MA Contemporary Creative Writing

The Master of Arts in Contemporary Creative Writing at Northeastern University London equips students with the knowledge, craft skills and discipline needed to be a creative writer now. There are more routes to publication available than ever before. However, navigating the twenty-first century literary marketplace requires specialist skills and knowledge alongside artistic prowess.

From the moment they join our MA program, our students are considered writers and supported in achieving their personal and professional creative goals. Diverse contemporary authors and publication platforms are foregrounded, and contextualized by the study of significant shifts in the literary landscape over the last 25 years. This enables students to situate their creative practice in today’s marketplace, develop awareness of avenues for artistic expression, and gain professional skills suitable for the creative industries. All courses are led by published authors who are also experienced academics at the forefront of Creative Writing as a discipline.

This fully online MA aims to be flexible and inclusive, with full- and part-time study options. Writers evolve their creative practice in a supportive and structured online learning environment, suitable for a writing community including recent graduates, lifelong learners, returners to education, and writers with well-being or access needs.

Students will take courses that explore fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, scripts, and screenplays alongside each other and others that enable them to specialize in favored forms. A combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning tasks means writers can work in a way that accommodates their individual lifestyles. These include lively online forums, interactive learning activities, creative writing workshops, face-to-face webinars, and regular bespoke feedback from tutors on works-in-progress. Community is central: although working at a distance, students work closely with peers and tutors on developing craft, critical, and editing skills, preparing them to work professionally with editors, producers, agents, publishers, and publicists.

Writers can choose to enrich their online experience by attending Northeastern University London&rsquo's annual in-person Summer Writing Series at an additional cost. This option is open to all MA students but is not a required element of the program. Participants will be able to meet peers and tutors, write together, and attend a series of live literary events curated by the Creative Writing Faculty. Events may include author talks, creative industry Q&A;, guest lectures, professional role plays, and live workshops.

Our MA in Contemporary Creative Writing is an innovative, flexible program which aims to draw together writers from across the world. This enables diverse experiences, encounters, and perspectives to inform a truly global outlook on being a creative writer today.

Structure

The MA Contemporary Creative Writing program is a remote 180-credit program.

Students will complete two compulsory courses (a total of 60 credits), two ‘ Masterclass’ courses (a total of 60 credits), and a dissertation (60 credits).

The MA Contemporary Creative Writing program also offers the option of an in-person Summer Writing Series enrichment course of 2-5 days (non-credit bearing) at an additional cost.

Teaching & learning

The MA Contemporary Creative Writing program will be delivered remotely online via live webinars, workshops, peer editing, and dedicated discussion forums.

Part-time study

The MA program can be taken part-time over two years. Part-time students attend the same remote classes as their full-time colleagues. The classes are not run separately in the evening for part-time students.

While we try to make the part-time study as flexible as possible, our Masters programs are demanding and we advise students that, if they intend to work alongside the course, their work should be flexible.

Assessment

Summative assessment for the MA Contemporary Creative Writing will be by a range of methods to ensure students have the opportunity to demonstrate their creative, critical, and professional abilities and achievements.

Students will be assessed by a portfolio at the end of each 30-credit course. For their 60-credit dissertation course, students will complete an extended creative work of approximately 12,000 words under the one-to-one guidance of a Supervisor.

Courses (Subject to Approval)

The courses that run in each academic year are subject to change in line with faculty availability and student demand so there is no guarantee every course will be delivered.

Autumn Semester

Students take ONE required course:

• Creative Writing Now (30 credits) OR
• Publishing Your Writing (30 credits)

Spring Semester

Students take ONE required course:

• Creative Writing Now (30 credits) OR
• Publishing Your Writing (30 credits)

Summer Semester

Dissertation: Publication Portfolio (60 credits)

• To be part of a new kind of MA, focused on contemporary creative writing. Who is being published now, why, and how can you join them?
• Our innovative online experience: work in a way that suits your lifestyle, with full- or part-time study, weekly synchronous and asynchronous learning activities, and plenty of live interaction with tutors and peers.
• To be inspired by writers from all over the world, working as part of a diverse writing community.
• To work with lecturers who are also authors, and who will offer bespoke feedback on your writing.
• For the option to participate in our annual in-person Summer Writing Series, where you can meet tutors, peers, and industry professionals, and take part in live classes, talks and workshops.

The MA program will equip writers with the necessary skills to enter a variety of positions within the creative industries and to work towards the publication and/or production of their own work. Students will learn the professional skills required to approach film and television producers, agents, publishers, and journals and publications (both in print and online) in order to sell and commission their work. They will also emerge prepared for further study in academia should they wish to pursue this route.

Potential career paths for students include published writers of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction; writers in Writers’ Rooms for TV; dramaturgs; radio writers; editors; publishers; agents; journalists; reviewers; development executives; screen industry workers; copywriters; advertisers; media and publicity specialists; academia.