Overview

Our MA in Creative Writing helps you to develop your potential as a novelist, poet, scriptwriter or non-fiction author. It is taught by distinguished writers, with the support of a superb range of guest seminars and masterclasses by visiting authors, editors and agents, through our Institute of Creative and Critical Writing.

What's covered in this course?

Our MA Creative Writing will help you to fulfil your potential as a writer, whether you work in fiction, poetry, screenplay or creative non-fiction. It is taught by distinguished authors, with the support of a superb range of guest seminars by visiting speakers organised through our Institute of Creative and Critical Writing.

Writers are perpetual students. Our programme is designed to help you learn how to keep learning, enriching and refining your practice as an independent author, through disciplines that strengthen your creative imagination, develop your literary knowledge, and cultivate your critical sensitivity.

You will hone the skills you need and refine your practice in an atmosphere of creative experiment. Our course is founded upon the philosophy that writers can benefit from the same kind of professional training enjoyed by actors, dancers, musicians, and visual artists, and connects our writers to the creative sector in which they work.

Youll have the opportunity to develop your writing across forms and extend your range in fields that may be new to you, under specialist guidance in fiction, poetry, screenwriting and creative non-fiction. Youll be part of a Faculty with a long history of working with the creative industries, and a College with strong connections to literary culture beyond the university, including Writing West Midlands, the Birmingham Literature Festival, the National Writers Conference, Verve Poetry Festival, The Emma Press, and Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal, which was founded by alumni of the MA Creative Writing programme. Like our partners, we see the literary arts and their study and enjoyment as fundamental to civic and cultural life.

Employability

We believe that with its focus on language, pleasure, and the creative imagination, the study of creative writing is immensely rewarding in itself. Moreover, the ability to think and communicate clearly, imaginatively and effectively are among the most valuable skills you can have.

Postgraduates earn an average £9,000 more per year than those with just undergraduate degrees. A postgraduate qualification can really help you stand out from the crowd in todays competitive job market. By becoming a specialist in your field, youll have the chance to advance thinking in that subject and lead, rather than follow, the latest developments.