRUCTURE

We aim to give you an understanding of issues and approaches to the representations of peoples, other species, habitats, places, cultures and environments in various kinds of writing. You’ll graduate with the ability to apply what you’ve learnt to your own professional practice.

You’ll study:

• A mix of thematic topics represented by a variety of writers.
• A balance between historical and contemporary writing.
• Issues raised by eco-tourism, conservation and environmentalism.
• Issues related to the experience and representation of people, wildlife and places in specific locations in the UK and elsewhere.
• The genres, and context of contemporary and historical travel and nature writing, and the history of our connections with the environment and the natural world.

MODULES

Writing in the Field is a broad introduction to the skills and techniques required to write from personal experience.whether about people, landscapes, the natural world, or a combination of all three. By using fieldcraft techniques, based on looking, listening, feeling and thinking, we explore ways of writing about the world around us.

Context, History and Genres in Travel and Nature Writing gives an overview, both broad and focused, on the key developments in the travel writing and nature writing genres over time; including analysis of historical trends, specific authors and works, the history and development of both ‘travel’ and ‘nature’ as social pastimes, and the contemporary scene.

In Advanced Travel and Nature Writing, you'll develop new ways of writing about the world: pushing the boundaries of your writing style and content in order to learn what works best for you as a writer.

Professional Skills in Travel and Nature Writing is a practical guide to getting your work published across a range of different media and outlets, including newspapers, magazines, websites, blogs, books and on TV and radio. Featuring advice from senior practitioners, editors and publishers. You’ll also learn to plan a trip requiring commissions, and do a pitch and interview of an idea for publication.

In A Portfolio of Travel and Nature Writing, you'll develop a 20,000 words portfolio of your best work, together with a reflective diary of your progress throughout the year.

For more information on modules please view our Course Handbook via our website: https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/courses/pg-travel-and-nature-writing/

TEACHING METHODS

A large part of the course is taught on three residential courses. You’ll undergo an intensive few days of creative writing, discussion, meetings with practitioners and commissioners and firsthand experience in the field. Please note that you’ll have to pay for travel, food and accommodation on the residential courses.

You’ll also learn online. You’ll have internet-based seminars and group discussions on Google Hangouts. You’ll also post your work on our Virtual Learning Environment, where your peers and tutors can critique it in detail.

For more information about teaching methods and how the course will be structured please go to our website: https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/courses/pg-travel-and-nature-writing/

ASSESSMENT

You’ll be assessed through a combination of formative and summative assessments. This will include creative writing pieces, critical and analytical essays, presentations and a broad portfolio of your writing.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

The course is designed to introduce students to the workings of various travel and nature writing publishing opportunities and prepare them for the submission of their own work. It will also equip them with the practical and business skills to operate as freelance writers.

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Why Surrey?

Our programme will build your confidence and technical ability in composing creative prose and/or poetry, while deepening your critical awareness of the cultural, literary and theoretical history of text production.

Teaching is research-led, so you benefit from the individual expertise and passion of a vibrant, multidisciplinary group of published authors and academics, including our Poet in Residence and Distinguished Writer in Residence.

Programme overview

The MA Creative Writing programme will hone your research and writing skills to produce critically informed prose or poetry, and creative criticism. We will help you to locate your work in its literary and cultural context, and you will have the chance to reflect on your creative process and the finished work.

You will have access to a yearly calendar of events hosted at the University created to broaden your thinking, and develop your writing skills such as the Morag Morris Poetry Lecture, the annual Surrey New Writers’ Festival and the Surrey Poetry Festival.

The MA in Creative Writing provides a strong foundation to embark upon a career in writing, communications, publishing, marketing, advertising, journalism or teaching, or to undertake a PhD.

Programme structure

This programme is studied full-time over one academic year and part-time over two academic years. It consists of eight taught modules and an extended portfolio.

Example module listing

The following modules are indicative, reflecting the information available at the time of publication. Please note that not all modules described are compulsory and may be subject to teaching availability and/or student demand.

• Research and Writing Skills
• Literary Scholarship and Creativity
• Creative Writing Workshop I
• Creative Writing Workshop II
• Creative Writing Portfolio
• Open Essay I
• Open Essay II
• Special Author I
• Special Author II
• Open Creative Piece I
• Open Creative Piece II
• Beat Writing
• Advanced Studies in 19th Century Literature
• Issues in Literary Translation
• Identity: Marketing and Communication in Practice
• Organisations and Written Communications
• Children’s Literature
• Screenwriting
• Writing Shamanism - Literature and Visual Media
• Magic, Mysticism, and Modernity
• Advanced Studies in Medieval Writing
• Narrative and the Body

Educational aims of the programme

The MA Programme in Creative Writing will prepare graduates to undertake a PhD programme in the relevant field.

It will also provide students with the transferable skills of creative writing, critical thinking, textual analysis and communication that are attractive to a wide range of employers, from the cultural industries to marketing and advertising to tourism and leisure to the civil service and public/private partnerships.

It is designed to build confidence and technical ability in a variety of modes of imaginative writing, and to provide students with a clear-eyed grounding in contemporary and historical contexts of text production and circulation, including practical advice on the workings of the publishing industry.

Devoted to assisting students to understand and meet the challenges of producing high quality creative writing in poetry and prose, the programme also provides advanced understanding of the contexts, theoretical paradigms, methodologies and modes of interpretation that are vital in a full understanding of literary production.

The main aims are to:

• Produce work that reflects a high level of technical ability and engages productively with its historical, cultural and literary contexts
• Acquire sound knowledge of the major principles of literary criticism
• Reflect on their own practice as literary critics and how this can help to improve their own creative practice

As a Master’s level programme, it also aims to instil in students the capacity for carrying out independent research.

Academics and events

As a student on this Masters, you will benefit from the expertise of a vibrant, multidisciplinary group of published academics and authors.

You will have access to a number of conferences, seminars and workshops hosted throughout the year. These events cover a range of topics to broaden your thinking in the fields of literature, language and linguistics, cultural studies and creative writing.

Writers to have recently visited the University of Surrey include:

Novelists

• Iain Sinclair
• Monica Ali
• Jaspreet Singh
• Nikita Lalwani

Poets

• J.H. Prynne
• Robert Fitterman
• Allen Fisher
• Gilbert Adair

Critics

• Rod Mengham
• Bernard O’Donoghue
• Barbara Hardy

Each year’s cultural activities begin with the Morag Morris Poetry Lecture on campus by a visiting speaker and feature readings by students at the Guildford School of Acting.

The annual Surrey New Writers’ Festival and Surrey Poetry Festival – both affiliated with the Creative Writing programmes at the University of Surrey – aim to engage with writing and creativity in dynamic ways, and involve readings, book signings, performances, panel discussions and more.

This graduate program is delivered by the University's Creative Writing team, all of whom are published authors and poets:

• Dr Paul Vlitos, Lecturer in Creative Writing
• Dr Holly Luhning, Lecturer in Creative Writing
• Dr Stephen Mooney, Lecturer in Creative Writing and former Poet in Residence
• Dr Angela Szczepaniak, Lecturer in Creative Writing

Global opportunities

We often give our students the opportunity to acquire international experience during their degrees by taking advantage of our exchange agreements with overseas universities.

In addition to the hugely enjoyable and satisfying experience, time spent abroad adds a distinctive element to your CV.

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The Postgraduate Diploma in Academic Writing Theory and Practice offers a new type of qualification aimed at graduates and professionals interested in studying, researching and teaching writing. The course focuses on writing, rhetoric and literacies research and on the ways this research informs the teaching of writing. The programme is based upon Coventry University’s international reputation in the teaching of academic writing at the Centre for Academic Writing.

WHY CHOOSE THIS COURSE?

As part of the programme, you will explore:
-Researching, theorising and conceptualising writing;
-Teaching academic writing to speakers of English as a second or additional language;
-Supporting the research writing of academics and other professionals;
-Professional academic writing development techniques;
-Writing programme management and development;
-Rhetorical theory.

As students on the Academic Writing course you will be able to:
-Research and analyse independently student and professional academic writing;
-Use your research and background knowledge to support native and non-native English-speaking writers;
-Develop and manage a writing programme;
-Support professional academic writing for publication, including publication-writing in English as an additional language.

WHAT WILL I LEARN?

Mandatory modules
-Teaching Academic Writing
-Supporting Academics, Postgraduates and Professionals in Writing for Publication
-Forms and Practices of Disciplinary Writing
-Writing Programme Development and Management
-Researching Academic and Professional Writing: Text Focus
-Researching Academic and Professional Writing: Practices and Processes
-Academic Writing and the Transnationalisation of Knowledge
-Rhetorical Theory

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Our MLitt in Writing Practice and Study is like no other Creative Writing course in the UK. Small, bespoke and intimate, it offers you an experience that gets you writing from week one and has you feeling like a "real" writer from the very start.

Why study Writing Practice & Study at Dundee?

This degree gives you the opportunity to translate creative interests into a fully accredited postgraduate programme of study, with flexibility and individual needs built into its delivery. It has been created and is directed by Professor Kirsty Gunn, an award winning international author whose work has been translated and published in a number of territories all over the world.

Our programme is distinctive in its approach and teaching, and highly engaged in the world of contemporary publishing, offering students the opportunity to meet with writers and publishers from around the UK and beyond and to take part in our varied and exciting range of literary activities, from performing their own work to being "showcased" at our Literary Festival.

You will learn how to:
Create and develop your own writing practice through a series of creative and practical workshops
Present and talk about your own work with authority and confidence - in the context of literary studies and a knowledge of the creative marketplace.
Read others' writing with sensitivity, intelligence and critical awareness.
Build a significant folio of creative work and develop this into work of a standard that is ready for formal presentation.
Each module can be studied separately, or as part of a full degree or diploma that can be taken part time or full time.

We can guarantee that your writing during the course of your programme will be productive, intellectually stimulating and highly creative.

What's so good about Writing Practice & Study at Dundee?

In addition to producing a range of finished work for assessment during the year, you will also learn about the details of publishing, finding agents, setting your work in a context and making the important connection between the scale and shape of your writing and your aspirations for it. You'll have the opportunity to undertake specialist master classes with top-name authors, and go on visits to sites of special interest for the creative student - in the past these have included the D'Arcy Thomson Museum and the Scottish Poetry Library.

Literary Dundee

With an annual Literary Festival, regular and varied literary salons, poetry workshops, readings from internationally renowned and local authors, and much more, the events organised under the umbrella of Literary Dundee complement the course perfectly.

"Studying for an MLitt gave me the time and opportunity to work on my debut novel which was published soon after I graduated. I found the teaching and supportive environment to be invaluable during that time and it has had a great impact on my confidence since."
Zoe Venditozzi - graduated MLitt 2012

Zoe's novel is Anywhere's Better Than Here, published by Sandstone Press Ltd

How you will be taught

The start date is September each year, and lasts for 12 months on a fulltime basis.

This programme is varied in delivery and content, comprising four-hour writing workshops to seminars to individual tutorials, helping you to develop practical, intelligent and highly creative methods by which you can approach your writing.

What you will study

During the first two semesters (September to December and January to April), students take the following core modules:

Creating Writing*
Studying Writing
Each student also selects two optional modules (40 credits each) from a list available each year. The currently available modules are:

Publishing Writing
Performing Writing
Refining Writing
Writing, Texts & Books
Planning Writing
You will then (from May to September) go on to undertake a dissertation worth 60 credits. You develop the theme or idea for your dissertation over the year, with the help of tutors.

*Creating Writing may be taken on a stand-alone basis.

How you will be assessed

Assessment is normally by creative folio (6,000 words) and accompanying essay (2,500 words), or two essays.
Assessment for the research-led modules is normally by essay (2,000-2,500 words or 2,500-3,000 words).
The dissertation or creative manuscript has a word limit of 15,000, and includes a reflective piece of writing (3,000 words).
All students must attempt the dissertation. Students whose dissertation fails to satisfy the examiners will be awarded the PG Diploma, provided that the taught elements of the course have been successfully completed.

Careers

Our graduates go on to be involved in a range of exciting literary activities - that range from publication of creative work to participation in national festivals and reading events. Recent students' successes include a first novel coming out with Sandstone this year, a placement in Canongate Publishing, Writers' Awards from Creative Scotland and the Scottish Books Trust, and the performance of a play. Our ex-students tend to stay part of our literary and creative community at Dundee after they have finished their formal studies with us - for as much as we believe in involving participants as fully and creatively as we can while they are with us, so do we not like to see them go!

This alone, makes our programme distinctive and individual and the very opposite of a large, more anonymous school. As a result our students are highly proactive and fully creatively engaged in the publishing and cultural world after they receive their degree.

"I am so glad I did the Creative Writing module offered by the English department at Dundee as part of my MLitt degree pathway in Humanities. I am currently finishing a second novel, halfway through writing the script of a play, and working on a paper for the Conference of Clinical Anatomists. I am also involved in two or three different writing-in-the-community projects. The contacts I've made, and my confidence in trying different genres, is in large part attributable to that module."
Eddie Small, graduate

Learn more about careers related to the Humanities on our Careers Service website.

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This specialist creative writing MA is designed for writers for children, teenagers and young adults who aim to complete a novel, series of picture books or shorter stories for young children. It is a practical course, taught by experienced lecturers who are all published children's writers and/or industry professionals.

The course is for writers for children of all ages, from the picture-book age through to young adult (YA). Prose fiction is likely to be the main area studied, but students will have the chance to look at writing in all forms, including poetry, picture book texts and narrative non-fiction for young people.

COURSE STRUCTURE AND CONTENT

The course supports you to create a significant body of writing, with practical plans for its place in the real world of publishing. It is based on the principle that most writers learn and benefit from working closely with their fellow writers, in a disciplined supportive setting, and with tutors who are practising and published writers in their field. Most of our students aim to complete a novel by the end of the MA.

The writing workshop is at the heart of the course. What you’ll do with tutors and your fellow writers in a workshop situation is learn to see your work through objective eyes and to think clearly about the different strategies you might adopt. You learn from each other’s mistakes and successes as well as your own. You will be urged to try things out, take risks and experiment, and reflect on and discuss the writing process. The context modules help you to see your own writing in the wider context of published children’s writing. The course encourages you to read widely and analytically.

MODULES

In the first trimester’s writing workshop you’ll explore a variety of forms of writing, gaining a sense of different age ranges and styles of writing and experimenting with your own writing. The context module is Writing for Young People: Forms, Ages and Stages and it is concerned with the writer’s relationship with their audience, and will help you understand some of the issues raised by writing for young people.

In the second trimester, you'll be asked to choose your area of writing and use the workshop’s feedback and encouragement to explore it in more depth. You will bring short excerpts from your work-in-progress for discussion and feedback in the group. You may continue to experiment with different ideas for other stories.The second trimester's Context Module is Contemporary Children's Publishing, which aims to give a realistic grasp of the choices open to new writers in the field.

In the third trimester, you'll continue to write your work-in-progress, developing a manuscript as near to publishable quality as possible. The manuscript may be a novel, picture book texts, or a collection of stories or poems.

For more information on module and course structure please go to our website: https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/courses/pg-writing-for-young-people/

TEACHING METHODS

Modules are normally taught via tutor-led writing workshops, with one three-hour session each week for the eleven weeks of each taught trimester, at the Corsham Court campus. We aim to keep the writing workshops small – usually no more than eight students – so that there is sufficient time, support and attention for each person’s work.

ASSESSMENT

The assessed coursework for each Writing Workshop is a folder of creative writing plus a short reflective commentary. The manuscript is 35,000-40,000 words, or the equivalent in poetry or picture book texts.

TUTORS

This course is taught by publishing writers and depending on timetables will include:

• Julia Green: her novels for young adults include Blue Moon, Baby Blue and Hunter’s Heart (Puffin), Breathing Underwater, Drawing with Light and Bringing the Summer (Bloomsbury)and her most recent novel for younger children is Tilly’s Moonlight Fox (Oxford University Press).
• Lucy Chrisopher: prize winning author of Stolen and The Killing Woods for YA readers, and Flyaway for younger teens ( Chicken House).
• Steve Voake: his novels include The Dreamwalker's Child, The Web of Fire, The Starlight Conspiracy, Blood Hunters, Fight Back and Dark Woods (Faber & Faber), plus his Daisy Dawson and Hooey Higgins series for younger readers (Walker Books).

For the full list of our fantastic staff and tutors please visit our website: https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/courses/pg-writing-for-young-people/

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Graduates have achieved publication deals with a range of different mainstream and smaller publishers, and many more students have secured literary agents. Other students have subsequently taught Creative Writing at university level. Some have combined their writing with subsequent careers in journalism, teaching, publishing, television etc.

ALLUMNI SUCCESS

More than 30 graduates of this MA have achieved publication deals since the course began in 2004, with more novels due to be published in 2016-2017. Ways to Live Forever by Sally Nicholls won the Waterstones Children’s Book of the Year Award and the Glen Dimplex New Writers Award in 2008. Marie-Louise Jensen and Elen Caldecott were shortlisted for the 2009 Waterstones Prize. Elen Caldecott, Clare Furniss, Gill Lewis and Jim Carrington have been long-listed for the Carnegie award. Sally Nicholls was short-listed for the Guardian children’s book prize and won the Independent Booksellers’ award in 2015 for her novel An Island of Our Own. David Hofmeyr was short-listed for the Branford Boase award 2016 for his novel Stone Rider.

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About the course

MA Creative Writing at Brunel University London is designed for writers who want to express their creativity in a number of forms – novels, film scripts, poems, journalism – rather than specialise in only one.

The Creative Writing master's course will appeal to writers who wish to try out a number of areas before deciding which they are best at or those who already know their strongest form, but feel the need to gain expertise in other fields to fund their speciality.

In addition, the course provides instruction on writing in the community, creative writing teaching and the organisation and funding of arts events.

We seek to create a supportive but constructively critical environment for circulating and evaluating students’ creative and journalistic work and to foster a broad span of creative and critical writing skills, including the ability to work independently on a long creative/critical project.

All applications should include a sample of writing.

Aims

This degree will give you instruction and practice in a broad range not only of writing forms, but also of strategies and techniques within those forms.

You will be introduced to the latest theories of creativity and up-to-date thinking on literary and journalistic genres.

We seek to create a supportive but constructively critical environment for circulating and evaluating students’ creative and journalistic work and to foster a broad span of creative and critical writing skills, including the ability to work independently on a long creative/critical project.

The Creative Writing master's programme will prepare you for:

A career as a creative or feature writer
Progression to doctorate-level creative writing or journalistic research
Employment in the creative industries or other areas of work where writing skills are a central requirement

Course Content

The MA consists of compulsory modules, a typical selection can be found below. Modules can vary from year to year, but these offer a good idea of what we teach.

Full-time route

Term 1

Elements of Writing: Fiction
Creativity

Term 2

Feature and Screenwriting
Writers at Work

Term 3/Summer Vacation (until the end of September)

Independent Writing Project

Part-time route

Term 1: Elements of Writing: Fiction
Term 2: Feature and Screenwriting
Term 4: Creativity
Term 5: Writers at Work
Term 6/Summer Holiday (until the end of September): Independent Writing Project

Modules

Creativity
Elements of Writing: Fiction
Feature and Screenwriting
Writers at Work

Special Features

MA Creating Writing students are taught by some of the most talented, original, exciting and experienced writers publishing in the industry today. Brunel’s creative writing staff have between them published over 80 books and have written for television, film and radio. The team includes writer and broadcaster Will Self and renowned performance poet, writer and broadcaster Benjamin Zephaniah.

The broad range of forms, techniques and strategies taught on the MA Creative Writing gives you the opportunity to experiment and discover which suits you best. If you are already specialising in a particular area of writing, it will underpin your expertise by equipping you with a varied knowledge of other methods.

Teaching

The course offers various forms of teaching and learning methods such as:

3-hour lectures, combining presentation and practice
workshops
seminars
presentations
project supervision
tutorials
independent learning and practice.

Assessment

Students of the master's course will need to gain 180 credits to complete the Creative Writing MA degree; you will therefore take all the four modules of Strand A (120 credits) and the project of Strand B (60 credits). Full-time Creative Writing students will take two taught modules in Term 1 and two in Term 2. Part-time students will generally take the morning module in Terms 1 and 2 of the first year, and the afternoon module in Terms 1 and 2 of Year 2, although, if circumstances require, this pattern can be reversed.

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Overview

The Keele MA in Creative Writing offers a distinctive and exciting opportunity to develop your creative and professional skills as a writer.

Working with published writers from within and outside the University, the Keele Writing MA offers participants an opportunity to improve their writing and to bring it up to publishable standard while learning more about the critical and intellectual context in which their work is situated.

Students on the Keele Writing MA also participate directly in the development and maintenance of the events, publications, workshops and short courses which constitute Keele’s vibrant writing culture – typically through opting to gain experience in one of the areas in which writers often establish a secondary income – reviewing, editing and teaching.

You can study full-time or part-time for this MA. It is also possible to take short courses in Creative Writing, delivered as part of our MA programme, as well as Certificate and Diploma-level courses in the subject.

See the website https://www.keele.ac.uk/pgtcourses/creativewriting/

Course Aims

- To provide opportunities for the practice and study of creative writing at an advanced, publishable level

- To provide a supportive and constructively critical environment in which students can work with published writers and their peers to improve their writing

- To provide students with the necessary skills to write at an advanced, publishable level

Course Content

The course is delivered as three stand-alone taught modules. In addition students complete a Portfolio of original work. Students will have the opportunity to take any single module as a short course or to combine two modules and be awarded a Postgraduate Certificate (60 credits) or to complete four modules and receive a Postgraduate Diploma (120 credits).

The contents of each module are summarised below.

The Writer as Critic, The Critic as Writer (30 Credits) is the core compulsory module, and looks at questions of influence, the critical process of reading other writers’ work and the cultural context in which a writer lives and works. Students will study contemporary examples of script, poetry and fiction.

Writing Fiction (30 Credits) is a workshop-based module option on writing short fiction and novels, with structured reading and peer/tutor feedback on your own writing.

Writing Poetry (30 Credits) is a workshop-based module option on writing poetry, with structured reading, discussion and peer/tutor feedback on your own writing.

Life Writing (30 Credits) is a workshop-based module option on forms of writing such as auto/biography and memoir.

The Writer in the Community (30 Credits) is a project-based module which offers students the opportunity to create and deliver a professional project of a type commonly undertaken by writers. Possible projects include: designing and delivering creative writing workshops; mentoring less experienced writers; steering a literary editing project; setting up and putting on a literary event; or creating a web-based literary resource.

The Portfolio (90 Credits) is the compulsory Dissertation-level module, taught through a series of individual supervisions. Students develop a portfolio of original writing to a professional standard through the production of either a complete piece of written work or a substantial part of a complete piece of written work, e.g: a collection of poetry; a collection of short stories; a short novel; or a substantial part of a longer novel.

Teaching & Assessment

The core 30-credit module (The Writer As Critic, The Critic As Writer) is assessed by written assignments and a presentation. The optional 30-credit modules (Writing Prose, Writing Poetry, Life Writing, The Writer in the Community) are assessed by a portfolio of work and a critical commentary that reflects on the contents of the portfolio. The 90-Credit dissertation-level Portfolio is assessed by a substantial portfolio of original writing and a commentary.

Additional Costs

Apart from additional costs for text books, inter-library loans and potential overdue library fines we do not anticipate any additional costs for this post graduate programme.

Find information on Scholarships here - http://www.keele.ac.uk/studentfunding/bursariesscholarships/

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Why Surrey?

The MFA (Master of Fine Arts) Creative Writing programme at the University of Surrey is a two-year, full-time course of study that offers you a unique opportunity to enhance your creative, critical and professional skills as a writer.

Teaching is research-led, so you will be mentored by passionate, dynamic writers and academics with multidisciplinary expertise, as well as our Distinguished Writer in Residence and Poet in Residence.

Programme overview

Our MFA Creative Writing programme will expose you to the practical skills and challenges involved in a specific branch of creative practice (such as poetry or screenwriting) and offers the option to gain hands-on experience in a creative industry relevant to your own practice, to better prepare you for a wide variety of careers, including writing, publishing, communications, marketing, advertising, journalism, teaching, or to undertake a PhD.

In your first year, you will study alongside students in the MA programmes in Creative Writing and English Literature, where you will hone your research skills to produce critically informed creative work and deepen your practice as a writer.

To prepare for your second year, an academic advisor will offer guidance on choosing an appropriate form of Situated Professional Practice and your summative creative portfolio proposal.

During your second year you will work on producing an extended creative portfolio and critical commentary, as well as complete the Situated Professional Practice of your choice.

Programme structure

This programme is studied full-time over two academic years. It consists of eight taught modules, a professional placement, a critical commentary module and a creative portfolio project.

Example module listing

The following modules are indicative, reflecting the information available at the time of publication. Please note that not all modules described are compulsory and may be subject to teaching availability and/or student demand.

• Research and Writing Skills
• Literary Scholarship and Creativity I
• Literary Scholarship and Creativity II
• Creative Writing Workshop I
• Creative Writing Workshop II
• Open Creative Piece I
• Open Creative Piece II
• Humour in Literature
• Situated Professional Practice
• Summative Critical Commentary
• Summative Creative Portfolio
• Children’s Literature
• Screenwriting
• Beat Writing
• Special Author I
• Writing Shamanism - Literature and Visual Media
• Magic, Mysticism, and Modernity
• Advanced Studies in Medieval Writing
• Narrative and the Body
• Identity: Marketing and Communication in Practice

Educational aims of the programme

A Creative Writing MFA degree builds on the work of a traditional MA but distinguishes itself in a number of ways:

• It is intensely craft and practice-based
• It requires students’ immersion, for a part of their study time, in work environments that offer the opportunity to collaborate with established practitioners
• It is firmly based on a model of reflection in practice and on practice
• It requires teaching and learning that consistently balance theory and practice through well honed research skills
• It aims at enhancing students’ own sense of creativity and professional ambitions in specific artistic fields

For students to achieve an optimum balance between theory, practice and critical reflection, MFAs traditionally last at least two academic years and this is common practice both in the UK and the USA.

The MFA in Creative Writing is designed to assist aspiring writers to:

• Hone and develop their writing skills in prose fiction and/or poetry
• Locate their work in historical and cultural context, and to familiarize themselves with the history of literary production
• Equip themselves with the research and writing skills they will need to produce both critically informed prose or poetry and creative criticism
• Reflect productively on both the creative process itself and the finished work that has resulted from it
• Gain experience, through the Situated Professional Practice module, of the practical skills and creative challenges involved in a specific branch of creative practice (such as poetry, or writing for the stage) and/or of the workings and structure of a creative industry relevant to the student’s own practice

These educational aims accord neatly with the defining principles of Creative Writing as set out by the QAA’s NAWE Creative Writing Subject Benchmark Statement.

Academics and events

As a student on the MFA Creative Writing, you will benefit from the expertise of a vibrant, multidisciplinary group of academics and published authors.

You will also have access to a number of conferences, seminars and workshops hosted throughout the year. These events cover a range of topics to broaden your thinking in the fields of literature, language and linguistics, cultural studies and creative writing. Writers to have recently visited the University of Surrey include the novelist Monica Ali and the poet and critic Rod Mengham.

Each year’s cultural activities begin with a poetry lecture on campus by a visiting speaker and feature readings by students at the Guildford School of Acting.

The annual Surrey New Writers’ Festival – affiliated with the Creative Writing graduate programs at the University of Surrey – aims to engage with writing and creativity in dynamic ways, and involves readings, book signings, performances, panel discussions and talks by writers, thinkers, editors and literary agents.

The year’s activities culminate in the annual Morag Morris Poetry Festival, held in Guildford, which combines readings and performances by prominent, innovative and up-and-coming poets with the opportunity for Creative Writing students to present their own work in public.

This event is organised and hosted by our poet-in-residence – a position that is held by a different poet each year. English at Surrey also has a close relationship with English PEN, the charity dedicated to promoting literature and human rights.

Global opportunities

We often give our students the opportunity to acquire international experience during their degrees by taking advantage of our exchange agreements with overseas universities.

In addition to the hugely enjoyable and satisfying experience, time spent abroad adds a distinctive element to your CV.

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