Creative Writing

To join this MA, you should have a degree equivalent to UK second class honours (2:2 or above) or a degree with additional academic support, such as a diploma or comparable qualification, in a professional field. Academic training in an arts subject is an advantage but a commitment to writing as a practice (at whatever stage in a writing career) is more important. A general willingness to participate and be self-critical and analytical is also important. A key part of the entry process is the presentation of a portfolio of your creative work (5,000 words of fiction or a group of 10-15 poems).

This is a programme for practising writers who wish to improve their craft, learn about contemporary forms of writing and continue to reflect on their progress. This is both in terms of a distinctive philosophy of writing and in terms of the practicalities of making creative work public. You should have some experience of writing fiction, poetry or prose (although there is not a requirement for this work to have been published), or scriptwriting, and wish to further your skills within the academic context of creative writing as an academic discipline. You will work with a core team of professional writers and other professionals to develop your creative work and nurture an understanding about the nature of your continuing creativity, aiming towards producing a final manuscript for possible publication.

You will present your creative writing with a short example of poetics relating to the piece. You will write about works of contemporary literature and about the poetics of these writers, though you will approach these tasks from the perspective of a fellow-writer. All this work will help you develop towards the final piece of work, The Manuscript. The professional development audit and logs will be marked on a pass / fail basis.