Creative Writing

Entry requirements

Applicants should normally hold a good honours degree (2.1 or above), or equivalent, in an appropriate discipline and must be able to demonstrate ability in creative writing.

A portfolio of recent creative work must be submitted consisting of 2000 words prose, or 5 poems, or a proportionate mixture of the two. Applicants may also be interviewed. If it is some time since you completed your undergraduate education and you do not meet the standard requirement, it may be possible to consider your application based on evidence of other relevant personal and professional experience, the support of your referees and your portfolio of written work.

Months of entry

September

Course content

The Creative Writing MA at Oxford Brookes is all about growing your writing in a workshop environment. Our simple aim is to get you writing, then to provide insightful, perhaps challenging, but always supportive feedback. The entire programme revolves around this process. All your teachers here are genuine, commercially-published, practising writers; in every session you’ll actually write and get reactions. We believe that this makes our course unique.

From the opening evening of your course – where previous speakers have included international bestseller Philip Pullman, Booker winner Howard Jacobson and Pulitzer/Orange winner Marilynne Robinson – through to the showcase for agents and publishers following your graduation, our aim is to make your time at Brookes a decisive stage in the development of your writing.

Our graduates’ recent achievements mean that agents and publishers really listen when they hear you’re with us. Among many other stand-out successes, in 2018 Anne Youngson's Meet Me at the Museum has met with international success, and Linni Ingemundsen launched the first novel of her two-book deal with Usborne’s young adult list. In 2016 Kit de Waal (pictured with Philip Pullman at our 2013 showcase) published My Name is Leon, which was immediately taken up for adaptation by BBC radio, TV and film; and in 2015 Catherine Chanter’s The Well appeared to international acclaim and was chosen by the Richard & Judy/WH Smith Book Club.

All Major Projects gaining a Distinction are looked at by top agents Felicity Bryan Associates (who visit us each year), with a view to representation, and by legendary London publisher Philip Gwyn Jones, who has commissioned some of the biggest names in fiction. People like this are the gatekeepers of literary success; our aim is to get them to open those gates for you.

Information for international students

English language requirements