MA in Creative Writing

at University of Manchester

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.
 

Title

• Forms of Writing I
• Contemporary Fiction
• Anthologizing Modern and Contemporary Poetry
• Workshop in Fiction Writing I
• Workshop in Fiction Writing II
• Reading Poems: Lyric and the Anthropocene
• Writing Poems I
• Writing Poems II
• Creative Non-Fiction Workshop

Academic entry qualification overview

• We normally expect students to have a First or Upper Second class honours degree or its overseas equivalent in a humanities-based subject area.
   

English language

• An overall grade of IELTS 7.0 with 7.0 in writing and no skill below 6.5 is required or 100+ in the TOEFL iBT with a minimum writing score of 25 and no skill below 22.

• MA (full-time)
  
  UK students (per annum): £10,500
  
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £21,000

• 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.