MA Creative Writing

Program Overview

Our MA Creative Writing program nurtures your writing skills under the guidance of published authors, providing a supportive environment for developing mid-sized creative projects. Through workshops, seminars, and supervision, you'll refine your writing techniques and explore diverse modules. The program prepares you for careers in writing, publishing, or fields where creative writing is an asset.

Program Outline

Creative writing can simultaneously be a vocation, a career and a transferable skill. This programme focuses on the multiple roles that writing can play in your life. We’re in the top 150 universities in the world for this subject (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024). The University of Reading is 6th in the UK for research outputs in English Language and Literature (Times Higher Education analysis of the latest Research Excellence Framework 2021 – English Language and Literature, when scoring by GPA Output). Our experts will mentor you in how best to develop and complete mid-sized creative projects – whether you have existing written work or are starting out – while introducing you to a range of modules closely related to the life of writing. You will work on a writing project of your own devising, which you’ll develop through a combination of individual supervision and group workshops. In your first semester, core modules will focus on the effective planning, research and development of your project, then on the early stages of drafting and revising the text as it develops.

Outline:

In the second half of your course, you’ll work on your dissertation and receive supervision to complete your portfolio of writing. You’ll also write a reflective essay on the creative writing process. Core modules will include: Project Development Materiality and Textuality Creative Writing Dissertation. Optional modules draw on the University’s expertise in areas such as archival research, the history of publishing, persuasive writing, and teacher training. These modules will prepare you for the literary marketplace, or for careers in which creative writing can play a significant part. Placement opportunities Optional modules will provide the opportunity to explore careers involving creative writing: Publishing and the Business of Books encourages placements in publishing companies. Persuasive Writing can lead to placements in journalism.

Teaching:

At Reading, we foster a friendly and cohesive community of writers in the Department of English Literature. We are committed to teaching through the workshop model. These small group sessions are the heart of Reading’s writing community: guided by one of our lecturers, you and your fellow students will gain confidence as you share your writing and help each other improve. Seminars will concentrate on specific, practical issues: character development, dialogue, imagery, form and theme interrelations, or at a more advanced level, how to conceive and revise work in relation to generic constraints and reader expectations. All our teaching staff have links with professional writing communities. We regularly invite published authors to read from their work or deliver guest lectures. We’ll also help you to become a published writer.

Careers:

Careers with MA Creative Writing As a creative writing graduate and beginning author, you will enter the job market with advanced research and writing abilities, together with a high degree of cultural literacy and critical sophistication. In today’s economy, this knowledge and these communication skills can be vital. Our degrees have been designed to develop the capabilities valued by both creative and commercial industries, providing you with a diverse range of career opportunities following graduation. Your transferable skills are highly sought by employers and well-suited to a number of sectors, including: journalism publishing marketing and PR teaching

New UK/Republic of Ireland students: £10,800 New international students: £22,350