University of Birmingham: Creative Writing
| Institution | University of Birmingham View institution profile |
|---|---|
| Department | School of English, Drama, and Creative Studies View department profile |
| Web | www.birmingham.ac.uk |
| Study type | Taught |
Summary
Everyone has a novel in them - or a screenplay - or a sonnet - but if you want to refine your writing and prepare it for publication, our Creative Writing MA offers you the chance to dedicate time to your craft and learn from acclaimed authors.
Get ready to develop your practice further, whether you're interested in short fiction, novels, poetry, plays, screenplays or hybrid and digital forms. Work with writers, editors and publishers and learn how to get published.
Course highlights
At Birmingham, you'll elevate your writing abilities and build on your experience writing creatively. You’ll explore how different forms of writing intersect and you’ll experiment with your writing style. You'll learn how to think like a writer and editor, increasing your confidence by analysing contemporary writing and reflecting on your own work. Our writing workshops are complemented by professional skills training plus real-world insights from published authors, editors and publishers.
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Take your writing beyond the classroom and participate in departmental readings and creative writing competitions.
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Experiment and enhance your writing, testing out different forms in the taught modules. You can choose screenwriting, playwriting, prose fiction or poetry for your dissertation.
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Understand the craft of writing so you can critique your work to professional standards.
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Join a diverse writing community - we welcome writers of all ages and backgrounds. Whether you’re starting your writing journey or have lots of experience already, we’ll help you nurture your craft.
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Study with inspirational writers who challenge the conventions of form.You’ll be taught by award winning writers such as: Luke Kennard, Forward-prize winning poet and novelist; Ruth Gilligan, who won the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize for her novel The Butchers; and Isabel Galleymore, who won the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize for her poetry collection Significant Other.
MA
| Level | RQF Level 7 |
|---|---|
| Entry requirements | You should have, or expect to get, a 2:1 Honours degree in English or Creative Writing. We'll also consider other subjects. Regardless of your academic background, you'll need to have considerable experience writing creatively. You'll need to include a sample of your writing in your online application. This will be a creative writing portfolio of approximately 3,000 words. The portfolio can be short stories, an excerpt from a novel, play, or film script or a selection of poems. If you submit a portfolio of poetry, each line of poetry equates to approximately 20 words per line, so you'll submit approximately 150 lines of poetry. We welcome all forms of writing, but encourage you to submit multiple works if possible, such as a short story and an excerpt from a novel rather than a longer passage from a novel. Please contact the course admissions tutor if you have any queries about the writing sample. |
| Location | Edgbaston Campus Edgbaston Birmingham B15 2TU |
Why you should choose the School of English, Drama and Creative Studies at the University of Birmingham
Join a community of writers, filmmakers, performers and creatives at a world top 100 university for arts and humanities (QS World University Rankings 2025).
We’re home to students across English Literature, Linguistics and Communication, Shakespeare Studies, Film, Creative Writing, Digital Media and Drama.
Our postgraduate taught courses
- MA English Literature
- MA Applied Linguistics (including distance learning and PGCert options)
- MA Applied Linguistics with TESOL
- MA Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (including distance …
