MA Creative Writing

Our challenging, practice-based course offers you a unique approach to the practice of writing, emphasising innovation and experimentation in your work.

On our MA Creative Writing, you deepen your knowledge of literary tradition, exploring different modes and genres in order to develop your own creative and expressive written skills. You expand your use of creative writing techniques and improve your critical judgement of your own work.

Our course encourages you to develop your writing by stepping outside your comfort zone and discovering the different approaches to verbal art that are possible today. This will invigorate your own practice, whether you are writing psychogeography, plays, novels, stories or something else. You will choose from a variety of modules, covering topics such as:

• Development of a novel plan, from research and concept-development, to plotting, character, and structure
• Experimental language play of the Oulipo group across the short story, autobiography, cartoons, cookery and theatre
• Psychogeography, writing about walking, place, landscape, history and the psychic environment
• Poetic practice across experimental writing in poetry from the performative to the visual

To help you hone your craft, we also host a Royal Literary Fund Fellow, professional writers on-hand to help you develop your writing on a one-to-one basis, and regularly host talks and readings by visiting writers.

Essex has nurtured a long tradition of distinguished authors whose work has shaped literature as we know it today, from past giants such as the American poets Robert Lowell and Ted Berrigan, to contemporary writers such as mythographer and novelist Dame Marina Warner, and Booker Prize winner Ben Okri.

Students would usually attend a two-hour seminar for each module each week. Seminar groups would usually have about 10-15 students.

We're 7th in the UK for Creative Writing in the Guardian University Guide 2024

This course is also available on a part-time basis.

Our expert staff

Our teaching staff are experienced and established writers who have a breadth of experience across literary genres, from novels, prose and plays, to poetry and song.

Our creative writing teaching team has a breadth of experience in the literatures of different cultures and different forms. Our current teaching staff include poet and short story writer Philip Terry, non-fiction and wild writer James Canton, novelist and camper Matthew de Abaitua, poet and performance-writer Holly Pester, poet, fisherman and memoirist Chris McCully, and award-winning playwrights Elizabeth Kuti and Jonathan Lichtenstein.

Our Centre for Creative Writing is part of a unique literary conservatoire that offers students the skills, support and confidence to respond artistically and critically to the study of writing with the guidance of experts.

Specialist facilities

• Write for our student magazine Rebel or host a Rebel radio show
• View classic films at weekly film screenings in our dedicated 120-seat film theatre
• Hear writers talk about their craft and learn from leading literature specialists at regular talks and readings
• Our on-campus Lakeside Theatre has been established as a major venue for good drama, staging both productions by professional touring companies and a wealth of new work written, produced and directed by our own staff and students
• Improve your playwriting skills at our Lakeside Theatre Writers workshops
• Our Research Laboratory allows you to collaborate with professionals, improvising and experimenting with new work which is being tried and tested
• Contribute some of your work to our annual publication 'Creel', an anthology of creative writing produced by our postgraduate students and published by Muscaliet Press, founded by PhD Creative Writing alumni Simon Everett.

Your future

Many of our students have gone on to successfully publish their work, notable recent alumni including:

• Ida Løkås, who won a literary prize in Norway for The Beauty That Flows Past, securing a book deal
• Alexia Casale, whose novel Bone Dragon was published by Faber & Faber and subsequently featured on both the Young Adult Books of the Year 2013 list for The Financial Times, and The Independent's Books of the year 2013: Children
• Elaine Ewart, graduate from our MA Wild Writing and PhD Creative Writing courses, placed second in the New Welsh Writing Awards 2015
• Patricia Borlenghi, the founder of Patrician Press, which has published works by a number of our alumni
• Petra McQueen, who has written for The Guardian and runs creative writing courses and is studying PhD Creative Writing in the Department

We also offer supervision for PhD, MPhil and MA by Dissertation in different literatures and various approaches to literature, covering most aspects of early modern and modern writing in English, plus a number of other languages.

Our University is one of only 11 AHRC-accredited Doctoral Training Centres in the UK. This means that we offer funded PhD studentships which also provide a range of research and training opportunities.

A number of our Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies graduates have gone on to undertake successful careers as writers, and others are now established as scholars, university lecturers, teachers, publishers, publishers' editors, journalists, arts administrators, theatre artistic directors, drama advisers, and translators.

We work with the university's Careers Services to help you find out about further work experience, internships, placements, and voluntary opportunities.

"The facilities were fantastic while the lecturers were very supportive and still continue to offer help, even though I have now graduated! There was always a good atmosphere and I know I’ll never have writer’s block again! I am working towards a career as a playwright, so of course my degree has been invaluable to me, and I have recently been approached to do a Channel 4 TV show called The Audience."

Janine Hornsby, MA Creative Writing, 2012

UK entry requirements

A 2:2 degree in one of the following subjects:

• Art History
• Creative Writing
• History
• Journalism
• Literature
• Media Studies
• Music
• Performing Arts
• Philosophy
• Politics
• Sociology
• Theatre/Drama Studies

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, we require IELTS 7.0 overall with a minimum component score of 6.5 in writing and 5.5 in all other components.

If you do not meet our IELTS requirements then you may be able to complete a pre-sessional English pathway that enables you to start your course without retaking IELTS.

Additional Notes

The University uses academic selection criteria to determine an applicant’s ability to successfully complete a course at the University of Essex. Where appropriate, we may ask for specific information relating to previous modules studied or work experience.

Course structure

Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field. The following modules are based on the current course structure and may change in response to new curriculum developments and innovation.

We understand that deciding where and what to study is a very important decision for you. We'll make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the courses, services and facilities as described on our website and in line with your contract with us. However, if we need to make material changes, for example due to significant disruption, we'll let our applicants and students know as soon as possible.

Teaching

• Five modules are followed over the autumn and spring terms, and generally consist of ten two-hour seminars
• An emphasis on practice, experimenting with different techniques to produce work of your own
• Seminars may include introductions by your tutor, presentations by you, and discussion based on a programme of reading
• Visiting scholars are invited to speak about their research

Assessment

• Four essays of 4,000-5,000 words, usually combining a creative piece and critical commentary
• There is normally considerable freedom for you to choose the topics of your essays
• A reflective piece on research methods

Dissertation

• You produce a dissertation consisting of a creative component up to 10,000 words plus critical commentary of 6,000 words excluding bibliography and footnotes written between April and September.
• This takes the form of a creative piece and a critical commentary