Creative Writing MA

Birkbeck, University of London

This MA Creative Writing gives you the chance to better understand the craft of writing and gain valuable constructive criticism from other writers and experts who are as serious about developing your work as you are. It is ideal if you want to develop your practice as a writer and work toward publication and/or sustaining a career in the industry. Why choose this course? Our MA is highly respected nationally and internationally and we have a growing list of published and prizewinning authors whose work started life in our seminars, recently including Abi Daré, JJ Bola, Lily Dunn, Annalie Grainger, Louise Hare, Sally Hinchcliffe, Vanessa Onwuemezi, Melody Razak and Saba Sams. You will study the art of writing with a faculty of acclaimed authors, which include Julia Bell, Luke Williams and David Eldridge, to name a few. You will benefit from the experience and expertise of a team who have been running this creative writing course for almost 20 years enabling diverse cohorts of students to develop as writers across genres and to support their careers. Depending on your interests, you can also take particular modules on this degree to graduate with an MA Creative and Critical Writing. This pathway allows you to combine practice-based learning with specialism in contemporary literature. What you will learn On this MA Creative Writing you will deepen your knowledge of reading and writing and the possibilities of literature across all forms and genres, as well as developing critical and professional skills relevant to the workplace. You will take core modules which focus your attention on the fundamentals of writing and then choose option modules which give you the opportunity to diversify your practice and experiment in more specialist areas and concerns including: writing for video gaming screenwriting playwrighting memoir writing poetry creative non-fiction genre fiction. How you will learn This course is available to study full- or part-time. It has an evening timetable with classes taking place in the evening. These include workshops, tutorials and supervisions, in which you will benefit from close and attentive readings of your work. In lectures and seminars, we consider issues of craft, expression and meaning within the context of how you see the world, how we theorise writing and contextualise our work within broader traditions. You will build on existing skills and develop new techniques and approaches to writing under the tutelage of published authors. Entry to the course is based on the submission of a portfolio of creative work, and candidates whose work shows promise will be invited for interview. Please note that to follow the MA Creative and Critical Writing pathway you will need to start this course in October.