The Essex website uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are consenting to their use. Please visit our cookie policy to find out which cookies we use and why. View cookie policy.

University of Essex homepage Course Finder Creative writing
Subject

Creative writing

Creative writing at Essex focuses on the theory and practice of becoming a writer.

Creative writing
Undergraduate Masters Research

You're a born creator.

You're a dreamer. And you're inspired by the world around you. To write well is to read widely and listen closely – you’re good at that. It makes you a better storyteller. You wake up in the night to note your ideas, characters and plot lines. You like to experiment and tweak. But you’re not sure it’s ever quite finished. There’s always room for more.

Our courses

We offer BA Creative Writing as a single honours. If joint honours are more your thing check out  BA Film and Creative Writing and BA Literature and Creative Writing.

Why study here?
  • We have been the home of great writers, including Robert Lowell, Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott and Booker Prize winner Ben Okri.
  • In our unique literary conservatoire you'll be supported in all your artistic endeavours by professional writers, who will help develop your powers of literary critique.
  • We're 7th in the UK for Creative Writing in the Guardian University Guide 2024.
A graduate at graduation in robes, smiling at the camera holding their certificate. The graduate is outside, with a few other graduates in robes behind her.
Apply now through Clearing

Let's talk about your potential. To begin your studies this year, you can apply to Essex now through Clearing by filling out one simple application form.

Apply now
Profile photo of student
Chat with Sarah, a BA Film and Creative Writing student

Fancy discovering what student life at Essex is like? Want to learn more about the department? Why not talk to Sarah, a 3rd year student studying BA Film and Creative Writing.

Chat with Sarah

Creative writing courses in Clearing for 2023

1 - 6 of 11 results

Courses (11)

Now in clearing

BA Creative Writing

Study mode:

Full-Time

Campus:

Colchester Campus

Course options:

Study Abroad

Placement Year

Explore the urge to create and build new worlds, to share language and stories with others. On our course you work on the craft of writing through a multi-genre approach, through and across a variety of writings from fiction and poetry, to non-fiction, psychogeography, performance writing and beyond.

Now in clearing

BA Creative Writing (Including Foundation Year)

Study mode:

Full-Time

Campus:

Colchester Campus

Our BA Creative Writing (including foundation year), will be suitable for you if your academic qualifications do not yet meet our entrance requirements for the three-year version of this course and you want a programme that increases your subject knowledge as well as improves your academic skills in order to support your academic performance. This four-year course includes a foundation year (Year Zero), followed by a further three years of study.

Now in clearing

BA Film and Creative Writing (Including Foundation Year)

Study mode:

Full-Time

Campus:

Colchester Campus

Our four-year BA Film and Creative Writing (including foundation year), will be suitable for you if your academic qualifications do not yet meet our entrance requirements for the three-year version of this course and you want a programme that increases your subject knowledge as well as improves your academic skills in order to support your academic performance. This four-year course includes a foundation year (Year Zero), followed by a further three years of study.

Now in clearing

BA Drama and Creative Writing (Including Foundation Year)

Study mode:

Full-Time

Campus:

Colchester Campus

This course will be suitable for you if your academic qualifications do not yet meet our entrance requirements for the three-year version of this course and you want a programme that increases your subject knowledge as well as improves your academic skills in order to support your academic performance. This four-year course includes a foundation year (Year Zero), followed by a further three years of study.

Now in clearing

BA Literature and Creative Writing (Including Foundation Year)

Study mode:

Full-Time

Campus:

Colchester Campus

Our BA Literature and Creative Writing (including foundation year), will be suitable for you if your academic qualifications do not yet meet our entrance requirements for the three-year version of this course and you want a programme that increases your subject knowledge as well as improves your academic skills in order to support your academic performance. This four-year course includes a foundation year (Year Zero), followed by a further three years of study.

Now in clearing

BA Film and Creative Writing

Study mode:

Full-Time

Campus:

Colchester Campus

Course options:

Study Abroad

Placement Year

Our course combines hands-on practical filmmaking, creative writing workshops, and theoretical and contextual studies. We encourage you to forge links between theory and practice, and to make critically-informed choices in your own creative work through the knowledge you gain of film history, literary classics and writing across a range of genres.

Looking to start in 2024?

Student holding books next to the library at Colchester Campus
Want to know more?

Sign-up to learn more about this subject, as well as accommodation, societies, careers support, facilities and more.

Sign-up to emails

What our graduates say

"I definitely enjoyed film production and film theory modules. But I feel like third year was the year where I got to delve into the areas which particularly intrigued me: independent film production, analysing the human psyche, learning about the development of mental illness, propaganda in the 1900s and now, and sci-fi writing. Quite the combination, yes. I think the freedom to work independently on topics or stories that I'd created, with professional supervision is something incredible and something that I will never take for granted."
Egle Evergreen Radziute BA Film and Creative writing, 2018

Read more from our graduates and find out about career prospects and opportunities while you study. 

Nurture your creativity

Published writers help you progress your writing and understanding of your chosen form, including poetry, literary and genre fiction, creative non-fiction, playwriting and performance art.

Our staff are academics and practitioners, with a lot of experience in the creative industries. We offer MA Creative Writing, MA Wild Writing and MA Scriptwriting.


Why study here?
  • Explore connections with other art forms alongside world-renowned scholars and writers in our unique literary conservatoire.
  • We have been the home of great writers, including Robert Lowell, Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott and Booker Prize winner Ben Okri.
  • Become a part of the vibrant community of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies students.
Creel 3 cover art
Showcasing the best postgraduate writing

Take the opportunity to feature your writing in Creel, the annual anthology of creative writing produced by current postgraduate students in our department.

Creel

Interdisciplinary research is at our core  

Whether your project involves poetry, fiction, theatre, screenwriting, or another form such as psychogeography, you will benefit from expert supervision by experienced writing practitioners in our Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies.

Expertise and supervision

Our interdisciplinary natures means you can gain expertise from film-makers, American Literature experts, professional theatre practitioners and more. Our active and interdisciplinary research community that will challenge you intellectually and artistically.

To find out more about us read our biographies and then use our research finder to find a supervisor.

Why study here?
  • We regularly invite writers to give talks, readings and masterclasses to our students as part of our Writers at Essex series.
  • We run weekly research seminars with speakers from around the world and host major conferences and symposia.
  • Our research students also organise and present at our annual PhD conference.

 

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. However, if we need to make material changes, for example due to significant disruption, or in response to COVID-19, we'll let our applicants and students know as soon as possible.



Life at Essex
What it's like to live at Essex
Open Days
Come see for yourself
CHAT TO US
ASK OUR STUDENTS AND STAFF ANYTHING
WE ARE
ESSEX ARE YOU?
Get a prospectus Get to know Essex
STUDY
Find a course
LIFE
RESEARCH
EXPLORE
CONTACT US
Contact


  • +44 (0) 1206 873333
  • University of Essex
  • Wivenhoe Park
  • Colchester CO4 3SQ

University of Essex - Where change happens

CONNECT WITH US
© 2023 University of Essex. All rights reserved