MA in
MA in Creative Writing University of Manchester
Introduction
This one-year postgraduate course offers access to specialist teaching from leading writers and poets.
Course overview
- Engage with writers, editors and agents.
- Become part of a network of esteemed alumni.
- Learn from a distinguished team that includes novelists Jeanette Winterson CBE, Ian McGuire, Kamila Shamsie, Beth Underdown, Honor Gavin and Luke Brown; poets John McAuliffe, Frances Leviston, Vona Groarke and Michael Schmidt; and non-fiction writers Ellah Wakatama and Horatio Clare.
- Discover the rich literary fabric of Manchester, a UNESCO City of Literature, through Literature Live, Manchester Literature Festival, The Manchester Review, the International Anthony Burgess Foundation and Manchester-based publishers.
Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
Each year the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures offer a number of School awards and Subject-specific bursaries (the values of which are usually set at the Home/EU fees level), open to both Home/EU and international students. The deadline for these is early February each year.
For University of Manchester graduates, the Manchester Alumni Bursary offers a £3,000 reduction in tuition fees to University of Manchester alumni who achieved a 1st within the last three years and are progressing to a postgraduate taught masters course.
The Manchester Master's Bursary is a University-wide scheme that offers 100 bursaries worth £3,000 in funding for students from underrepresented groups.
Curriculum
Study on our MA Creative Writing master's course and you'll be part of the prestigious Centre for New Writing, where we bring together world-famous writers to teach people how to produce novels, short stories, creative non-fiction, poems and screenplays.
It's a place where talented writers and critics can meet to exchange ideas and opinions. The Centre is founded on the simple but important principle that good writing and good reading go together.
The course will see you study literary techniques through reading and discussing the work of other contemporary writers in seminars, and you will have the opportunity to develop your own work via regular workshops and individual tutorials. Writers may choose to work on writing a novel and/or short stories and/or creative non-fiction and/or poems.
You'll benefit from seminars with Jeanette Winterson, workshops in fiction and poetry writing led by published, award-winning writers, and intensive, one-to-one instruction from writers-in-residence.
You will also have access to Literature Live, a fortnightly reading series bringing the best contemporary novelists and poets to Manchester, skills-related sessions delivered by professionals in the publishing industry, and regular visits from literary agents and editors.
We work with talented, committed students - whatever their style or genre - and we pride ourselves on giving students detailed, individual feedback both in writing and face-to-face.
Course unit details
You will undertake units totalling 180 credits. Core units combine to make 120 credits, with the remaining 60 credits allocated to the dissertation.
There are no mandatory units as part of this course. Students are required to choose a combination of workshops and seminars based on their individual focus, either poetry or fiction writing.
Semester 1
You may choose to take two workshops - one in fiction writing and one in poetry - or you may take one workshop and one seminar. Typical seminars will be The Art of Short Fiction and Poetics.
Semester 2
Students wishing to focus on poetry writing will take a poetry workshop and a seminar on Contemporary Poetry.
Students wishing to focus on fiction writing will take a fiction writing workshop and a seminar in Contemporary Fiction.
Dissertation
Your dissertation will comprise 15,000 words of your own fiction writing or 16 to 25 poems.
Course unit list
The course unit details given below are subject to change and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
- Forms of Writing I
- Forms of Writing II
- Contemporary Fiction
- Anthologizing Modern and Contemporary Poetry
- Workshop in Fiction Writing I
- Workshop in Fiction Writing II
- Reading Poems
- Writing Poems I
- Writing Poems II
- Creative Non-Fiction Workshop
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Some students pursue their literary careers and go on to become published writers, while others follow their passion through publishing, journalism and careers in the arts sector.
Other graduates undertake PhD study or follow careers in law, librarianship and teaching. Our alumni include Rebecca Perry, Sophie Hannah, Chris Killen, Alys Conran, Emma Jane Unsworth, Beth Underdown, Alex Allison, Jenn Ashworth, Evan Jones, Katherine Horrex, Rory Gleeson, Joey Connolly and Marli Roode.
Upon successful completion of their course, many postgraduates go on or return to jobs as teachers or librarians, continue their research, or go on to academic jobs. Career paths are extremely varied, and other fields include law, publishing and retail.
The University has its own dedicated Careers Service that you would have full access to as a student and for two years after you graduate. At Manchester, you will have access to a number of opportunities to help boost your employability.