Course summary
The Creative Writing MA is a practice-led course, giving you the chance to develop your writing in chosen areas, or experiment with new forms and genres through exploratory writing and stimulating craft tasks and challenges. The course is designed to develop your writing practice in both research and professional contexts, including modules honing you craft, tackling practice research methodology, and your understanding of the industry. You will have the opportunity to graduate with an advanced understanding of your own writing practice, and how it sits in relation to the professional landscape, including how to use the skills you have acquired to forge a career in a range of contexts. The course also equips you with an ability to articulate your own preoccupations and interests as a writer, that helps with everything from Author’s Talks, grant applications, and Industry pitching. The taught modules are uniquely delivered in seven-week blocks, this means you focus upon one element at a time, rather than dividing your attention between parallel modules. Teaching is timetabled on one concentrated day, though you also need to allocate independent study time for developing your writing, conducting research and undertaking the required reading for classes. You will shape and grow projects to a professional standard, while also learning how to provide a theoretical basis to discuss and conceptualise your practice. The programme culminates in a dissertation in which you will work independently on an extended creative writing project in a form or genre of your choice, with tutor guidance and feedback. Key features
- You can exit the course with a Postgraduate Diploma, Postgraduate Certificate or an Institutional Credit award depending on the credits you have successfully achieved.
- Creative Writing postgraduate study at DMU is ranked first in the Complete University Guide 2023 for Creative Writing Graduate Prospects.
- You will join the diverse community of Leicester Centre for Creative Writing, where you’ll be taught by published writers, and experienced tutors, with expertise in a range of forms including scripting, fiction and creative non-fiction, poetry – and other hybrid forms, such as digital, and writing for games.
- You will benefit from involvement in Leicester Centre for Creative Writing’s research culture and public engagement events, such as annual independent book festival States of Independence.
- We will help you consolidate and expand your current practice in new directions
- You will graduate able to articulate how your writing skills equip you for a range of careers and employment contexts
- You will learn to confidently present your work and articulate your processes and practice for a variety of audiences and industries
- You will benefit from the collaborative environment of workshops, gaining ongoing staff and peer feedback to help you achieve your independent writing goals.
- The focus on individual research, managing a long project, and nuanced understanding of practice research theory and methodology, provides ideal preparation for progression to PhD.
Assessment method
Overview You will be taught through a combination of: Two-hour workshops: to initiate and develop work, individually and in groups; to give and receive feedback; to practise drafting and editing; to reflect upon creative process. 1-hour lectures/readings: to convey expertise, raise key questions of creative and technical practice, and to introduce you to the work of professional writers, publishers, agents, etc. Tutorials: to discuss your work and to question the feedback given by tutors and peers at greater length in a one-to-one or small group setting. The Virtual Learning Environment: to facilitate informal discussion and to extend the dialogue between tutors and peers between workshops, lectures and tutorials in an excitingly accessible way. There is a varied mix of assessments including - alongside creative writing pieces – posters, oral and video presentations, experimental assignments, recorded performances, essays, author talks, reflections, professional dossiers, industry-standard submissions, negotiated pieces and longer projects. Where appropriate, there are co-creational opportunities for students to find their own appropriate assessment format aligned to their individual practice within a specific module context. Contact hours In your first two terms you will normally attend around 12 hours of timetabled taught sessions each week and be expected to undertake at least 23 hours of independent study each week. Your third term will be pre-dominantly self-directed (including meetings with your supervisor), during which you can expect to undertake 35 hours of independent study each week.
Entry requirements
Typical entry requirements You should have the equivalent or above of a 2.2 UK bachelor’s honours degree, with evidence of an ongoing writing practice. If you have other professional qualifications, industry experience or you don’t have the equivalent of a UK bachelor’s honours degree but can evidence an ongoing writing practice we will consider your application on an individual basis.
Fees and funding
Tuition fees
| England | £9435 | Year 1 |
| Northern Ireland | £9435 | Year 1 |
| Scotland | £9435 | Year 1 |
| Wales | £9435 | Year 1 |
| International | £15800 | Year 1 |
Additional fee information
No additional fees or cost information has been supplied for this course, please contact the provider directly.
Provider information
De Montfort University
The Gateway
Leicester
LE1 9BH
Course contact details
Visit our course pageDMU Admissions
General Enquiries
+44 (0)116 2 50 60 70