MACreative Writing

Source: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/courses/english/creative-ma/ Parent: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/courses/

MA Creative Writing

MA Creative Writing

Why study MA Creative Writing at Exeter?

• At the University of Exeter, we don’t just teach you how to write to get published. Our team of internationally acclaimed authors understand that your ambitions, and powers of creative writing, are far greater than that
• Our modules are designed to enable you to write for better futures, to: promote social justice, protect our planet, support child wellbeing, comfort and entertain, and inspire others to action
• Experiment in new literary genres, and study and respond to diverse contemporary writers
• Excellent links with the worlds of publishing, literary journalism and broadcasting, book festivals and prizes providing insights into the workings of the literary marketplace
• Establish the contacts necessary for successful publication
• Whether you like writing poetry, prose fiction, short stories, film scripts, game narratives, children’s books or young adult (YA) novels, we invite you to join us on our mission to write to make a difference

Apply online

Select date of entry Sept 2026

Select programme Full time Part time

Apply for Jan 2026 entry

Apply for Sept 2026 entry

Fast Track (current Exeter students)

Open Days

Register your interest

Contact

Programme Director: Dr Emily Bernhard Jackson

Web: Enquire online

Phone: +44 (0)1392 72 72 72

Play

Discover MA Creative Writing at the University of Exeter.

88% of our English research is internationally excellent

Based on research rated 4* + 3* in REF 2021, submitted to UoA27 English Language and Literature

Top 50 in the world for English Language and Literature

QS World University Subject Rankings 2025

A thriving and supportive writing community - our team of prize-winning and best-selling authors will help you develop your creative writing skills

Top 10 in the UK for English

7th in the Complete University Guide 2026

Entry requirements

We will consider applicants with a 2:2 Honours degree or above in their first degree in a relevant subject area, such as English Literature, American Studies, Creative Writing, Film Studies, Television and Media, Drama, History, Classics and Ancient History, Cultural Studies and Postcolonial Literatures.

Applicants coming from a non-related background will be asked to provide a sample of written work (2-3,000 words of academic or creative prose or three to four poems). This is not mandatory for your initial application, but you are welcome to include a writing sample if you wish. Please also include in your personal statement why you want to study the MA in Creative Writing and why you believe you’re a good fit for the course.

Please also see our guidance on essential documentation required for an initial decision on taught programme applications.

Entry requirements for international students

Please visit our entry requirements section for equivalencies from your country and further information on English language requirements.

Read more

Please also see our guidance on essential documentation required for an initial decision on taught programme applications.

Entry requirements for international students

English language requirements

International students need to show they have the required level of English language to study this course.

The required IELTS test scores for this course fall under Profile E.

Please visit our English language requirements page to view the required test scores and equivalencies from your country.

Course content

The MA in Creative Writing is designed for students to develop a longer piece of work during the MA, or find out what their strengths are in the different forms. It is for people, of any age, whether recent graduates or older, who wish to grow their talent quickly by acquiring knowledge and practice in the art of fiction, poetry, life-writing, nature writing or the writing of screenplays.

Our Creative Writing staff are well-published, practicing writers who take great pride in designing and delivering modules in their specialist areas.

Full time students take two modules in term 1, two modules in term 2, and write their dissertations in term 3. Each module has one two-hour seminar per week, with homework set that involves intensive, self-motivated practice and research.

The modules below provide examples of what you can expect to learn on this degree course based on recent academic teaching. The precise modules available to you in future years may vary depending on staff availability and research interests, new topics of study, timetabling and student demand.

Modules

Please note that the module information displayed here is from a previous year and is subject to change.

Stage 1: 120 credits of compulsory modules and 60 credits of optional modules (you may take up 30 credits from the MA English Literary Studies)

Compulsory modules

Optional modules

How would you rate the quality of course information provided on this page?

012345\ 678910

How could we improve this page?

Send

Thank you for your feedback!

Fees

2026/27 entry

UK fees per year:

*£12,650 full-time; £6,325 part-time*

International fees per year:

£25,550 full-time; £12,775 part-time

Scholarships

The University of Exeter offers a wide range of scholarships to support your education, with £7 million available for international students applying to study with us in the 2026/27 academic year, including our prestigious Exeter Excellence Scholarships *. We also provide awards for sport, music and other achievements, as well as regional and partner scholarships with organisations such as Chevening, The Beacon Trust and the British Council. For more information on scholarships and other financial support, please visit our scholarships and bursaries page.

University of Exeter Alumni Scholarship

We are pleased to offer University of Exeter alumni beginning a standalone postgraduate programme in 2026/27 with us a scholarship towards the cost of your tuition fees. Full details can be found here.

*Terms and conditions, including deadlines, apply. See our website for details..

Find out more about tuition fees and funding »

Teaching and research

Learning and teaching

Whether you already know what kind of books or screenplays you wish to write or are still searching for the best form in which to express your creativity, we offer the chance to try your hand in a range of genres, and to benefit from feedback tailored to your writing needs.

A programme of visiting speakers takes place throughout the academic year with writers, publishers and agents coming to talk to students about the next steps in their careers. The roll call changes every year to reflect both our students’ interests and new trends. Recent guest lecturers have included the Booker prize winning novelist Hilary Mantel; the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize-winning novelist Hisham Matar; the Pulitzer Prize winning US Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey; the writer, editor and publisher Richard Cohen, and many others.

Portfolio

Our MA can be taken over one-year full time, or two years part time. During your study, you will build a portfolio of creative work for possible publication, including a dissertation in your chosen genre. You will also be able to take a range of optional modules and explore literary genres and forms with a mutually supportive, like-minded group of fellow writers.

Research areas

Exeter’s creative writing staff practise and publish in a range of literary genres. Their experience of the literary world is not limited to writing and teaching. They also worked – and continue to work - as editors, publishers, agents, radio producers, and journalists. This wealth of experience is reflected in the vibrancy and diversity of our workshops and tutorials.

As a creative writing student, you will also benefit from the academic expertise of the many world-leading scholars working in the English Department at our Exeter Campus, a lively community of doctoral students, and the activities of four dedicated research centres: the Medieval and Renaissance Research Group; the 18th-Century Narrative Consortium; the Victorian Studies Research Group; and the 20th and 21st Century Literature, Creative Writing and Film Research Group.

Read more

Andy Brown

John Wedgwood Clarke

Vesna Goldsworthy

Sam North

Wendy O’Shea-Meddour

Ellen Wiles

Andy Brown

Andy has a notable national reputation as a poet, poetry commentator and poetry tutor. He is the author of 10 poetry collections and editor of several anthologies, including A Body of Work: Poetry & Medical Writing, for Bloomsbury. He has interests in Ecopoetics, and the Medical Humanities, and often collaborates with scientists. He is also a musician who performs regularly around the region.

Profile page

Andy Brown

Andy has a notable national reputation as a poet, poetry commentator and poetry tutor. He is the author of 10 poetry collections and editor of several anthologies, including A Body of Work: Poetry & Medical Writing, for Bloomsbury. He has interests in Ecopoetics, and the Medical Humanities, and often collaborates with scientists. He is also a musician who performs regularly around the region.

Profile page

John Wedgwood Clarke

John is an award-winning poet, prose nonfiction writer and broadcaster. His full poetry collections include Ghost Pot (2013) and Landfill (2017) both of which explore place, ecology and the relationship between science and poetry. He regularly works across disciplines and has led major Arts Council-funded arts projects including Dictionary of Stone and Sea Swim. He presented The Books that Made Britain (2016) & Through the Lens of Larkin (2017), both for BBC4.

Profile page

Vesna Goldsworthy

A prize-winning poet, memoirist, novelist and broadcaster. Vensa’s books have been translated into twenty languages and serialised by the BBC. Before becoming an academic in English Literature and Creative Writing, Vesna spent fifteen years in publishing and as a producer at the BBC.

Profile page

Sam North

Sam has written eight novels, two books on the craft of writing, and two films. In 2010 he won an Eric Gregory Award; in 2004 his novel The Unnumbered was long-listed for the Man-Booker prize. His first novel won the Somerset Maugham Award.

Profile page

Wendy O’Shea-Meddour

An internationally successful children’s writer, as well as an academic with nearly twenty years lecturing experience. Since her debut in 2012, Wendy has published 15 children’s books and her work has been translated into 16 languages. Award-winning titles include: A Hen in the Wardrobe (2012), the Wendy Quill series (2013-2015), and How the Library (not the Prince) Saved Rapunzel (2015).

Profile page

Ellen Wiles

Ellen’s first novel, The Invisible Crowd (Harper Collins, 2017) was awarded a Victor Turner Prize. Her first book, Saffron Shadows and Salvaged Scripts: Literary Life in Myanmar Under Censorship and in Transition (Columbia University Press, 2015) was the first to explore this literary culture through interviews and translations. Her new book, Live Literature: The Experience and Cultural Value of Literary Performance Events from Salons to Festivals (Palgrave, 2021), uses literary ethnography to explore participant experience, and has been described as ‘groundbreaking’, ‘stylish’, and ‘compelling’.

Profile page

Ben Smith

Nazneen Ahmed Pathak

Ben Smith

Ben’s debut novel Doggerland uses the lens of speculative fiction to engage with pressing contemporary issues such as renewable energy, ocean waste, climate change and the scale-effects of the Anthropocene. It was selected as a Guardian Book of the Year 2019.

Profile page

Ben Smith

Ben’s debut novel Doggerland uses the lens of speculative fiction to engage with pressing contemporary issues such as renewable energy, ocean waste, climate change and the scale-effects of the Anthropocene. It was selected as a Guardian Book of the Year 2019.

Profile page

Nazneen Ahmed Pathak

Nazneen writes fiction for children and poetry for adults. Her first book, City of Stolen Magic, a historical fantasy for middle-grade readers, comes out with Puffin in summer 2023. She is represented by Louise Lamont at LBA Books, and currently holds the post of Hampshire Poet for 2022-23.

Careers

Whether your ambition is to become a full-time writer, a teacher of writing, or to develop a creative career which includes writing in one of its many forms, we have a strong track record of supporting our students through to publication and doctoral level work.

While at Exeter, our MA students publish their creative work in ENIGMA and in the new postgraduate journal EXCLAMATION.

Alumni

Former University of Exeter students who have gone on to develop a writing career include poets such as Luke Kennard, Abi Curtis, Eleanor Rees, Izzy Galleymore, Jaime Robles, Jos Smith, Sally Flint, and Samuel Tongue; novelists Virginia Baily, Lucy Wood, and Ruth Gilligan; and non-fiction writers such as Miriam Darlington.

Many of our former students now work in film, broadcasting, advertising, journalism, PR, publishing, teaching – including the teaching of creative writing – as well as other careers in the growing number of fields where good writing is an asset.

Careers and employment support

While studying at Exeter you can also access a range of activities, advice and practical help to give you the best chance of following your chosen career path. For more information visit Careers pages.

Related courses

[English Literary Studies MA

Streatham Campus](https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/courses/english/english-ma/)

[Creative Industries MA

Streatham Campus](https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/courses/creative/creativity-ma/)

[Film and Screen Studies MA

Streatham Campus](https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/courses/film/film-screen-ma/)

[Curation: Contemporary Art and Cultural Management MA

Streatham Campus](https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/courses/creative/curation/)

[MA Creative Writing (Online)

Online](https://www.exeter.ac.uk/online-courses/ma-creative-writing/)

[Publishing MA

Streatham Campus](https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/courses/creative/publishing-ma/)

[Theatre Practice MA

Streatham Campus](https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/courses/creative/theatrema/)

[Media and Communications MA

Streatham Campus](https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/courses/communications/ma-mediacomms/)

View all English courses

### Why Exeter?

### Student life

### Our campuses

### International students

### Accommodation

### Apply for a Masters

### Immigration and visas

### Tuition fees and funding