MA Writing

at National University of Ireland Galway

In each semester, all students will take a Writers' Seminar. This will meet once a week for three hours through the semester. Its scope will include fiction and non-fiction, poetry and prose, dramatic and non-dramatic writing, journals and journalism. Normally, there will be a different visiting writer at each seminar meeting. Only students from the MA in Writing may enrol for credit in this seminar. Assessment is based on weekly journal writings.  

Optional courses:   
Students must take six modules in total. The Writers' Seminar is compulsory, students may then take any five of the following module two from one semester and three from the other:  

• Poetry Workshop. Students produce drafts sometimes in response to prompts or assignments from the workshop leader(s). These drafts are sometimes circulated for class discussion, with a view to improvement. By the end of the semester, students produce a number of complete poems and the class publishes a chapbook.  
• Fiction Workshop. Students examine elements of craft in published writers selected by the workshop leader. They also produce short pieces of fiction, sometimes in response to a prompt or assignment. Drafts may be discussed in class, or in conference with the teacher. By the end of the semester, students submit a set number of words of fictional narrative.  
• Non-Fiction Workshop. For a month students complete weekly writing assignments in elements of narrative (description, dialogue, etc.), then an essay or book proposal, which is next week by week undertaken in steps. Class meetings are devoted primarily to discussion of works-in-progress.  
• Feature-writing and Crime-reporting. Students practice the craft of feature-writing, book reviewing, and reporting. By the end of the semester, each student submits one major investigative piece of journalism.  

Students from the MA in Writing may also take a number of courses offered on the MA in Drama & Theatre Studies (MADT) and the MA in Literature & Publishing (MALP) programmes:  

• Reviewing Irish Theatre: MA in Drama and Theatre Studies (MADT)
• Playwright's workshop (places limited) (MADT)
• Discovering the Archives (MADT)
• Irish Playwrights since the 60s (MADT)
• Theatre as a Creative Industry (MADT)
• Book History  (places limited) (MALP)
• Playwright's Workshop II: Adaptation (places limited) (MADT)
• Contemporary Publishing
• Copy Editing and Proofreading
• Theatre and Globalization
• Textual Studies (MALP)
• Interpreting History 
• Studies in Oral History 
• Imaginative Responses 2 

Year 1 (90 Credits)

• Optional EN602: Writing Workshop: Fiction - 10 Credits - Semester 1
• Optional EN6112: Writing Workshop: Nonfiction 1 - 10 Credits - Semester 1
• Optional EN601: Writing Workshop: Poetry - 10 Credits - Semester 1
• Optional DT6102: Irish Drama and Theatre from Wilde to O'Casey - 10 Credits - Semester 1
• Optional DT6123: Playwright's Workshop I - 10 Credits - Semester 1
• Optional FM500: Screen Writing Fundamentals - 10 Credits - Semester 1
• Optional DT6120: Ensemble Acting and Devising - 10 Credits - Semester 1
• Optional EN6136: Thinking about Books/Thinking about Theatre - 10 Credits - Semester 1
• Required EN590: Final Project: Portfolio - 30 Credits - Semester 1
• Required EN604: Writer's Seminar - 10 Credits - Semester 1
• Optional DT6113: Applied Dramaturgy - 10 Credits - Semester 2
• Optional DT6122: Performance Lab - 10 Credits - Semester 2
• Optional FM6109: Writing for The Small Screen - 10 Credits - Semester 2
• Optional EN6111: Writing Workshop: Fiction 2 - 10 Credits - Semester 2
• Optional EN6113: Writing Workshop: Poetry 2 - 10 Credits - Semester 2
• Optional EN603: Writing Workshop: Non-Fiction - 10 Credits - Semester 2
• Optional DT6101: Irish Drama and Theatre from Beckett to the Present - 10 Credits - Semester 1
• Optional DT6119: Directing for Stage - 10 Credits - Semester 2
• Optional DJ6100: Features Journalism - 10 Credits - Semester 2
• Optional DT6124: Playwrights' Workshop II: Adaptation - 10 Credits - Semester 2
• Optional FM502: Screenplay Development - 10 Credits - Semester 2
• Optional EN570: Book History - 10 Credits - Semester 2

Undergraduate and mature students can satisfy matriculation registration requirements for NUI Galway by achieving certain grades in the following examinations. 
 

Leaving certificate (for EU and non-EU)

You need a pass in at least six subjects in the Leaving Certificate in accordance with College requirements with:

• Minimum Grade H5 (Higher Level) in two subjects 

• Passes in the remaining four subjects at O6/ H7 
   

You should pick your subjects based on the requirements for entry to your desired course.
 

All subjects of the Leaving Certificate are accepted for matriculation registration purposes, with the exception of Gaeilge Bonnleibhéal (Irish Foundation Level), Mathematics (Ordinary Alternative/Foundation Level and; Home Economics (General), which is recognised only for St. Angela's College, Sligo.
 

GCE and GSCE
 

You need a pass in at least six subjects in accordance with College requirements with at least:

• GCE Advanced Level: Grade C in two recognised subjects and

• GCSE Level: Grade C in four recognised subjects.
   

You should pick your subjects based on the requirements for entry to your desired course.

English Language Requirement:

IELTS :- 6.5

TOEFL :- 88

Fees: EU
€6,980 p.a. 2022/23

Fees: Tuition
€6,840 p.a. 2022/23

Fees: Student levy
€140 p.a. 2022/23

Fees: Non EU
€16,940 p.a. 2022/23
 

Student levy €140 - payable by all students and is not covered by SUSI. 

Graduates have gone on to work in the areas of teaching, journalism, publishing, editing, public relations and marketing. Graduates have also progressed to various doctoral programmes in the humanities—and it is now also possible to undertake a practice-led PhD in English at NUI Galway. Many graduates have concentrated on their development as independent writers, and over 45 books have been published by writers from this MA.