2023/24 Taught Postgraduate Programme Catalogue

MA Creative Writing

This programme is available to UK and EU applicants for part time study (over 2 academic years). Please contact pgtenglish@leeds.ac.uk for further information.

Total credits: 180

Entry requirements:

A bachelor's degree with a 2:1 (hons) in English literature or Creative Writing, or a degree scheme that includes a significant proportion of English Literature or Creative Writing content, or a related subject. Applicants will also submit a Creative Writing sample comprising approximately 1,000 words of prose or 3 pages of poetry (or a portfolio combining both genres). Applications from those with degrees in other subjects may be considered on an individual basis.

IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in all components.

School/Unit responsible for the parenting of students and programme:

School of English

Examination board through which the programme will be considered:

School of English TPG Examinations Board

Relevant QAA Subject Benchmark Groups:

QAA Creative Writing (2019) plus Appendix 1 Masters and Doctoral Design

Programme specification:

The MA in Creative Writing offers students the opportunity to develop postgraduate skills in creative writing within the context of a School of English with a long and distinguished history in creative writing. The programme covers a range of literary forms, including poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction genres. The course develops students’ skills as creative practitioners and explores the history, generic conventions and experimental possibilities of creative literary forms.

The course is structured through a combination of core modules and option modules and culminates in the independent creative writing research project. Total credits required for the programme are 180 credits (3 modules per semester).

In semester 1, students take the core module Approaches to Creative Writing, which introduces students to the study of creative writing at MA level. In semester 2, they must take one of two options (they may choose to take both of these) titled Writing Prose Fiction and Writing Poetry, which immerse students in the creative practice of these genres and current debates in these fields. Students may further choose from two creative-critical options, The Long Poem, and Selves, Families, Stories, which develop students’ knowledge and practice in specialist forms of the long poem and memoir. And/or they may choose optional modules from a range of offerings in English Literature, alongside modules in digital media and performance in the School of Performance and Creative Industries.

The research project, which is the capstone of the programme, includes some plenary lectures in semester 1, once students have been prepared to begin independent research by the core module Approaches to Creative Writing. The research project module, which is the other core module for the programme, continues in semester 2 in the form of individual supervisions under specialist creative writing staff. During the summer students complete this independent project, with the goal of producing a single extended piece of creative writing, or a portfolio of creative writing, which may be developed further for publication. This goal is a key distinctive learning outcome of the programme.

The ‘creative writing workshop’ is at the heart of the pedagogy of the programme and is a distinctive learning and teaching method. The creative workshop embeds principles of the Leeds Curriculum by making students active partners in shaping their own, and their peers’, creative practice.

Year1 - View timetable

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]

Compulsory modules:

Candidates will be required to study the following compulsory modules:

Optional modules:

Basket 1: Candidates will be required to study at least 30 credits from the following optional modules (both may be taken):

Basket 2: Candidates will be required to study a maximum of 60 credits from the following optional modules coded ENGLXXXM. Please note that this is an indicative module list, and a selection of options is offered each year depending on staff availability:

Candidates may take up to 30 credits in approved MA level modules outside the School of English. Subject to approval from the Programme Leader, if a module from Basket 2 is NOT taken, a maximum of 30 credits may be taken from approved modules outside of the school such as those modules listed below:

Elective modules:

Last updated: 01/09/2023 11:11:23

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