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University of West London

2 Creative Writing degrees

• OVERALL RATING This is the overall rating calculated by averaging all live reviews for this uni on Whatuni. (3.8) 187 reviews

English and Creative Writing BA (Hons)

• UCAS points 112
• UCAS code QW12
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3 Creative Writing degrees

• OVERALL RATING This is the overall rating calculated by averaging all live reviews for this uni on Whatuni. (4.0) 1364 reviews
• Employment rate: 70% Source: UNISTATS , 2019
• CUG ranking : 16th Source: Complete University Guide 2024

Creative Writing BA (Hons)

• UCAS points 112-128
• UCAS code W8P5

1 Creative Writing degree

• OVERALL RATING This is the overall rating calculated by averaging all live reviews for this uni on Whatuni. (4.1) 1803 reviews
• Employment rate: 90% Source: UNISTATS , 2019

Creative Writing and Journalism BA (Hons)

• UCAS code WP85

University of Westminster, London

6 Creative Writing degrees

• OVERALL RATING This is the overall rating calculated by averaging all live reviews for this uni on Whatuni. (3.9) 1213 reviews
• Employment rate: 100% Source: UNISTATS , 2019
• CUG ranking : 36th Source: Complete University Guide 2024

Creative Writing and English Language BA (Hons)

• UCAS points 104-120
• UCAS code QW38

Goldsmiths, University of London

• OVERALL RATING This is the overall rating calculated by averaging all live reviews for this uni on Whatuni. (3.7) 1089 reviews
• Employment rate: 95% Source: UNISTATS , 2019

English with Creative Writing BA (Hons)

• UCAS points 120-136
• UCAS code Q3W8

Queen Mary University of London

4 Creative Writing degrees

• OVERALL RATING This is the overall rating calculated by averaging all live reviews for this uni on Whatuni. (3.9) 846 reviews

Drama with Creative Writing BA (Hons)

• UCAS points 120
• UCAS code WW44

University of Greenwich

• OVERALL RATING This is the overall rating calculated by averaging all live reviews for this uni on Whatuni. (4.2) 1558 reviews
• CUG ranking : 34th Source: Complete University Guide 2024
• UCAS points 104
• UCAS code W801
• OVERALL RATING This is the overall rating calculated by averaging all live reviews for this uni on Whatuni. (3.9) 1424 reviews

Creative Writing and English Literature BA (Hons)

• UCAS points 112-114
• UCAS code WQV3

Birkbeck, University of London

8 Creative Writing degrees

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• UCAS points 96-128
• UCAS code W800
• OVERALL RATING This is the overall rating calculated by averaging all live reviews for this uni on Whatuni. (4.1) 927 reviews
• Employment rate: 75% Source: UNISTATS , 2019
• CUG ranking : 52nd Source: Complete University Guide 2024

Creative and Professional Writing BA (Hons)

• UCAS points 96-112

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Home > Undergraduate study > Undergraduate courses > Creative Writing BA (Hons)

Creative Writing BA (Hons)

Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) Gold award

Our commitment to high quality teaching has been recognised with a TEF Gold rating. The University has received an overall rating of Gold , as well as securing a Gold award in the framework's two new student experience and student outcomes categories.

Why choose this course?

Are you a budding novelist, Netflix screenwriter or experimental poet? On this degree, you'll learn the art and craft of writing in all its forms. Taught by published authors, you'll gain a wide range of skills across creative and non-fiction genres. You'll examine how writing can be used to communicate in a range of contexts, with appropriate uses of style, register and form.

You'll take part in masterclasses by industry professionals and join the thriving community of our specialist Writers' Centre. An extended writing project will be on a subject of your choice. You'll also build a professional portfolio and work on real-life industry projects, giving you vital employment experience to prepare you for a career in writing.

Reasons to choose Kingston

• Many of our graduates have had their work published. Recently, Oyinkan Braithwaite's multi-award winning debut novel My Sister, The Serial Killer , was longlisted for the Booker Prize 2019.
• This course covers a range of formats, including digital writing, fiction and creative non-fiction, poetry, and screenwriting.
• Workshops will allow you to hone your writing craft, while lectures and seminars will give you the tools you need to develop your own creativity.
• To help you master the kinds of writing that interest you most, you can choose to study works of literature or film.

The Art School Experience

As part of  Kingston School of Art , students on this course benefit from joining a creative community where collaborative working and critical practice are encouraged.

Our  workshops and studios  are open to all disciplines, enabling students and staff to work together, share ideas and explore multi-disciplinary making.

What you will study

This course is intellectually stimulating and exciting, designed to provide you with opportunities for creative writing across a variety of genres and media, embracing poetry, prose fiction and non-fiction, professional writing, and writing for radio and screen.

You'll work with published writers, academics and industry professionals on writing for digital media, pitches, exhibitions, reviews, and articles.

The course features two distinct pathways. The literature pathway features modules that allow you to explore a variety of literary topics and texts in depth. If your main interests lie in writing for and about film and television, you can elect to take the degree's film pathway, on which you'll study film in depth.

Each level is made up of four modules each worth 30 credit points. Typically a student must complete 120 credits at each level.

Literature Pathway

Film pathway, optional year (both pathways).

In your first year, you'll be introduced to the field of creative writing through a variety of practical workshops and seminars. You'll attend interactive lectures, small-group discussions and individual writing exercises.

In the second year, there is an increasing emphasis on private study and independent writing. You'll develop the appropriate skills, techniques, and practices in order to produce a sustained piece of writing in poetry and fiction.

In your final year, you'll have the opportunity to complete an extended writing project on a subject of your choice, and to work on real-life industry projects, giving you vital employment experience. Through optionality, both at assessment and module level, the programme will enable you to tailor your degree to suit your interests and employment or enterprise goals. Workshops will allow you to hone your writing craft, while lectures and seminars will give you the tools you need to develop your own creativity.

Year 1 core modules

Introduction to creative writing i: the writer's toolkit.

This module centres upon practical work designed to develop the skills appropriate to the undergraduate study of creative writing. These skills will be focused on the following areas: the analysis and use of published writing; language and style; seminar/workshop practice; and habits of writing, self-reflection and revision. The module will investigate how writers think about their craft and the techniques they use to write most effectively in their various mediums. Weekly lectures will be given by practising writers who will introduce students to their own published work as well as that of a wide range of other authors. Students will read, analyse and discuss poems, short stories, plays and essays, and will develop a greater awareness of language and style in writing through a variety of exercises. These workshop exercises will allow students to establish guidelines for constructive participation and encourage co-operation and self-reflection.

Reading London: Drama, Poetry and Prose

This module introduces you to the literature of London, from the rise of Renaissance theatre culture to its fictional futures, and from explorations of its urban heart to its sprawling suburbs. You will investigate how numerous writers have depicted everyday life in the metropolis, as well as social upheaval, crime and injustice. You will consider the emergence of distinct literary cultures in the capital, the ways London's position at the centre of a global empire has shaped its literature, and how writers have in turn represented the experiences of particular groups, for example, social elites, immigrants, women, and children.

The module will also introduce you to some of the most fundamental categories of literature. The module will be organised into three strands: one on drama, one on poetry, and one on prose (fiction and non-fiction). In each strand you will identify the distinctive characteristics of particular forms and genres of literature, and of modes of writing that developed at particular historical moments. Through close study of a range of literary texts we will consider, for instance, what distinguishes tragedy, comedy and realism in drama, how poets have engaged with the sonnet form or the epic, what defines the memoir, and how to explain the differences in narrative style between realist and modernist fiction.

Our weekly interactive lectures will be complemented by study trips to locations across London, which may include a visit to the Globe Theatre, the London Museum or a walking lecture following the route taken by Mrs Dalloway in Virginia Woolf's novel of the same name.  

Writing that Works

This module will introduce students to Future Skills through engagement with the Navigate programme. It will enable students to begin to develop their professional identity and global citizenship, by promoting their understanding of ethical issues and values, design thinking, and commercial awareness. These concepts and associated activities will support students to plan their own personal and professional development, as a means of developing their creative practice. This will be supported through active engagement with the Navigate programme, and through personal development planning (supported by Personal Tutors), which will enable students to reflect upon their Future Skills graduate attributes. It will also enable students to reflect on and begin to evidence their understanding of the skills.

The module provides students with the opportunity to read and examine examples of writing in a range of academic literary and non-literary forms and to employ that knowledge via practical application by composing original writing in these forms. Students will then seek to obtain feedback from peers, module tutors and personal tutors, and respond to that feedback by producing further writing they then edit and submit in the studio hours and personal tutorial sessions.

The module is arranged into two strands: writing for ‘work' and reading for writers. Initially, in weekly lecture-workshops, students will explore what makes for successful writing in different contexts and, in weekly studio hours, will practice writing effectively in various modes and to different briefs. In the second strand, the module uses a range of texts to equip students with the terminology and techniques to analyse with confidence and reflect on various kinds of successful writing, including their own. 

The module equips students with the terminology and techniques to analyse with confidence various kinds of writing, including their own. In weekly lecture-workshops, students will explore what makes for successful writing in different contexts and, in weekly studio hours, will practice writing effectively in various modes and to different briefs.

Authorship and Audience

This module introduces students to theories around concepts of authorship and audience, exploring these ideas within a broader cultural context that includes literature, television, fan culture and video games. It invites students to apply their learning in practical and imaginative ways, through assessments that encourage diverse forms of creative writing, in addition to more traditional essays.

The module is divided into halves, one focused on authorship and the second on audience; in turn, each teaching block falls into two distinct sections, each with a writing workshop where theoretical ideas are creatively explored.

Teaching Block 1 begins with an introduction to theories of authorship in cinema and their origins in literature – the ‘camera-pen'. The second half of the semester examines a contemporary director and invites students to apply the theories they have learned to this more recent case study, before introducing ‘the death of the author' (Barthes) and the ‘author-function' (Foucault). These ideas lead us towards a focus on audience interpretation, rather than authorial intention.

Teaching Block 2 opens with a survey of approaches to audience, from the Frankfurt School, World War Two propaganda and the ‘hypodermic' model through the ‘uses and gratifications' theories of the 1950s to the cultural studies of Stuart Hall and the Birmingham School. It then explores the study of fandom to question whether fan culture celebrates or subverts dominant forms.

Writing workshops in both Teaching Blocks provide the opportunity for students to adapt a story into a script, demonstrating their knowledge of a specific director's authorial style; to develop a pitch for a new movie; to devise an audience study in the style of the 1940s, 1950s or 1960s approaches; and to apply auto-ethnography to their own fandom. Assessments are innovative and involve traditional essays, presentations, and creative scripts with critical commentaries, including the opportunity to submit video essays.

Year 2 core modules

Independent research studies.

This is a dissertation-style module, taught through a combination of small-group sessions and individual tutorials, in which students will have the opportunity to work on a sustained creative writing project of their choosing. They will produce a substantial piece of writing in a chosen form, having undertaken contextual reading in that form and engaged in other research as appropriate, such as location scouting, conducting interviews, or visiting archives and specialist collections. Through group workshops and presentations, as well as one-on-one tutorials, students will receive constructive feedback and guidance on how to plan, structure, write, revise, and edit their projects, and gain advice in developing the skills and habits necessary to working independently. In addition, students will learn how to plan strategies for the possible dissemination and promotion of their projects in the world outside the university, as professional authors would, such as through various methods of publication or performance. By learning to work independently and by planning the dissemination and promotion of their projects, students will acquire the entrepreneurial skills and abilities necessary for success in self-employment and in other professions.

Content, Form and Creativity

On this module, students will have the opportunity to progress their creative writing skills by exploring the relationship between theory and practice. They will also explore the connection between language, form, creativity, and style. Students will be presented with a range of theoretical and contextual approaches to the production and analysis of imaginative work, and will be invited to respond to these provocations through critical and creative writing.

Students will attend interactive lectures whose themes may include adaptation, narrative techniques for literary authors, history and narrative, identity and aesthetics, and mind style etc. Students will learn more advanced practical techniques for crafting expressive, imaginative work, which will allow them to make more sophisticated use of aspects such as voice, point of view, structure, character, imagery, and tone.

Workshops will draw on the language-based disciplines of linguistics, stylistics and narratology to explore the relation between content, form and creativity. The module will entail the reading, critical analysis and discussion of texts by a variety of classic and contemporary authors, whose work reflects the diverse range of styles, influences and approaches at work today. Students can choose to experiment with writing the novel, short story, script for radio, stage or screen, or poetry.

Students will be asked to provide thoughtful, constructive feedback through peer review. Along with developing their own personal sense of voice and style, students will practise applying skills learned on the module to real-world situations faced by professional authors, such as writing a piece for a commission or for a target audience.

Year 2 option modules

Transforming realities: innovation and social change in twentieth century and contemporary literature.

This module is an optional period module at Level 5. It will begin by exploring literature published from the 1930s through to the present day, and will examine the strategies writers have used in response to a changing Britain and wider world. We will consider how twentieth and twenty-first-century texts adapt realist, modernist and postmodern techniques to engage with issues such as the rise of mass culture, the threat of totalitarianism, the establishment of the Welfare State, post-war immigration, and sexual liberation. To enhance your perspective on these issues, you will be introduced to non-fiction material by other contemporary writers, such as J.B. Priestley, Erich Fromm, Iris Murdoch, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Richard Hoggart, and George Lamming, as well as more recent critical and theoretical material.  The module also examines the development and continuing popularity of realist drama in the twentieth century. We will pay particular attention to the ways in which realist drama is used as a tool of social and political examination in the various contexts of pre-Revolutionary Russia, Dublin in the aftermath of the First World War, and the establishment of the welfare state in Britain after 1945. Secondly, we will examine the developments in non-realist forms of drama and the experiments which gave rise to what is, somewhat controversially, called the 'Theatre of the Absurd'. The module culminates with the study of a selection of texts chosen to illustrate the great variety of genres and styles in contemporary British literature and to exemplify literature written by different nationalities and social groups. Underpinned by relevant theoretical perspectives, questions will be raised about the relation between literature and contemporary events, with relation to issues pertinent to literature, such as social mobility, hybridity, democracy and technology. In recent years, authors studied have included Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, George Orwell, Sylvia Plath, Harold Pinter, Alan Hollinghurst, and Zadie Smith.

Screenwriting

Film is often seen as a director's medium, rather than a writer's. This course doesn't debate the relative claims of either – it retains a strong commitment to the visual – but its primary focus is on the construction of script and, in particular, the screenplay of the mainstream narrative film.

The cornerstone of the module is an exploration of what makes an effective screen story through analysis of dramatic structure. The tutors on this module, both experienced screenwriters, contend that all genres of screen narrative use essentially the same core principles of storytelling and that an understanding of how these principles work is a creative tool: we can use them to create our own stories and adapt them to different forms. First, through close study of several successful films – focusing in particular on structure and character – you will be taught the contribution of the screenplay to how a film is constructed and why it succeeds. Second, with particular emphasis on dialogue and the craft of visual storytelling, we will guide you to the creation and completion of your own short screenplay, providing you with models (in both film and script form) from a selection of short films, and teaching you how to present and format your script.

Students will be invited to demonstrate their knowledge of structure and screenwriting craft in analysis of a feature film. In TB2 they will pitch an original idea for a screen narrative before developing their own screenplay.

Sex and the City: From Victorian Metropolis to Modernist Wasteland

This module is an optional period module at Level 5. We will study key texts from the nineteenth to early twentieth centuries that register the ways in which Britain is transformed by the Industrial Revolution, and which give expression to fears about technology, social mobility and urban culture. We will consider literature of the period that questions and resists established theories of gendered identity, and which challenges the literary representation of sexuality, defying censorship in the process. We will be introduced to writers who engage with contemporary debates about science, religion, the empire, and racial and national identity. And we will encounter a range of consciously modern texts which dislocate and make new the reader's experience by technical innovation and experiment. In recent years, writers studied have included Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf.

Adaptations

This module examines the adaptation, as both industrial process and creative practice, of various kinds of cultural works into other forms. The first half of the module focuses on cinematic adaptations of works of fiction. Through a series of case studies students will explore the history of cinematic adaptation and key ideas through which adaptation has been framed, including fidelity, medium specificity, authorship and intertextuality. The second half of the module examines more diverse types of adaptation: literary engagements with previously published works of fiction; adaptions of comics and theatrical works to screen; and the more recent transports between video games, fiction and television. Students explore the commercial, creative and political imperatives that shape such adaptations, as well as the reasons for why some cultural texts and forms remain unadapted or have been deemed unadaptable. Whereas the first half of the module is assessed by a critical essay, the second half is examined via a creative project, which may take the form of an adapted screenplay and critical commentary, a commercial proposal to adapt an overlooked text, or a reworking of a previously published literary text.

Final Year core modules

Professional communication.

This module is a capstone for the Creative Writing degree. The module asks students to synthesise knowledge developed across the programme, and to articulate and apply this knowledge in professional contexts.

In the first part of the module, supported by industry professionals drawn from the programmes Industry Advisory Board, skills workshops, Kingston's Careers and Employability Service activities, and online training provision, students will develop an individually-designed digital professional portfolio that will communicate their creative talents and broader transferable skills.

In the second part of the module, students will work in small groups as miniature creative agencies on live professional briefs commissioned by industry professionals, developing both their writing and transferable skills in real work scenarios.

Dissertation

The dissertation is a core module for all students. Under guidance from an allocated specialist member of staff, and supported by interactive workshops, you will produce a sustained piece of research, either in the form of a traditional 10,000-word dissertation or in the form of creative project and accompanying 3,000-word rationale. The module culminates in a student conference. You will work with your peers to organise this, and your contribution to it will also be assessed. An initial dissertation proposal must be submitted in September before the module begins. At the end of the module, you will have produced a critically engaged and fully developed piece of independent research.

Final Year option modules

Box set drama: writing for television.

This is the module that can make you rich! On terrestrial and digital platforms, in both drama and comedy, the returning drama series remains TV's holy grail, pulling viewers in for episode after episode, season after season, box set after box set. For producers and writers – and the ‘showrunners' who are both – a returning series can be a goldmine. So how do these TV blockbusters get made? What makes them successful? And could you write one?

Taught by two highly experienced professionals, Box Set Drama is a practical and creative module which explores how a returning drama or comedy series is conceived and constructed – and gives you the tools to write one. Through close study of a few successful shows (and some not so successful), you will learn how to structure a series, build characters and stories, hook an audience, and dramatise action for the screen. Building from concept to treatment to script, with the aid of practical exercises and regular feedback, you will then develop a pitch for your own original show, aimed at the current television market. If you are keen to understand screen narrative and genre, find out how television drama works and explore writing for a visual medium, this module is for you. You will be taught basic principles of scriptwriting and storylining and, after two stimulating and entertaining semesters, will have generated a pitch and supporting portfolio for your own idea, written to industry standards.

Special Study: Innovations in Poetry and Prose

This module will cover the study of a number of different kinds of poetry and prose, with a focus on innovations in contemporary literature. It will examine some of the 20th- and 21st-century movements that have informed, and continue to influence, contemporary poetry and prose. These include modernism, dada, surrealism, sound poetry, visual poetry, constraint-based writing, the nouveau roman and "language" poetry, as well as the aesthetic and stylistic theories underpinning them (for instance, in manifestos and essays about poetry written by the poets and writers themselves).

Attention will be given to the contextual aspects of poetry and prose, as well as the content. The course will explore the reasons poets and writers innovate, the reasoning for experimentation and the ways in which poets and writers shape and structure poems and prose, exploring the nature of sound and language itself. The content of such works will be explored, which may involve non-traditional subject matter or interactions with other art forms, such as music or the visual arts, and their theoretical underpinning too (literary, social, theoretical, historical, stylistic). Analysis of the works studied will be reinforced by practical exercises and assignments designed to enable students to understand these concepts in relation to their own creative work, and to offer them the opportunity to experiment with their own writing and poetry.

Students will make poetry and prose portfolios and/or recorded readings which they can use as part of their writing CV, and which may be featured in the end-of-year Awards and Achievement Show.

Special Study: Narrative Techniques in Popular Fiction

This challenging and interesting special study module aims to provide you with the opportunity to engage with different examples of popular fiction such as crime fiction, romance, the thriller, and science fiction. It will enable you to identify the standard practices of popular genres and understand why they succeed or fail in particular texts. It will encourage you in the critical study of narrative techniques to best learn how to apply them in a work of popular fiction. You will experiment in writing crime, SF, thriller and romance stories before choosing one or two of these genres to take through to your final submission. All this will be put into the context of more general and transferable lessons to be learnt in the art of compelling storytelling.

For each genre studied you will read two core novels, plus a more general theoretical text on narrative construction. The module is lead by a writer of four published crime/thrillers.

Gender and Sexuality

This module traces how literature from the 19 th century to the present has concerned itself with questions of gender identity and sexuality, often offering a radical voice for those - including both women and LGBTQ+ voices - excluded from dominant and mainstream discourses. Rooted in feminist and queer theory, we will explore how feminist writing has critiqued patriarchy, how literature has challenged normative gender roles, how it has engaged with powerful questions regarding the body and the politics of desire, and how it has represented the debates within different facets of the feminist and queer community. We will also consider how writers have employed literary form and genre - for example the use of experimental writing, dramatic or poetic form, or the romance genre - and to what extent debates surrounding these forms and genre contribute to a gendered politics of cultural production. Explicitly intersectional in its approach, we will frame our discussions with an interrogation of how the politics of gender and sexuality is shaped by its relationship with questions of class, race, disability, and religion. Examples of authors studied might include Jeanette Winterson, Fleur Adock, Carol Ann Duffy, Tony Kushner, Clare Macintyre, Leila Aboulela, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Virginia Woolf.

Making Shakespeare: Text, Performance and Adaptation

This optional Level 6 module allows you to pursue Shakespeare studies at an advanced level and is founded upon a detailed and extensive study of the writer and his works. Consideration will be given to a range of critical approaches to Shakespeare as well as the long history and dynamic status of Shakespeare in performance and adaptation, for example in relation to questions of gender, identity and globalisation. You will be encouraged to reflect upon the role of Shakespeare in culture now as well as relevant contemporary contexts such as the nature of early modern theatregoing alongside crucial political and religious conditions. Teaching on the module will be closely aligned with the rich resources available at the Rose Theatre and in particular will afford you the opportunity to participate in the stimulating series of talks and events organised as part of the Kingston Shakespeare Seminar (KiSS).

Black and Asian Writing

This module examines the rich and dynamic presence of black and Asian writing in English from the mid-17th century to the present. It will explore the ways in which black and Asian writers have produced formally innovative and conceptually challenging responses to questions of race, class, gender and identity, while simultaneously making significant creative contributions to the fields of drama, prose, poetry, and life-writing. In the first half of the module, students will study a range of early texts from the mid-17th century to the 19th century from writers such as Equiano and Mary Seacole, alongside contemporary works that have reflected on black culture during this period, while the second half of the module turns to 20th century and contemporary texts by writers such as Zadie Smith, Andrea Levy, and Salman Rushdie contextualised by appropriate critical and cultural theories from thinkers such as Paul Gilroy and Stuart Hall.

Radical Writers

Salman Rushdie, Mary Wollstonecraft, Geoffrey Chaucer, Audre Lorde, Charlotte Bronte, Chinua Achebe, Mary Shelley, John Milton, Lawrence Sterne, Gertrude Stein, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison...the list is endless. At every point in literary history there are writers who break the mould and challenge the status quo. Whether it is through writing epics that endure through centuries, addressing the injustices of the time or challenging the very notion of what a novel, poem or a play can do, writers can be radical in a number of exciting ways. This module looks at works by radical writers in depth, studying one famous text in detail by a range of writers from different time periods and taught by lecturers who are experts in these writers. We will look at the context of each text as well as the way the text is written, determining why these radical writers have been so successful and looking at the effects their texts have had on the world around them. We will look at the idea of the literary 'canon', made up of writers who have been radical in some way, and consider the way that this idea can be challenged, reinvigorated or refreshed.

In your first year, you'll be introduced to the field of creative writing through a variety of practical workshops and seminars. You'll attend interactive lectures, small-group discussions and individual writing exercises. You'll also be introduced to the history of cinema and key ideas in the study of film.

In the second year, there is an increasing emphasis on private study and independent writing. You'll develop the appropriate skills, techniques, and practices in order to produce a sustained piece of writing in poetry and fiction. Your explorations of film with take on an increasingly international focus.

In your final year, you'll have the opportunity to complete an extended writing project on a subject of your choice, and to work on real-life industry projects, giving you vital employment experience. You will produce advanced-level writing for and about film and television.

From Pre-Cinema to Post-Cinema

This module takes students from the pre-history of film, and its 19 th  century origins in photography, science and optical toys, through to the post-digital, multi-platform era of the 21 st . Encompassing both Hollywood and key cinema movements from around the world, the module will explore the development of cinema in relation to its surrounding culture. It looks at how technological and economic changes shaped film throughout its history, and how it evolved into its current form.

Global Visions: History, Theory and Cultures of International Cinema

Film is a representational medium at both an iconographic and narrative level. Through an in-depth analysis of visual and narrative strategies, this module will explore film as a signifying system that creates complex and richly suggestive meanings that mediate our understanding of the wider world through universal mythical and archetypical structures. Drawing on approaches pioneered in disciplines as various as literary studies, philosophy, history, and cultural studies, the module aims to demonstrate how films synthesize these ideas in complex and innovative ways. Viewing film and visual culture as embedded in society and politics, the course will explore how ideological concepts are embodied in cultural forms, and explore how these forms can also offer counterpoints to dominant ways of thinking through a broad set of approaches to cinematic narratives, ranging across genres and geographies. It will consider therefore how  different regional/national and cultural/industrial circumstances have determined visual traditions across a range of cultural contexts.

Final year core modules

Power and the image.

The module explores the relationship between politics and the image, from a range of critical approaches including post-colonialism, post-modernism, and post-humanism. We look at a range of films that run counter to dominant discourses in relation to race, gender, sexuality and the body, including mainstream and European cinema, science fiction and neo-noir.

This degree is also available with a sandwich option. Students selecting this route will be supported by the placements office in finding a suitable work placement.

You can also study abroad or take a work placement in your second year at locations in Europe, the United States, and Australia.

Please note

Optional modules only run if there is enough demand. If we have an insufficient number of students interested in an optional module, that module will not be offered for this course.

Foundation year – Humanities & Arts

You can also study this course with a Foundation year.

Future Skills

Knowledge to give you the edge.

Embedded within every course curriculum and throughout the whole Kingston experience, Future Skills will play a role in shaping you to become a future-proof graduate, providing you with the skills most valued by employers such as problem-solving, digital competency, and adaptability.

As you progress through your degree, you'll learn to navigate, explore and apply these graduate skills, learning to demonstrate and articulate to employers how future skills give you the edge.

At Kingston University, we're not just keeping up with change, we're creating it.

Entry requirements

Typical offer 2024.

UCAS tariff points: 112-128 for BA (Hons); 64 for BA (Hons) including foundation year.

Level 3 qualifications, English Language/Literature, Creative Writing or similar subjects (A-levels, BTEC Diploma, Access Diploma, IB Diploma, etc.). Grade C required.

General Studies/Native Language accepted when one of three A-levels or equivalent.

Additional requirements

Entry on to this course does not require an interview, entrance test, audition or portfolio.

International

All non-UK applicants must meet our English Language requirements. For this course it is Academic IELTS of 6.5 overall, with no element below 5.5.

Make sure you read our full guidance about  English language requirements , which includes details of other qualifications we consider.

Applicants who do not meet the English language requirements could be eligible to join our  pre-sessional English language course .

Applicants from recognised  majority English-speaking countries (MESCs)  do not need to meet these requirements.

Country-specific information

You will find more information on country-specific entry requirements in the International section of our website.

Find your country:

• Middle East

Typical offer and UCAS points explained

Like most universities, we use the UCAS Tariff point system for our course entry requirements.

Find out more about UCAS Tariff points  and see how A-level, AS level, BTEC Diploma and T-level qualifications translate to the points system.

Teaching and assessment

Teaching and learning strategies and methods have been designed to introduce you to a range of skills, issues and critical debates in creative writing, and are detailed in the learning outcomes of each module.

You'll study through interactive lectures and seminars, practical work, small-group discussion and individual writing exercises, workshops and seminars, student-led discussion and the review (including peer review) of students' own work in drafts.

Guided independent study (self-managed time)

When not attending timetabled sessions, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. This typically will involve reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking preparing coursework assignments and presentations, and preparing for final assignments. Your independent learning is supported by a range of excellent facilities including online resources, the library and CANVAS, the online virtual learning platform.

Academic support

Our  academic support team  here at Kingston University provides help in a range of areas.

Dedicated personal tutor

When you arrive, we'll introduce you to your personal tutor . This is the member of academic staff who will provide academic guidance, be a support throughout your time at Kingston and show you how to make the best use of all the help and resources that we offer at Kingston University.

Your workload

20% of your time is spent in timetabled learning and teaching activity. Contact hours may vary depending on your modules.

Type of learning and teaching

• Scheduled learning and teaching: 66 hours
• Guided independent study (self-managed time): 234 hours

Please note: the above breakdowns are a guide calculated on core modules only. Depending on optional modules chosen, this breakdown may change.

How you will be assessed

Assessment typically comprises exams (e.g. test or exam), practical (e.g. presentations, performance) and coursework (e.g. essays, reports, self-assessment, portfolios and dissertation). The approximate percentage for how you will be assessed on this course is as follows, though depends to some extent on the optional modules you choose:

Type of assessment

• Coursework: 100%
• Practical: 0%

Feedback summary

We aim to provide feedback on assessments within 20 working days.

Your timetable

Your individualised timetable is normally available to students within 48 hours of enrolment. Whilst we make every effort to ensure timetables are as student-friendly as possible, scheduled learning and teaching can take place on any day of the week between 9am and 6pm. For undergraduate students, Wednesday afternoons are normally reserved for sports and cultural activities, but there may be occasions when this is not possible. Timetables for part-time students will depend on the modules selected.

Class sizes

To give you an indication of class sizes, this course normally attracts 20 students and lecture sizes are normally 10-30. However this can vary by module and academic year.

Who teaches this course?

Many of the Creative Writing teaching team are published authors, with extensive experience and professional links: they will help you to develop your skills, networks and gain access to industry contacts. Their expertise and knowledge is closely matched to the content of the modules on this course. 

Academic teaching is supported by visiting speakers and guest lecturers who enhance your learning. You'll also attend recitals, readings and poetry festivals through Writers' Centre Kingston.

Mr Albert Pellicer

Course leader.

Dr Adam Baron

Admissions tutor.

Dr Meg Jensen

Mr Oludiran Adebayo

Dr Paul Booth

Dr Martin Dines

Mr Steven J. Fowler

Dr Marina Lambrou

Dr Karen A Lipsedge

Dr James Miller

Dr Kate Scott

The campus at Penrhyn Road is a hive of activity, housing the main student restaurant, the learning resources centre (LRC), and a host of teaching rooms and lecture theatres.

At the heart of the campus is the John Galsworthy building, a six-storey complex that brings together lecture theatres, flexible teaching space and information technology suites around a landscaped courtyard.

Fees and funding

2024/25 fees for this course.

The tuition fee you pay depends on whether you are assessed as a 'Home' (UK), 'Islands' or 'International' student. In 2024/25 the fees for this course are:

For courses with a sandwich year, the  fee for the placement year  can be viewed on the  undergraduate fees table . The placement fee published is for the relevant academic year stated in the table. This fee is subject to annual increases but will not increase by more than the fee caps as prescribed by the Office for Students or such other replacing body.

* For full time programmes of a duration of more than one academic year, the published fee is an annual fee, payable each year, for the duration of the programme. Your annual tuition fees cover your first attempt at all of the modules necessary to complete that academic year. A re-study of any modules will incur additional charges calculated by the number of credits. Home tuition fees may be subject to annual increases but will not increase by more than the fee caps as prescribed by the Office for Students or such other replacing body. Full time taught international fees are subject to an annual increase and are published in advance for the full duration of the programme.

Eligible UK students can apply to the Government for a tuition loan, which is paid direct to the University. This has a low interest-rate which is charged from the time the first part of the loan is paid to the University until you have repaid it.

2023/24 fees for this course

The tuition fee you pay depends on whether you are assessed as a 'Home' (UK), 'Islands' or 'International' student. In 2023/24 the fees for this course are:

Note for EU students: UK withdrawal from the European Union

The Government has recently announced that new students from the European Union and Swiss Nationals starting their course after August 2021 will no longer be eligible for a student loan in England for Undergraduate or Postgraduate studies from the 2021/22 academic year. This decision only applies to new EU students starting after 2021/22. If you are an existing/continuing EU student, you will continue to be funded until you graduate or withdraw from your course.

Need to know more?

Our undergraduate fees and funding section provides information and advice on money matters.

Additional costs

Depending on the programme of study, there may be extra costs that are not covered by tuition fees which students will need to consider when planning their studies. Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assessment and operating University facilities such as the library, access to shared IT equipment and other support services. Accommodation and living costs are not included in our fees. 

Where a course has additional expenses, we make every effort to highlight them. These may include optional field trips, materials (e.g. art, design, engineering), security checks such as DBS, uniforms, specialist clothing or professional memberships.

Our libraries are a valuable resource with an extensive collection of books and journals as well as first-class facilities and IT equipment. You may prefer to buy your own copy of key textbooks, this can cost between £50 and £250 per year.

Computer equipment

There are open-access networked computers available across the University, plus laptops available to loan . You may find it useful to have your own PC, laptop or tablet which you can use around campus and in halls of residences. Free WiFi is available on each of the campuses. You may wish to purchase your own computer, which can cost from £100 to £3,000 depending on your course requirements.

Photocopying and printing

In the majority of cases written coursework can be submitted online. There may be instances when you will be required to submit work in a printed format. Printing, binding and photocopying costs are not included in your tuition fees, this may cost up to £100 per year.

Travel costs are not included in your tuition fees but we do have a free intersite bus service which links the campuses, Surbiton train station, Kingston upon Thames train station, Norbiton train station and halls of residence.

Field trips

There may be optional study visits and field trips. These range from £25 for local trips to various costs for international trips.

After you graduate

Graduates from this course go on to work in creative writing, digital media, curation, public relations, journalism, publishing, communications, teaching and the civil service. Some of our alumni have become published authors.

Student success

Oyinkan's novel, My Sister, The Serial Killer , was reviewed in The New Yorker and featured on BBC Radio 4's Front Row and Open Book programmes, shortlisted for the prestigious Women's Prize for Fiction and longlisted for the Booker Prize 2019. 

"Kingston University was one of very few places offering the unique combination of Creative Writing and Law. I loved the general vibe of Kingston: it gave me the movement and ease of city life but without the usual chaos. I enjoyed the various modules on the course and liked the lecturers, who were easily accessible and happy to work with you in order to help you achieve your best grade."

Oyinkan Braithwaite studied Creative Writing

96% of our creative writing students were employed or in further education six months after graduation.

Our creative writing graduates have all been highly successful in securing work after completing their courses.

Based on data from the DLHE (2015)

Liam Livings was listed for the Romantic Novelists' Association Award for his novel Adventures in Dating … In Heels in the Books and the City Romantic Comedy Novel category. Liam said, ‘I didn't win, but just having a novel about a cross dressing gay man looking for love in the '90s felt like something good.

Liam Livings, who studied BA (Hons) Creative Writing

Links with business and industry

The Creative Writing degree has been developed as part of a major project in professional writing run by Writers' Centre Kingston which includes the development of online learning, short courses, and industry forums.

As part of this project, you'll have unique access to masterclasses involving our creative partners, which include individuals from companies including Macmillan Publishers, The Creative Society, PwC, Greene & Heaton literary agency and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. These partners will offer workshops and guest lectures.

As part of the major project, you'll undertake a piece of professional standard work in response to a live brief set by an employer, giving you valuable professional experience to prepare you for a career in writing.

Key information set

The scrolling banner(s) below display some key factual data about this course (including different course combinations or delivery modes of this course where relevant).

Course changes and regulations

The information on this page reflects the currently intended course structure and module details. To improve your student experience and the quality of your degree, we may review and change the material information of this course.  Course changes explained .

Programme Specifications for the course are published ahead of each academic year.

Regulations governing this course  can be found on our website.

Related courses

Journalism and Media BA (Hons)

Journalism BA (Hons)

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Kingston University , River House, 53–57 High Street, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 1LQ . Tel: +44 (0)20 8417 9000

Join us in January 2024

Undergraduate courses 2024/25

Creative Writing, BA Hons

This creative writing degree uses the study of great writing from different periods and cultures to help you grow as a writer.

Our degree in creative writing explores the written word across a wide variety of forms and genres. As well as studying fiction and poetry, you'll produce work for stage and screen and for online media.

With option modules, you can expand your studies to include a foreign language or specialise in particular fields of writing, such as journalism. By the end of the course, you should have your own writing style and creative process and have the ability to critically analyse the writing of others.

Popular career options for our creative writing graduates range from professional writing, research and journalism to publishing and arts administration.

UCAS points

104 ( view full requirements ) (full requirements below)

Course/institution codes

W801 G BA/Cwrite

• Course content

Entry requirements

• Fees and finance

Humanities and Social Sciences

Greenwich Campus

• 3 years full-time
• 6 years part-time
• 4 years sandwich

Start month

Home/international fees 2024/25.

£9,250 /£17,000

What you should know about this course

• Develop your fundamental writing skills in a range of disciplines, while specialising through a choice of options
• Engage with a wide range of texts from many periods and cultures
• Expand the scope and depth of your writing across a variety of formats while incorporating courses from other subjects
• Enables you to undertake research and develop the skills to critically evaluate texts and contexts
• Study and create writing across a variety of genres and media, professional writing, and writing for performances.

A look at the Greenwich area's literary history

From print to screen, the Greenwich area - and even our campus - has played backdrop to some pretty well-known stories.

What you will study

Course information is currently unavailable for this programme. Please contact [email protected] for more information.

Rosie Šnajdr

Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing

About the course team

You will be taught by an experienced team of professional and qualified writers / practitioners with industry experience. Teaching is informed by our research and writing, and over 90 per cent of our lecturers hold a teaching qualification.

Scrolling through the degrees Greenwich offered, I found the Creative Writing degree. Since graduating, I have been working as a copywriter for an advertising agency in Paddington. - Sam Fuller, BA Creative Writing, 2019

Come and meet us

We are offering virtual events so that you can still experience how Greenwich could be the right university for you.

Next Open Days

Got a question?

To find out more about our Open Days and Campus Tours or if you need any assistance, please email [email protected] .

If you are a UK citizen or have permanent residency from outside the UK

UK citizens and permanent residents

Qualifications.

• 104 UCAS Tariff points . We accept A Levels, T Levels, BTECs, Access to HE and all other qualifications with UCAS Tariff points.
• In addition, you will need: GCSE Mathematics at grade 4/C and GCSE English Language/Literature at grade 4/C. Equivalent qualifications may be considered.

Contextual Admissions

• We make Contextual offers to this programme. Applicants that meet specific eligibility criteria will be made a contextual offer with a reduced tariff of up to 16 UCAS Tariff points. Other entry requirements such as GCSEs, Interview, etc., will still need to be met. For further information, please see our Contextual Admissions Policy .

For more information, contact [email protected] or 020 8331 9000 .

You can also read our admissions policy.

International entry requirements

The University of Greenwich accepts a broad range of international qualifications for admission to our courses.

For detailed information on the academic and English language requirements, please find your country in our directory.

Alternatively, please contact us:

• By telephone:  +44 (0)20 8331 8136
• By email:  [email protected]

The University of Greenwich accepts a broad range of international qualifications for admission to our courses. If you cannot find your country on this list, please contact [email protected] .

Further information about entry

For more information, contact us at [email protected] or call us on 020 8331 9000. You can also read our admissions policy .

Available to overseas students?

Can i use prior learning.

For entry: applicants with non-traditional qualifications or appropriate professional experience will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

For exemption: If you hold qualifications or courses from another higher education institution, these may exempt you from modules of this degree.

How you will learn

The following data is based on the compulsory modules for this programme.*

* Compiled from modules taught on 2023-2024 courses.

In a typical week learning takes place through a combination of:

Learning takes place through a combination of timetabled learning and independent study.

You can view more information about how each module is taught within our 'What you will study' section.

Seminars and workshops enable you to discuss and develop your understanding of topics covered in lectures in smaller groups. You will also be able to meet your personal tutor. Timetabled learning may fall between 9am and 9pm depending on your courses and tutorials.

Class sizes

Lectures are normally attended by larger groups, and seminars/tutorials by smaller groups. This can vary more widely for modules that are shared between degrees.

Independent learning

Outside of timetabled sessions, you are also expected to dedicate time to self-study. This will involve further reading and research, preparing coursework and presentations, completing writing exercises, and preparing for workshops. You will be expected to read the work of other students and to contribute your own writing on a regular basis.

You can use our Stockwell Street Library and online resources to support you in these activities.

In addition, during the week you can also:

• Attend additional support classes in some modules
• Attend guest lectures from industry experts
• Take part in employability and enterprise workshops
• Join student societies.

Overall workload

If you are studying full-time, you should expect the workload to be similar to a full-time job. For part-time students, this will reduce in proportion with the number of courses you are studying.

Each module you study towards this degree is worth 30-credits. This represents around 300 study hours. If you receive 50 contact hours for a 30-credit module, you should expect to commit 250 hours to independent study to complete it successfully.

Students are assessed through a combination of assessment methods depending on the modules chosen.

You can view how each module is assessed within our 'What you will study' section.

Each course has formal assessments which count towards your grade. Some courses may also include 'practice' assignments, which help you monitor progress and do not count towards your final grade.

Feedback summary

We aim to give feedback on assignments within 15 working days.

Dates and timetables

The academic year runs from September to June.

Full teaching timetables are not usually available until term has started. For any queries, please call 020 8331 9000.

Official statistics on Discover Uni

Fees and funding.

Your time at university should be enjoyable, rewarding, and free of unnecessary stress. Planning your finances before you come to university can help to reduce financial concerns. We can offer advice on living costs and budgeting, as well as on awards, allowances and loans.

Accommodation costs

Whether you choose to live in halls of residence or rent privately, we can help you find what you're looking for. University accommodation is available from just over £100 per person per week (bills included), depending on your location and preferences. If you require more space or facilities, these options are available at a slightly higher cost.

Accommodation pages

Funding your study

There is a range of financial support options available to support your studies, including the Aspire@Greenwich award for study resources that many full-time students will receive.

EU students may be eligible for a bursary to support their study. View our EU bursary to find out more.

Discover more about grants, student loans, bursaries and scholarships. We also provide advice and support on budgeting, money management and financial hardship.

Financial support

Trips: On some modules, you may take occasional field trips to museums, galleries and theatres. Some of these are free, while others require a contribution (usually 50% of the ticket cost). Alternative arrangements can be made if you are unable to pay.

Resources: Course texts and other study resources are available from our Stockwell Street Library. You may wish to purchase your own copies.

Careers and placements

Will i have a work placement.

This course can be taken in sandwich mode, which means you can take a year to work in industry between your second and final years of study. Sandwich placements are relevant to your degree subject and are paid roles. It is the very best way of preparing you for successfully finding a job quickly when you graduate.

You will also have the option to select a module for which you will be required to undertake a short-term placement. The module will be assessed on your reflection on this placement and how you can apply your knowledge to the workplace. Many placements are found through our network of industry contacts, and students are supported in securing these.

How long is my placement?

Sandwich placements last for between 9-13 months. Work-based learning module placements are normally one day a week for either one or two terms depending on the number of credits available from the module.

What are the financial arrangements?

Sandwich placements are paid roles whereas work-based learning module placements are normally unpaid.

What sort of careers do graduates pursue?

The skills you acquire through studying our courses will prepare you for careers in a wide range of industries and jobs. Creative writing graduates have gone on to careers in research, journalism, publishing, the media, arts administration or in central or local government. You might even become a professional writer.

Postgraduate courses are available at the University of Greenwich if you wish to continue your study, or if you're considering roles in teaching or social work.

Are internships available?

Students are encouraged to take up Summer internships during the Summer holidays, though it is up to the student to find them. Support is available to students from the Employability and Careers Service when applying for placements and internships.

Do you provide employability services?

Employability activities take place all the time at Greenwich and students are encouraged to take part in as many opportunities as possible. The central Employability and Careers Service provides support for students preparing to apply for placements and graduate roles, such as CV clinics, mock interviews and employability skills workshops. In addition, your School has a dedicated Employability Officer who will be organising work-related activities throughout the year which will help you to build you industry knowledge and networks.

Support and advice

Academic skills and study support.

We want you to make the most of your time with us. You can access study skills support through your tutor, our subject librarians, and our online academic skills centre.

Where appropriate, we provide support in academic English and mathematics. If you need to use particular IT packages for a specific module, we provide training for this.

Accommodation information

Not quite what you were looking for?

We've got plenty of other courses for you to choose from. Browse our undergraduate courses or check our related courses below.....

English at the University of Greenwich

Whether you’re studying great works of literature, the language itself or are being inspired by great writing to find your own creative voice, you’ll learn on a UNESCO World Heritage Site in one of the world’s great cultural capitals.

Visit our English degrees page .

Think ‘English’ - our top tips!

Looking for some tips to get you thinking about either studying English Literature or Creative Writing at undergraduate level? If so, look no further - our subject teaching teams have a few suggestions which might help.

English degrees

Mode of study.

Select from the dropdown below.

If you are a UK student or have settled/pre-settled status (EU) and you want to study full-time then you apply through the Universities and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS).

If you are a UK student or have settled/pre-settled status (EU) and you want to study part-time, you can now apply through clearing via any of the following channels:

If you are from outside the UK, you can apply through our website, one of our agents, or the Universities and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS). If you require a student visa, you cannot study part-time at undergraduate level.

Need more help?

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What do you want to do?

• Creative Writing BA

Course code

W801 with placement

Placement available

Mode of study

3 years full-time

4 years full-time with placement

4.5-6 years part-time

UK   £9,250

International   £19,430

Entry requirements

BBC (A-level)

Our Creative Writing BA course has been designed to inspire high levels of creativity, initiative and originality in the design, production, interpretation and analysis of creative writing along with a chance to develop interdisciplinary projects.

You will be taught the key genres of creative writing by some of the most talented and original writers working today. Between them, they’ve published over 100 books, produced countless scripts for TV, radio and film, and won umpteen awards. The teaching team includes renowned authors like Bernardine Evaristo, Hannah Lowe and Max Kinnings.

From week one you’ll write and interact with your peer group of creative writers. You will share ideas and give constructive feedback to others on their creative work.

In your first year you’ll gain a solid grounding in how to write fiction, drama and poetry, and study world literature. You can choose a variety of subjects in your second year such as journalism and screenwriting. In your final year, the Creative Industries module helps you consider your career options and shape your future. Your final year Special Project will allow you to specialise in your chosen field and choose from a wealth of specialist options.

We invite many successful authors to give guest talks covering different aspects of creative writing. Industry expert speakers include book publishers, screenwriters, poets and broadcasters. You have the advantage of Brunel’s close location to London, the literary capital of the UK. You’ll benefit from trips to the British Library, Shakespeare’s Globe and West End theatres.

Our BA in creative writing can be studied full-time over three years, four years with a placement year, or part-time over six years.

We encourage the placement year option. This time helps you to further prepare for the world of work and you’ll have a year’s worth of invaluable professional experience when you graduate. If you decide to go on a creative writing placement year, you could find yourself working at magazine publishers, film production companies, or even the London Screenwriters’ Festival. Some placements lead to jobs on graduation.

You’ll have the opportunity to get your work published before you graduate. At least one anthology of creative work is produced each year, curated and edited by our creative writing students. We run many literary events including performance showcases, film screenings, and a student-led e-magazine, so there will be many ways for you to share your creative work.

You can explore our campus and facilities for yourself by taking our virtual tour .

Course content

In the first year you will start building a portfolio of your creative writing. You will follow your interests in the second year and master the craft of creative writing in your final year. English is studied in all three years. Your final year major project is an in-depth study of a creative writing topic of your choice.

This course can be studied 3 years full-time, 4 years full-time with placement or 4.5-6 years part-time, starting in September.

This course has a placement option. Find out more about work placements available .

Please note that all modules are subject to change. Our exciting range of modules are currently under review and may be updated for 2024.

Read more about the structure of undergraduate degrees at Brunel.

Careers and your future

A creative writing degree from Brunel is your passport to a wide range of career destinations within the literary and creative industries.

Our graduates are working in the arts, publishing, journalism, advertising, marketing and teaching. They have successful careers as novelists, journalists, screenwriters and travel writers. Others opt to follow Brunel’s career-focused MA in Creative Writing.

UK entry requirements

2024/25 entry.

• GCE A-level AAB-BBC.
• BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma DMM in any subject.
• BTEC Level 3 Diploma DM in any subject, with an A-Level at grade C.
• BTEC Level 3 Subsidiary Diploma M in any subject, with A-Levels grade BB .
• International Baccalaureate Diploma 29 points.
• Obtain a minimum of 112 UCAS tariff points in the  Access to HE Diploma with 45 credits at Level 3.
• A minimum of five GCSEs are required, including GCSE Mathematics grade C or grade 4 and GCSE English Language grade C or grade 4 or GCSE English Literature grade B or grade 5.
• T levels : Merit overall

Brunel University London is committed to raising the aspirations of our applicants and students. We will fully review your UCAS application and, where we’re able to offer a place, this will be personalised to you based on your application and education journey.

Please check our Admissions pages for more information on other factors we use to assess applicants within our grade range as well as our full GCSE requirements and accepted equivalencies in place of GCSEs.

EU and International entry requirements

If you require a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK, you must prove knowledge of the English language so that we can issue you a Certificate of Acceptance for Study (CAS). To do this, you will need an IELTS for UKVI or Trinity SELT test pass gained from a test centre approved by  UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) and on the Secure English Language Testing (SELT) list . This must have been taken and passed within two years from the date the CAS is made.

English language requirements

• IELTS: 6.5 (min 5.5 in all areas)
• Pearson: 59 (59 in all subscores)
• BrunELT : 63% (min 55% in all areas)
• TOEFL: 90 (min R18, L17, S20, W17)  

You can find out more about the qualifications we accept on our  English Language Requirements  page.

Should you wish to take a pre-sessional English course to improve your English prior to starting your degree course, you must sit the test at an approved SELT provider for the same reason. We offer our own BrunELT English test and have pre-sessional English language courses for students who do not meet requirements or who wish to improve their English. You can find out more information on English courses and test options through our  Brunel Language Centre .

Please check our Admissions  pages for more information on other factors we use to assess applicants. This information is for guidance only and each application is assessed on a case-by-case basis. Entry requirements are subject to review, and may change.

Fees and funding

£9,250 full-time

£6,935 part-time

£1,385 placement year

International

£19,430 full-time

£14,570 part-time

Fees quoted are per year and may be subject to an annual increase. Home undergraduate student fees are regulated and are currently capped at £9,250 per year; any changes will be subject to changes in government policy. International fees will increase annually, by no more than 5% or RPI (Retail Price Index), whichever is the greater.

More information on any additional course-related costs .

See our fees and funding page for full details of undergraduate scholarships available to Brunel applicants.

Please refer to the scholarships pages to view discounts available to eligible EU undergraduate applicants.

Teaching and Learning

How the course will be delivered, required equipment, how you'll learn on your course, assessment and feedback.

Your progress will be assessed via essays, coursework portfolios, journals, group practical exercises, individual and group presentations, and the final year project.

Read our guide on  how to avoid plagiarism  in your assessments at Brunel.

Related courses

English with Creative Writing BA

Games Design and Creative Writing BA

Theatre and Creative Writing BA

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Creative writing and english literature - ba (hons), entry requirements.

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements , you should have:

• a minimum of grades BBC in three A levels (or a minimum of 112 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification )
• GCSE English at grade C/4 or above (or equivalent)

If you don't have traditional qualifications or can't meet the entry requirements for this undergraduate degree, you may still be able to gain entry by completing our Creative Writing and English Literature (including foundation year) BA (Hons) degree.

If you are a mature student with significant work experience, you are invited to apply for this course on the basis of the knowledge and skills you have developed through your work.

As part of your application to study Creative Writing and English Literature we would also like you to submit two pieces of writing of 500 words each.

The first should be a creative piece and you may write this in the form of a short piece of fictional prose, a longer poem or sequence of shorter poems, a fragment of dialogue for performance on stage with one of more characters and some indication of setting, theme and scene or a piece of creative non-fiction such as nature writing, travel writing or memoir. You can write in any style, form or register and you have complete freedom in terms of theme.

The second piece of writing should be a critical appraisal of your interest in studying Creative Writing and English Literature. This should combine reflection on your experience of reading and writing literature so far and speak clearly to the themes of justice, equity and participation. London Met is committed to making your education a transformative force for social justice and social mobility. You should try to answer the following question: "How can reading, writing and publishing literature contribute to a better world?''

To study a degree at London Met, you must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. If you require a Tier 4 student visa you may need to provide the results of a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. For more information about English qualifications please see our English language requirements .

If you need (or wish) to improve your English before starting your degree, the University offers a Pre-sessional Academic English course to help you build your confidence and reach the level of English you require.

Accreditation of Prior Learning

Any university-level qualifications or relevant experience you gain prior to starting university could count towards your course at London Met. Find out more about applying for Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) .

English language requirements

To study a degree at London Met, you must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. If you require a Student visa you may need to provide the results of a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. This course requires you to meet our standard requirements .

Modular structure

The modules listed below are for the academic year 2023/24 and represent the course modules at this time. Modules and module details (including, but not limited to, location and time) are subject to change over time.

Year 1 modules include:

• all year (September start) - Monday morning

This module will provide students with a wide-ranging introduction to reading poetry and to the great variety of poetic forms and genres, from sonnets to free verse and performance poetry. It will introduce students to poetic literary history through major poets such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Wordsworth and Eliot, and equally explore contemporary poetry and poetics. Throughout the module, students will be provided with skills and opportunities to read published poetry, write their own poetry, and discuss poetry in a supportive environment facilitated by their tutor. The module is taught primarily by three-hour weekly classes typically comprising a lecture and a writing workshop. The module is assessed by written coursework and an oral presentation.

The module aims to introduce a range of critical and technical skills required to read, write and discuss poetry; to examine poetic forms and genres in the context of both the historical development of (mostly British) poetry and also the diversity of contemporary poetic practice; and to explore different ideas about the function of poetry.

• all year (September start) - Monday afternoon

Romantics to Victorians is the first of a spine of historical modules running across all three levels of the English Literature programmes. It introduces students to the major transformations of English literature and culture during the mid-18th to the mid-19th century period. Through the study of literary and other primary texts of the period, the module provides a contextual introduction to the study of literature in the late modern period and related critical debates. The module is taught in weekly sessions and is assessed by a series of written coursework pieces. The module will also provide an extended induction to academic study skills.

The module aims to familiarise students with a range of literary material from the period 1750 to 1880; to relate the thematic concerns of literary works to an historical account of social, political and cultural developments within the given period; to develop students’ ability to analyse and write critically about literary texts; and to develop students’ study skills and academic competences as independent learners.

• all year (September start) - Thursday afternoon

Theatre and Performance: History and Craft provides an opportunity to study the development of the genre via a number of canonical texts and transformative moments in the history of the form. Students study the formal characteristics of representative playtexts and the political, social and cultural concerns of the societies in which they were first performed. This is combined with a study of developing theatrical practice and performance, where students examine how writing and performance intersect, inform, and inspire each other. According to pathway, students will specialise, either in the critical and theoretical analysis of dramatic genres, or in creative writing and the production of playscripts. The module is taught in weekly three-hour sessions comprising a lecture and English Literature seminar or Creative Writing workshop, and is assessed by essay, presentation, script and/or reflective writing.

This module aims to examine a range of playtexts and theatrical forms within critical and historical contexts, to familiarise students with the vocabulary and awareness necessary to discuss texts and the creative process, and to encourage students to explore differences between texts as literature and texts for performance. Additionally, Creative Writing students will develop their scriptwriting skills.

• all year (September start) - Wednesday afternoon

This module provides an introduction to major forms of contemporary prose including fiction, memoir, and essay and will thus be essential preparatory learning for Creative Writing modules at higher levels. Students will consider the historical development of contemporary forms through reading the writings by a range of contemporary writers and practising their own craft in context of these works. The module develops understanding of texts in the context of literary history, critical theory and contemporary production as well as helping students situate their own creative practice in both historical and contemporary literary and critical contexts. The module is taught in three-hour weekly classes comprising of seminars and workshops. It is assessed through pieces of written coursework and in-class presentations that offer students the opportunity to develop skills required for a range of prose forms, as well as for a future in writing and publishing.

The module aims to equip students with a historical, critical and practical understanding of key forms of prose including the novel, memoir, essay, travel and nature writing. It will develop students’ skills in critically analysing the effects and techniques of literary prose, especially in context of their own creative practice. It will engage students in contemporary debates about the relationship between literature and the cultural context in which that literature is produced and consumed, and how this impacts their creative output. Students will be encouraged to explore their ability to write in a range of prose forms and enhance their ability to use secondary critical material effectively in their analysis of literary texts and incorporate the knowledge into their creative practice.

Year 2 modules include:

• all year (September start) - Tuesday afternoon

From detective and spy fiction to children’s fantasy and romantic comedies, a well-established range of narrative genres dominates the production of popular, commercial fiction for both page and screen. Often dismissed as escapist, conformist entertainment for the masses, genre fiction may also be considered a literature of subversion and resistance in its expression of transgressive desires and imagination of alternative realities. This module studies the historical development, interplay, techniques, conventions, audiences and themes of some major types of genre fiction from the eighteenth century to the present day. It contributes to the programme’s exploration of contemporary publishing as a cultural industry and hence develops students’ employability.

The module will be taught via a programme of weekly sessions supplemented by tutorial and online support. It allows students to specialise in genres of their choice. As well as developing skills of literary analysis, students will have the opportunity to practise the role of creative producer and critical reviewer by producing a variety of written coursework. Students will also give a short presentation on a popular text of their choice.

The module aims to examine a range of popular narrative genres across prose fiction and in relation to contemporary cultural production more broadly. It will develop students’ critical, analytical abilities and their reflexive awareness of their personal relationship to popular culture, as consumer, fan, critic and/or creative producer. It will engage students in using a range of practical skills for discussing or creating works of genre fiction.

Victorians to Moderns forms the central section of the chronological spine of English Literature modules that also includes Romantics to Victorians and Moderns to Contemporaries. It examines the transformations of English literature and culture from the late 19th to the mid-20th century. Through the study of literature, philosophy, criticism and the arts, the module develops students’ critical understanding of cultural context and formal innovation in the English literary tradition. The module develops and extends debates encountered in Romantics to Victorians and introduces intellectual and critical debates proper to Modernism. The module is taught by weekly sessions comprising lecture and seminar, supplemented by tutorials, and is assessed by a variety of written coursework.

Victorians to Moderns aims to: develop students’ skills of critical analysis through the study of exemplary works from the period 1880-1940; enhance students’ competency in using academic criticism to develop their own critical practice; provide a critical account of social, political and cultural developments in the period as a framework for students’ understanding of the role of the imaginative writer in the period; engage students in complex critical and cultural debates that were central to the development of both literature and other art-forms during the period, in Britain and internationally.

• all year (September start) - Thursday morning

This module explores the writing and rewriting of fiction and creative nonfiction. Attention will be paid to both originating new work and the process of revision. The module will outline some fundamental principles of style, genre and editing. We will be looking at different kinds of narrative such as fiction, life writing, nature writing, travel writing and literary journalism – their shared techniques as well as distinctive characteristics. Students will have the experience of writing in different formats such as short stories, memoirs, features and essays. They will develop an understanding of some of the principles of editing both their own and other people’s work (as well as the differences between them). They will also develop an enhanced sensitivity to the role and practice of editing at the level of the paragraph, the sentence and the word, in addition to the text as a whole. Emphasis will be laid on developing clarity, precision, and expressiveness in writing style, as well as the ability to explain their editing decisions. Through a variety of exercises students will be shown how to identify common problems in writing and how to remedy them. They will also develop an appreciation of how successive re-workings of the same text can alter and refine its meaning and effectiveness. The module will develop valuable and transferable skills for critical thinking and reading, effective editing techniques, and enhance employability. This module aims to develop students' knowledge of a range of narrative genres, such as fiction, life writing, nature writing, travel writing and literary journalism, and the different means through which these can be communicated through books, essays and features; develop competence in the main creative and organisational processes of writing; and practise methods in which a piece of writing can be improved by editing and revision.

• all year (September start) - Wednesday morning

Publishing and the Book: then and now is a level 5 year-long module which examines literary and publishing culture through, firstly, the development of writing and reading technologies from antiquity through the medieval period to the era of print, and then samples how creative writers have experimented with digital tools and platforms to innovate their literary practice. Students will examine how literary creativity is rooted in material media and consider how this might apply in their own creative practice.

The second part of the module emphasises employability and immerses students in London’s current publishing industry, and through a series of guest lectures and masterclasses students will learn about the process of author rights and representation, commissioning, editing, book production, design, marketing and sales, digital and audio publishing, and the post-production landscape of bookselling, literary festivals, prizes, podcasts and blogs.

The module aims to give students a historical understanding of publishing practices and the opportunity to respond critically and creatively in writing to this, and further to give students a current understanding of the process of taking a manuscript from author to publisher, bookseller and reader, and an opportunity to devise a research project, a group studio publishing project and/or a placement in the industry.

The module is taught through a combination of lecture/seminar, guest speaker sessions and masterclasses, studio project group activities, and is assessed by critical essay, critical and/or creative portfolio, publishing studio project and/or professional placement/shadowing in situ.

The module develops students’ understanding of writing for performance through two syllabuses that focus on original writing for stage, and on performance poetry and the spoken word. Students will learn about the creation and adaptation of original dramatic material for the stage and the writer’s critical relationship to acting, directing and production histories, and the history, culture and practice of performance poetry; performance skills and the adaptation of material to audience, medium and venue, and critical and theoretical perspectives on performance poetry and the spoken word.

Year 3 modules include:

This module builds on the earlier core historical modules Romantics to Victorians and Victorians to Moderns and examines the period from the 1940s to the 2010s. Through the study of poetry and prose, their critical discussion and creative production, and through reference to other media forms, the module addresses major themes in the cultural, social and political history of the period. The syllabus includes canonical works but also enlarges and transforms students’ understanding of literary production by considering works written in English within other national traditions and works in translation in order properly to represent the complex experience of literary and cultural engagement for readers today. The module takes a chronological approach and discusses, variously, war and reconstruction; the legacies of violence that inflect our understanding of gender, religion and race; post-war cultural politics and social change; the neo-liberal settlement of the 1980s and the culture of post-modernity; and emerging themes in recently published literary work. The module is taught in weekly sessions comprising a common lecture followed by an English Literature seminar or Creative Writing workshop. The module is supported by online material and tutorial hours, and assessed by critical essays and/or creative work.

The aims of this module are to introduce students to modern and contemporary (c.1940-2010) literary and poetical works written in the UK and in other countries; to provide students with a wide literary, historical and socio-cultural context; to produce well-informed readers capable of thoughtful interpretation; to develop students’ critical and/or creative writing skills to an advanced level.

• all year (September start)

This module allows students to explore in-depth a literary or creative writing topic of their own choice, subject to supervisor approval. It encourages students to pursue areas of personal, specialist interest, either based on topics they have previously encountered during their programme of modules or looking beyond the taught syllabus. Supervised independent learning and sustained research and writing will provide students with a focus for refining and drawing together a wide range of creative, scholarly and transferable skills which they have developed across their programme.

The main aims of this module are: to enable students to become aware of the way specific literary topics relate to the broader field of critical or creative practice; to foster students’ understanding of the methodological choices appropriate to a particular project topic, including (where relevant) the contextual and theoretical research required for a creative writing project; to develop students’ ability to conceive, plan and carry through a sustained piece of work involving self-motivated, independent research; and to enhance students’ profile of personal and professional attributes as critical and/or creative practitioners.

Why Literature Matters introduces and develops a series of related discussions about the personal, worldly and critical stakes involved in reading and writing literature. Students will follow a number of separate syllabuses, some related to staff specialisms and publications that require them to engage with the value of reading, writing and creative/critical practice in relation to other spheres of experience and action. The module thus provides students with opportunities to draw together questions of value and purpose relating to their programme as a whole.

Syllabus topics may include but are not limited to the following, which may change from year to year: literature, ecology and place; literature and transnational identity; literature and the sacred; literature, activism and politics; literature and pedagogy.

The module will be taught in weekly sessions comprising a lecture and seminar and is assessed by a variety of written coursework and a final presentation.

This module aims to develop students’ understanding of the critical contexts in which literary production, distribution and reception take place; to allow students to contrast modern, contemporary and canonical theories of literary value; to develop students’ critical writing skills about literature together with their personal sense of commitment to literary values.

Publishing and the Book: then and now is a level 6 year-long module which examines literary and publishing culture through, firstly, the development of writing and reading technologies from antiquity through the medieval period to the era of print, and then samples how creative writers have experimented with digital tools and platforms to innovate their literary practice. Students will examine how literary creativity is rooted in material media and consider how this might apply in their own creative practice.

What our students say

"London Met is a welcoming, inclusive, amazing place for people from all walks of life and from all over the world. It’ll make you feel at home and it will get you ready to go out into the world, always offering new, exciting challenges. The lecturers at London Met are always there to help you, not only as students but as people. What you’ll learn will not only enrich you on a cultural level but on a personal one."  Prudenza Lacriola , Creative Writing and English Literature BA (Hons) graduate, 2020

"Our lecturers are always so passionate – it’s actually hard to not engage in lessons. They have all been extremely understanding and supportive throughout the pandemic too. Going out of their way to put on extra workshops and meetings, even throughout reading weeks and holidays. It has been stressful for all of us but they work hard to keep up morale and to keep a sense of community alive." Jasmine Damaris , Creative Writing and English Literature (including foundation year) BA (Hons) student, 2020

"The University doesn’t judge a person’s worth or intelligence on their grades alone, and, after speaking with me personally, they offered me a place on the course I wanted. The tutors at London Met are brilliant. They are continuously supportive and helpful, taking the time to help me and my peers with various things throughout the three years. The learning environment at the University has enabled me to progress in so many critical ways."  Laura Barrington, Creative Writing with English Literature graduate, 2019

"The course allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of writers and of the contexts that inform their novels, plays and poems, as well as connecting literature to other art forms such as painting. Lecturers encouraged our curiosity and opened up new directions for individual research." Robert Jeffrey, English Literature BA (Hons) graduate, 2018

"Being disabled and breaking down the wall of talking about my experience has helped me in my writing. With every lesson and every piece of feedback on assignments and in workshops I improved the way I write and developed my ideas about who I write for. The lecturers made this degree very enjoyable. I was always left thinking after every lecture." Deanna Tuitt, Creative Writing and English Literature BA (Hons) graduate, 2018

"Studying Creative Writing and English Literature gave me an insight into the history of literature in English and taught me a lot about the trajectories of creative writing in all its forms. The support of my tutors gave me the confidence to experiment and try new things, which has become invaluable in my attempts to create something new for myself and my readers."  Jack Houston , Creative Writing (now Creative Writing and English Literature) BA (Hons) graduate, 2014.  Jack was shortlisted for the  BBC National Short Story Award 2020 . You can enjoy some of his early work in the  course anthology  published in his graduating year.

Where this course can take you

Graduates have gone on to successful careers in publishing, editing and related industries as well as publishing their own creative work. This course is also excellent preparation for further study or research.

Creative Writing graduate and Somali-British poet Warsan Shire recently collaborated with Beyonce on her new album, Lemonade. The album, which sees the American superstar recite extracts from five of her poems, has catapulted Warsan into stardom in the US. Having graduated from London Metropolitan University in 2011, Warsan published Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth that same year and was named the first Young Poet Laureate of London in 2014.

Important information about this course

We're committed to continuously improving our degree courses to ensure our students receive the best possible learning experience. Many of the courses in our School of Social Sciences and Professions are currently under review for 2023-24 entry. We encourage you to apply as outlined in the how to apply section of this page and if there are any changes to your course we will contact you. All universities review their courses regularly and this year we are strengthening our social sciences and professions courses to better reflect the needs of employers and ensure you're well-equipped for your future career.

We're committed to continuously improving our degree courses to ensure our students receive the best possible learning experience. Many of the courses in our School of Art, Architecture and Design are currently under review for 2023-24 entry. We encourage you to apply as outlined in the how to apply section of this page and if there are any changes to your course we will contact you. All universities review their courses regularly and this year we are strengthening our art, architecture and design courses to better reflect the needs of employers and ensure you're well-equipped for your future career.

Collaborative and international links

We have a lively study abroad programme which offers the chance to take humanities modules at American and Japanese Universities such as San Diego, US and Kansai Gaidai, Japan.

Additional costs

Please note, in addition to the tuition fee there may be additional costs for things such as equipment, materials, printing, textbooks, trips or professional body fees.

Additionally, there may be other activities that are not formally part of your course and not required to complete your course, but which you may find helpful (for example, optional field trips). The costs of these are additional to your tuition fee and the fees set out above and will be notified when the activity is being arranged.

Stay up to date

Follow our School of Art, Architecture and Design on Twitter , Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with everything that's happening in our creative community.

Discover Uni – key statistics about this course

Discover Uni is an official source of information about university and college courses across the UK. The widget below draws data from the corresponding course on the Discover Uni website, which is compiled from national surveys and data collected from universities and colleges. If a course is taught both full-time and part-time, information for each mode of study will be displayed here.

Important information for international applicants

Due to unprecedented demand for our courses for the autumn 2023 intake, international admissions are now closed for this course. Any future intakes that are already open to applications can be found in the fees and key information section of this course page. If no future intakes are available, please check back at a later date.

How to apply

If you're a UK applicant wanting to study full-time starting in September, you must apply via UCAS unless otherwise specified. If you're an international applicant wanting to study full-time, you can choose to apply via UCAS or directly to the University.

If you're applying for part-time study, you should apply directly to the University. If you require a Student visa, please be aware that you will not be able to study as a part-time student at undergraduate level.

When to apply

The University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) accepts applications for full-time courses starting in September from one year before the start of the course. Our UCAS institution code is L68.

If you will be applying direct to the University you are advised to apply as early as possible as we will only be able to consider your application if there are places available on the course.

Apply for this course

Please select when you would like to start:

News and success stories

London Met proud to announce the winners of the 2023 Big Writing Challenge

Students from across London took part in this year’s literary challenge, with the winners announced at a prizegiving ceremony at the prestigious Orion Publishing Group offices.

Winner of London Met’s Big Writing Challenge announced

Creative writing competition launched by London Met and Orion Publishing won by Elyana Guler for ‘The Grimm’.

2022 Jhalak Prize: London Met academic's literary prize sees record number of submissions

Co-founded by London Met's Professor Sunny Singh, the award is helping to improve diversity across British publishing and has become one of the industry's most prestigious accolades.

London Met alumni join BBC's Waterloo Road

Jesse Quinones will be Lead Director of the series; while Vincent Jerome will be a new leading cast member; and Jake Yates will work on the production team as a storyboarder.

"Greater sense of confidence in my abilities"

Single father of five Stavros Giannoulatos, who just graduated in English Literature and Creative Writing with first class honours, talks us through his past three years at London Met.

Ecology as Public and Mental Health

A discussion as part of London Met’s new interdisciplinary research initiative, Finding Ecologies, explores how we create environments in which we and others can flourish.

Irish Writers in London Summer School returns for 25th year

The Summer School, taking place in June 2021, provides an informal but informed setting for participants to read and discuss contemporary Irish literature.

Grace Jones: a short story

As part of Black History 365, we share an extract of an award-winning story by London Met alumna Irenosen Okojie which explores the experience of being Black and African in London.

London Met grad recognised as screen star of tomorrow

Matilda Ibini, who studied Creative Writing and English Literature at London Met, received the accolade from British film magazine Screen International.

London Met alum shortlisted for BBC National Short Story Award

Jack Houston, who graduated from the University’s Creative Writing and English Literature programme, is among an illustrious group of nominees for the prestigious fiction prize.

Cass tutor promoted to Professor of Creative Writing and Inclusion in the Arts

Sunny Singh, award-winning writer and senior lecturer in Creative Writing and English Literature at The Cass, has been promoted to the title of Professor.

New Play by Cass Creative Writing Alumna to open at Bunker Theatre

3 to 21 December 2019

Creative Writing and English Literature graduate Matilda Ibini's play 'Little Miss Burden' is a coming-of-age story with a difference.

What’s Clearing actually like?

A first-hand account of a student going through the Clearing process and how it changed their life.

Cass Summer Shows 2019 – dates announced

Students from The Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design showcase their talent with a season of summer events.

New Creative Writing Short Courses Starting at The Cass

Creative Writing courses lead by published authors to prepare budding writers for a career in writing.

Meet the team

Trevor Norris

Course leader

Sunny Singh

Senior lecturer and internationally acclaimed writer

Andrew Cutting

Senior lecturer and writer

Christopher Holt

Senior lecturer and theatre maker

Dr Louise Tucker

Associate lecturer, publishing consultant and writer

Tory Sandars

Associate lecturer and co-director of Skewbald Theatre

Senior lecturer with a focus on theatre, performance and film

Virtual Undergraduate Open Day

You may also like..., creative writing and english literature (including foundation year) - ba (hons), international business management (including foundation year) - bsc (hons), journalism - ba (hons), journalism, film and television studies - ba (hons), marketing - ba (hons).

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Thank you for considering an application

To apply you’ll need to:

• Make note of the Queen Mary institution code: Q50

English with Creative Writing

• QW11 — BA (Hons)
• QW1Y — BA (Hons) with Year Abroad
• Click on the link below: Apply on UCAS

Have further questions? How to apply | Entry requirements

2 study options

English with creative writing ba (hons), key information, english with creative writing with year abroad ba (hons), year abroad cost.

Finances for studying abroad on exchange

Entry requirements

About the school.

Looking for a degree that will inspire your intellectual curiosity and spark your creativity?

Our BA in English with Creative Writing will give you a sound knowledge base in literature, along with the all-important tools you need to become a writer.

You'll gain a deeper understanding of literary history and theory, exploring subjects from medieval literature and Shakespeare to modernism, postcolonialism and contemporary writing.

Headed by acclaimed writer Professor Brian Dillon ( Essayism , Suppose a Sentence ), the creative writing element of the course is designed to help you find your voice, develop your practical skills and techniques, and give you an insight into the process of writing. The team comprises of poet Nisha Ramayya , novelist Michael Hughes and Goldsmiths Prize Winner, Isabel Waidner .

You'll have the opportunity to grow and flourish as a writer in a safe and supportive environment, whether in prose, poetry or creative non-fiction.

Register your interest

You can complete your English and Creative Writing degree in three or four years. If you choose to do a year abroad this will take place in Year 3 and Year 3 modules will instead be studied in Year 4.

You will take the following modules (all compulsory):

• Introduction to Creative Writing 
• London Global
• Reading, Theory and Interpretation: approaches to the study of English Literature
• Shakespeare

Please note that all modules are subject to change.

You will take the following two compulsory modules

• Creative Writing: Poetry and Performance
• Creative Writing: Prose

You then choose a minimum of two modules from across at least two of these lists:

List one: medieval and early modern studies.

• Chaucer: Gender, Faith, Identity
• Renaissance Drama
• Renaissance Literary Culture

List Two: Eighteenth-Century, Romanticism, and Nineteenth-Century Studies

• Representing London: Writing the eighteenth-century city
• Romantics and Revolutionaries
• Victorian Fictions

List Three: Modern, Contemporary and Postcolonial Studies

• Postcolonial and Global Literatures
• The Long Contemporary 

You then choose one or two modules from a wide range of options that changes each year.

Modules may include:

• American Romanticism
• Art Histories: an Introduction to the Visual Arts in London
• Global Shakespeare
• James Baldwin and American Civil Rights
• Terror, Transgresssion and Astonishment: the Gothic in the Long Nineteenth Century
• The Crisis of Culture: Literature and Politics 1918 - 1948
• The Thousand and One Nights

This is a sample of modules from our full module directory .

You will take two advanced creative writing modules from a list that changes each year. Modules may include:

• Creative Writing Advanced Fiction: Serious Play - Ludic Strategies for Writing Fiction
• Creative Writing Advanced Poetry: The Poetics of Translation
• Creative Writing and Performance
• Creative Writing Nonfiction: Illness and Experience
• Creative Writing: Innovative Ecologies

You then choose one from: 

• Creative Writing Dissertation
• English Research Dissertation

You choose the rest of your final year modules (including at least one 30 credit module) from a wide range of options that changes each year.

English Modules may include

• British Fictions of the 1960s
• Feminism(s)
• Guillotines, Ghosts and Laughing Gas: Literature in the 1790s
• Heroes and Outlaws in History and Fiction from 1100 - 1600
• Jane Austen: Regency Novelist
• Laughing Matters: Comedy and Contemporary Culture 
• Michel Foucault
• Reading William Blake
• Shakespeare: the play, the word and the book
• Time, Narrative and Culture
• Writing Black and Asian Britain
• Writing Empire: the eighteenth century 

This is a sample of modules from our full module directory .

Study options

Apply for this degree with any of the following options. Take care to use the correct UCAS code - it may not be possible to change your selection later.

Year abroad

Go global and study abroad as part of your degree – apply for our English with Creative Writing BA with a Year Abroad. Queen Mary has links with universities in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia (partnerships vary for each degree programme).

Find out more about study abroad opportunities with Queen Mary   and what the progression requirements are. 

Additional Costs

A few modules may require you to buy tickets to shows or exhibitions (often at a discounted rate) as well as pay for travel within London.

My favourite thing is definitely the inclusivity on campus, there's a huge diversity of people from across the world...There's no better place to be I feel like. It's one of the best decisions I've made. Mahima Tyagi, English with Creative Writing (2021)

Teaching and learning

You'll receive approximately 10 hours of weekly contact time, comprising lectures, smaller seminar groups, field trips, tutorials and workshops.

For every hour spent in class, you'll complete a further four to six hours of independent study.

Assessment typically includes a combination of coursework including essays, projects, presentations, log books and portfolios.

Resources and facilities

The School offers excellent on-campus and London-based resources to support your studies, including:

• creative writing events, support systems and experts on campus
• access to Senate House Library and the British Library – the most important intellectual resources in London
• opportunities to meet visiting experts including publishers, curators, archivists, poets, novelists, activists and filmmakers
• proximity to specialist archives and collections such as the BFI National Archive, Poetry Library, Women’s Library, National Art Library and the Warburg Institute
• opportunities to write, edit and publish for student newspapers and magazines

English with Creative Writing at Queen Mary University of London. Hear from our students Mahima, Jess and Christian about why you should join the #QMULfamily .

English with Creative Writing - BA (Hons)

English with Creative Writing with Year Abroad - BA (Hons)

Non-UK students

We accept a wide range of European and international qualifications in addition to A-levels, the International Baccalaureate and BTEC qualifications. Please visit International Admissions for full details.

If your qualifications are not accepted for direct entry onto this degree, consider applying for a foundation programme .

English language

Find out more about our English language entry requirements , including the types of test we accept and the scores needed for entry to the programme.

You may also be able to meet the English language requirement for your programme by joining a summer pre-sessional programme before starting your degree.

Further information

See our general undergraduate entry requirements .

Loans and grants

UK students accepted onto this course are eligible to apply for tuition fee and maintenance loans from Student Finance England or other government bodies.

Scholarships and bursaries

Queen Mary offers a generous package of scholarships and bursaries, which currently benefits around 50 per cent of our undergraduates.

Scholarships are available for home, EU and international students. Specific funding is also available for students from the local area. International students may be eligible for a fee reduction. We offer means-tested funding, as well as subject-specific funding for many degrees.

Find out what scholarships and bursaries are available to you.

Support from Queen Mary

We offer specialist support on all financial and welfare issues through our Advice and Counselling Service , which you can access as soon as you have applied for a place at Queen Mary.

Take a look at our Student Advice Guides which cover ways to finance your degree, including:

• additional sources of funding
• planning your budget and cutting costs
• part-time and vacation work
• money for lone parents.

Our English graduates go on to work in all sorts of sectors, including teaching, publishing, media and communications, and arts and heritage. Some of our most well-known alumni include authors Sarah Waters, JG Ballard and Conn Iggulden, and TV comedy writer James Lamont.

Recent graduates from the School of English and Drama have gone on to work for:

• Harper Collins
• Historic Royal Palaces
• The Independent
• London and Partners
• Penguin Random House
• Shakespeare’s Globe.

Career support

You’ll have access to bespoke careers support during every step of your English degree, and a practical third-year module will prepare you for the transition from university to working life by researching career, entrepreneurial and postgraduate study prospects.

The Department of English has strong links with the worlds of publishing, performance and poetry, and experts regularly deliver talks and lectures.

Our careers team can also offer:

• specialist advice on choosing a career path
• support with finding work experience, internships and graduate jobs
• feedback on CVs, cover letters and application forms
• interview coaching.

Learn more about career support and development at Queen Mary.

Data for these courses

The Discover Uni dataset (formerly Unistats)

The School of English and Drama provides a first-class learning environment -- the Departments of Drama and English are in the top 40 in the world (QS World Rankings by Subject 2019). And you’ll learn from leading experts: Drama is ranked first and English fifth in the UK for research quality (Research Excellence Framework 2014). We are a large school, with a lot of specialist staff, enabling us to offer a wide range of topics and approaches. You’ll have tailored support, including individual feedback on your work, and there are opportunities to contribute to student performances and publications. We regularly host prominent writers and performers and collaborate with leading organisations such as the V&A, the Barbican, the Live Art Development Agency and Shakespeare’s Globe. Our course makes full use of London’s exceptional theatre and performance resources (e.g. theatres, galleries, museums, libraries, archives, site-specific performance, festivals). The School runs several innovative research centres, including the Centre for Poetry; the Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies; the Centre for Religion and Literature in English; and the Sexual Cultures Research Group.

School of English and Drama

Tel: +44 (0)20 7882 2901

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Creative Writing

Application options include:

Course Overview

The MA Creative Writing at Birkbeck is taught by one of the most diverse and vibrant departments in London. For nearly 20 years we have been enabling dynamic groups of students to improve their creative work and develop as writers. We have a growing list of published and prizewinning authors whose work started life in our seminars.

If you have been writing creatively for a while and feel the need for professional support and feedback and the guidance of published authors and a cohort of like-minded people, then this course is for you.

The course is taught through small seminars and one-to-one tuition. We offer modules in fiction writing - both short story and novel - and work with writers across many prose genres - both fiction and non-fiction. We also offer options in playwriting, poetry, screenwriting and creative non-fiction, and practical opportunities to learn about publishing, producing and editing creative work. 

Entry to the course is based on the submission of a portfolio of creative work, and candidates whose work shows promise will be invited for interview.

Read our blog to keep up to date with our research activities.

Discover the career opportunities available by taking Creative Writing (MA).

Key information and modules

Creative writing: january start ma: 2 years part-time, on campus, starting january 2024, creative writing ma: 1 year full-time, on campus, starting october 2024.

Central London

Creative Writing MA: 2 years part-time, on campus, starting October 2024

Creative writing: january start ma: 2 years part-time, on campus, starting january 2025, pathways for creative writing (ma).

From 2023-24, we are changing the way we offer our programmes. You can now select the course route that is most suited to your skill set and interests. Apply for this course or select one of our pathways below.

• Creative Writing and Contemporary Studies (MA)

Find another course:

• Birkbeck was ranked 2nd in the UK for its English Language and Literature research in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.
• In particular, this environment is fostered by close links between the MA and the Centre for Conte mporary Literature at Birkbeck, which runs a wide variety of talks and conferences in this field. In addition to working with the established and award-winning writers who teach the degree, you will have contact with industry professionals, such as publishers and literary agents, who offer a series of platform discussions in the summer term.
• The Mechanics' Institute Review, MIROnline , is a forum for the most exciting new writing in short fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction selected from students on this course and beyond.
• Birkbeck is located in the heart of literary London, in Bloomsbury, WC1. You could be studying in a building that was once home to Virginia Woolf and frequented by members of the Bloomsbury Group. The building houses our own creative hub which includes the Peltz Gallery , the Gordon Square Cinema and a theatre and performance space .
• We have a range of scholarships available to enable talented students on low incomes to study with us, such as the Sophie Warne Fellowship . Once you have secured a place on the course you will be invited to apply for these awards. We offer a number of bursaries for postgraduate students .

Birkbeck makes all reasonable efforts to deliver educational services, modules and programmes of study as described on our website. In the event that there are material changes to our offering (for example, due to matters beyond our control), we will update applicant and student facing information as quickly as possible and offer alternatives to applicants, offer-holders and current students.

Entry Requirements

A second-class honours degree (2:2 or above, though this requirement may be waived if you can demonstrate exceptional talent), a personal statement (to be submitted with your application form) and a portfolio of prose writing of no more than 3000 words.

Your portfolio should be a section of a novel with a synopsis, a couple of short stories or a combination of the two. Please note that poetry, children’s fiction, journalism, screen- or playwriting are not appropriate submissions for this MA. Students are selected on the basis of their portfolio and statement, an interview (selected candidates only) and their degree.

Portfolio guidelines:

• Submit application.
• Wait up to 48 hours.
• Submit writing portfolio (Word or PDF) by logging into your MyBirkbeck profile, then going to the ‘Manage my application’ link and attaching the document.

Applications are reviewed on their individual merits, and your professional qualifications and/or relevant work experience will be taken into consideration positively. We actively support and encourage applications from mature learners.

On your application form, please list all your relevant qualifications and experience, including those you expect to achieve.

Apply now  to secure your place. The earlier you apply, the sooner your application can be considered and you can enrol. You do not need to have completed your current qualification to start your application.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language or you have not previously studied in English, the requirement for this programme is the equivalent of an International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic Test) score of 7.0, with not less than 6.5 in each of the sub-tests.

If you don't meet the minimum IELTS requirement,  we offer pre-sessional English courses and foundation programmes  to help you improve your English language skills and get your place at Birkbeck.

Visit the International section of our website to find out more about our  English language entry requirements and relevant requirements by country .

Visa and funding requirements

If you are not from the UK and you do not already have residency here, you may need to apply for a visa.

The visa you apply for varies according to the length of your course:

• Courses of more than six months' duration: Student visa
• Courses of less than six months' duration: Standard Visitor visa

International students who require a Student visa should apply for our full-time courses as these qualify for Student visa sponsorship. If you are living in the UK on a Student visa, you will not be eligible to enrol as a student on Birkbeck's part-time courses (with the exception of some modules).

For full information, read our visa information for international students page .

Please also visit the international section of our website to find out more about relevant visa and funding requirements by country .

Please note students receiving US Federal Aid are only able to apply for in-person, on-campus programmes which will have no elements of online study.

Credits and accredited prior learning (APL)

If you have studied at university, you may have accumulated credits through the modules you studied. It may be possible to transfer these credits from your previous study to Birkbeck or another institution.

Creative Writing: January start MA: 2 years part-time, on campus, starting in academic year 2023-24 or 2024-25

Academic year 2023–24, starting january 2024.

Part-time home students: £4,905 per year Part-time international students : £9,015 per year

Academic year 2024–25, starting January 2025

Part-time home students: £5,400 per year Part-time international students : £9,915 per year

Creative Writing MA: 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time, on campus, starting in academic year 2024-25

Academic year 2024–25, starting october 2024.

Part-time home students: £5,400 per year Full-time home students: £10,800 per year Part-time international students : £9,915 per year Full-time international students: £19,830 per year

Students are charged a tuition fee in each year of their course. Tuition fees for students continuing on their course in following years may be subject to annual inflationary increases. For more information, please see the College Fees Policy .

If you’ve studied at Birkbeck before and successfully completed an award with us, take advantage of our Lifelong Learning Guarantee to gain a discount on the tuition fee of this course.

Discover the financial support available to you to help with your studies at Birkbeck.

International scholarships

We provide a range of scholarships for eligible international students, including our Global Future Scholarship. Discover if you are eligible for a scholarship .

At Birkbeck, most of our courses are taught in the evening and all of our teaching is designed to support students who are juggling evening study with work and other commitments. We actively encourage innovative and engaging ways of teaching, to ensure our students have the best learning experience.

Teaching may include formal lectures, seminars, and practical classes and tutorials. Formal lectures are used in most degree programmes to give an overview of a particular field of study. They aim to provide the stimulus and the starting point for deeper exploration of the subject during your own personal reading. Seminars give you the chance to explore a specific aspect of your subject in depth and to discuss and exchange ideas with fellow students. They typically require preparatory study.

In addition, you will have access to pastoral support via a named Personal Tutor.

Methods of teaching on this course

Teaching is seminar-based. Each session is generally two hours, and there are further regular one-to-one tutorials throughout the year.

Key teaching staff on this course

Staff who may teach on this MA include successful, published authors and practitioners such as:

• David Eldridge
• Richard Hamblyn
• Jonathan Kemp
• Luke Williams

Teaching hours

Our evening hours are normally between 6pm and 9pm (6-7.30pm and 7.30-9pm). Some programmes also offer teaching during the day and this will be clearly signposted to you where it is available.

On our taught courses, you will have scheduled teaching and study sessions each year. Scheduled teaching sessions may include lectures, seminars, workshops or laboratory work. Depending on the modules you take, you may also have additional scheduled academic activities, such as tutorials, dissertation supervision, practical classes, visits and field trips. On our taught courses, the actual amount of time you spend in the classroom and in contact with your lecturers will depend on your course, the option modules you select and when you undertake your final-year project (if applicable).

Alongside your contact hours, you will also undertake assessment activities and independent learning outside of class. The amount of time you need to allocate to study both for taught sessions (this might include online sessions and/or in-person sessions) and personal study will depend on how much you are studying during the year and whether you are studying full time or part time.

Birkbeck’s courses are made up of modules and allocated ‘credit’. One credit is equivalent to ten hours of learning time. Modules are usually in 15, 30 or 60 credit units. A 15-credit module will mean around 150 hours of learning, including taught sessions and independent study or group work. This is spread out over the whole period of that module and includes the time you spend on any assessments, including in examinations, preparing and writing assessments or engaged in practical work as well as any study support sessions to help you in your learning.

On our distance-learning and blended-learning courses, discussion, collaboration and interaction with your lecturers and fellow students is encouraged and enabled through various learning technologies.

Timetables are usually available from September onwards and you can access your personalised timetable via your My Birkbeck Profile online (if you have been invited to enrol).

Indicative class size

Class sizes vary, depending on your course, the module you are undertaking, and the method of teaching. For example, lectures are presented to larger groups, whereas seminars usually consist of small, interactive groups led by a tutor.

Independent learning

On our taught courses, much of your time outside of class will be spent on self-directed, independent learning, including preparing for classes and following up afterwards. This will usually include, but is not limited to, reading books and journal articles, undertaking research, working on coursework and assignments, and preparing for presentations and assessments.

Independent learning is absolutely vital to your success as a student. Everyone is different, and the study time required varies topic by topic, but, as a guide, expect to schedule up to five hours of self-study for each hour of teaching.

Study skills and additional support

Birkbeck offers study and learning support to undergraduate and postgraduate students to help them succeed. Our Learning Development Service can help you in the following areas:

• academic skills (including planning your workload, research, writing, exam preparation and writing a dissertation)
• written English (including structure, punctuation and grammar)
• numerical skills (basic mathematics and statistics).

Our Disability and Dyslexia Service can support you if you have additional learning needs resulting from a disability or from dyslexia.

Our Counselling Service can support you if you are struggling with emotional or psychological difficulties during your studies.

Our Mental Health Advisory Service can support you if you are experiencing short- or long-term mental health difficulties during your studies.

Assessment is an integral part of your university studies and usually consists of a combination of coursework and examinations, although this will vary from course to course - on some of our courses, assessment is entirely by coursework. The methods of assessment on this course are specified below under 'Methods of assessment on this course'. You will need to allow time to complete coursework and prepare for exams.

Where a course has unseen written examinations, these may be held termly, but, on the majority of our courses, exams are usually taken in the Summer term, during May to June. Exams may be held at other times of the year as well. In most cases, exams are held during the day on a weekday - if you have daytime commitments, you will need to make arrangements for daytime attendance - but some exams are held in the evening. Exam timetables are published online.

Find out more about assessment at Birkbeck, including guidance on assessment, feedback and our assessment offences policy.

Methods of assessment on this course

Four short creative pieces with critical essays (67%). A dissertation (15,000 words) in one of the following genres: a novella, novel or collection of short stories, with a preface of 3000 words (33%).

Careers and employability

Graduates can pursue career paths in editing, teaching and writing professionally. Possible professions include:

• creative writer
• magazine or newspaper journalist
• editorial assistant
• academic librarian
• English as a second language (ESOL) teacher
• information officer.

Birkbeck Creative Writing graduates include:

• Niki Aguirre
• Sarah Alexander
• Laura Allsop
• Iphgenia Baal
• Phoebe Blatton
• Mary Lynn Bracht
• Nicole Burstein
• Tray Butler
• Melissa De Villiers
• Liz Fremantle
• AJ Grainger
• Jules Grant
• Emma Henderson
• Sally Hinchcliffe
• Heidi James
• Keith Jarrett
• Olya Knezevic
• Matthew Loukes
• Fiona Melrose
• Suzanne O'Sullivan
• Victoria Richards
• Nadim Safdar
• Karin Salvalaggio
• David Savill
• Stefanie Seddon
• Luke Tredget.

We offer a comprehensive careers service - Careers and Enterprise - your career partner during your time at Birkbeck and beyond. At every stage of your career journey, we empower you to take ownership of your future, helping you to make the connection between your experience, education and future ambitions.

You apply directly to Birkbeck for this course, using the online application link.

You will need to prove your identity when you apply - read more about suitable forms of identification .

When to apply

You are strongly advised to apply now, to ensure there are still places on your chosen course and to give you enough time to complete the admissions process, to arrange funding and to enrol.

You don't need to complete your current programme of study before you apply - Birkbeck can offer you a place that is conditional on your results.

You will also receive information about subject-specific induction sessions over the summer.

Help and advice with your application

Get all the information you need about the application, admission and enrolment process at Birkbeck.

Our online personal statement tool will guide you through every step of writing the personal statement part of your application.

Apply for your course

Apply for your course using the apply now button in the key information section .

Course structure

Course structure listing, course structure and modules for creative writing: january start ma: 2 years part-time, on campus, starting january 2024.

You must complete modules worth a total of 180 credits, consisting of:

• two compulsory modules (30 credits each)
• two option modules (30 credits each)
• a 15,000-word dissertation (60 credits).

Compulsory modules

• Creative Non-Fiction
• Writing and Reading Seminar

Option modules

• Contemporary Writing 2: Genre
• Introduction to Playwriting
• Introduction to Screenwriting
• Poetry Workshop
• Writing The Self
• Writing Workshop

MA Creative Writing Dissertation

• Dissertation MA Creative Writing

Course structure and modules for Creative Writing MA: 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time, on campus, starting October 2024

Course structure and modules for creative writing: january start ma: 2 years part-time, on campus, starting january 2025.

• Staff & students

BA (Hons) English with Creative Writing

Course information, entry requirements.

A-level: BBB BTEC: DDM IB: 33 points overall with Three HL subjects at 655

3 years full-time or 4-6 years part-time

English and Creative Writing

Course overview

Combine the study of literature with the practice of creative writing. You’ll graduate with the ability to be informed and curious about literature, and with the imagination to turn that curiosity into creativity.

This flexible BA English with Creative Writing degree allows you to choose topics related to American literature and culture, comparisons of literature across different cultures and art forms (also known as comparative literature), and study diverse aspects of language use in linguistics modules. Your literary and creative studies will be supported by lectures and seminars that will give you practical advice to help you improve your essay writing and refine your research strategies.

Why study BA English with Creative Writing at Goldsmiths

Goldsmiths' Department of English and Creative Writing is one of the most established and long-running creative writing centres in UK Higher Education, and many of our graduates are now leading writers and editors in their field.

Our location on the doorstep of central London means that you will have easy access to one of the most diverse, historic, and dynamic literary centres in the world. We’re regularly visited by literary guest speakers, and our students have recently enjoyed events with Ali Smith, George Saunders, Bernadine Evaristo, Nikesh Shukla, Michael Rosen, Eimear McBride and Howard Jacobson. Our forward-thinking approach to the fields of creative writing and literary studies is supported by our hosting and running of the Goldsmiths Prize, awarded annually to work that pushes the boundaries of the novel.

Who studies English and Creative Writing at Goldsmiths

Since 2010, twelve of our alumni have gone on to win the prestigious Eric Gregory Award, awarded annually by the Society of Authors for a collection by British poets under the age of 30. Other recent alumni have gone on to win the Ted Hughes Award for poetry, the Somerset Maugham Award, the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year, The Guardian & 4th Estate Short Story Prize, the European Union Prize for Literature, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the White Review Poetry Prize, with other graduates being shortlisted for the Forward Prize and the TS Eliot Prize.

Many of our students go on to study on leading international MA and MFA and PhD programmes, including on our own leading MA in Creative and Life Writing programme.

Why Goldsmiths

While our graduates are the best advocates of our teaching of English and Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, our teaching staff of celebrated writers and scholars are ready to support you and your work as a Goldsmiths student. If you want to chat about life and learning here, be it our literature modules, our assessments, what your week might look like as an undergraduate in the Department of English and Creative Writing, or what goes on in our creative writing workshops, we are happy to hear from you.

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Dr. Jack Underwood .

What you'll study

Each level of the degree includes a single year-long creative writing module taught by creative writing practitioners and active researchers. Each of these modules must be passed in order to progress to the next level and (in the case of the final module) for you to be awarded the degree. 

In your first year, you'll take the following compulsory modules:

You will also choose one of the following option modules:

In your second year, you'll take the following compulsory modules:

You'll then take 75 credits of modules from an approved list. This list is published annually by the Department of English and Creative Writing , and includes the Goldsmiths Elective. This elective allows you to choose a module from a related subject in another department.

A minimum of 30 credits must be a module based on pre-1800 literature.

Examples of recent modules include:

In your final year, you'll take a compulsory Project Development module for 30 credits. With your remaining credits you'll choose from a list of optional modules produce annually by the Department, including at least 30 credits from pre-1800 literature.

Recent modules have included:

You also choose modules (worth a total of 90 credits) from a list published annually by the  Department of English and Creative Writing

Teaching style

This programme is mainly taught through scheduled learning - a mixture of lectures, seminars and workshops. You’ll also be expected to undertake a significant amount of independent study. This includes carrying out required and additional reading, preparing topics for discussion, and producing essays or project work.

The following information gives an indication of the typical proportions of learning and teaching for each year of this programme*:

• Year 1 - 13% scheduled learning, 87% independent learning
• Year 2 - 12% scheduled learning, 86% independent learning, 2% placement
• Year 3 - 12% scheduled learning, 86% independent learning, 2% placement

How you’ll be assessed

You’ll be assessed by a variety of methods, depending on your module choices. These include portfolios of original creative writing and critical commentaries on your work for each of the workshops, coursework portfolios, long essays and examinations (various timescales and formats).

The following information gives an indication of how you can typically expect to be assessed on each year of this programme*:

• Year 1 - 63% coursework, 38% written exam
• Year 2 - 85% coursework, 15% written exam
• Year 3 - 100% coursework

*Please note that these are averages are based on enrolments for 2022/23. Each student’s time in teaching, learning and assessment activities will differ based on individual module choices. Find out more about how this information is calculated .

Credits and levels of learning

An undergraduate honours degree is made up of 360 credits – 120 at Level 4, 120 at Level 5 and 120 at Level 6. If you are a full-time student, you will usually take Level 4 modules in the first year, Level 5 in the second, and Level 6 modules in your final year. A standard module is worth 30 credits. Some programmes also contain 15-credit half modules or can be made up of higher-value parts, such as a dissertation or a Major Project.

Download the programme specification .

Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.

We accept the following qualifications:

A-level: BBB BTEC: DDM International Baccalaureate: 33 points overall with Three HL subjects at 655 Access: Pass with 45 Level 3 credits including 30 Distinctions and a number of merits/passes in subject-specific modules Scottish qualifications: BBBBC (Higher) or BBC (Advanced Higher) European Baccalaureate: 75%, preferably including English. Irish Leaving Certificate: H2 H2 H2 H2

Additional requirements

Grade B in A-level English Literature/A-Level English Language and Literature/A-level English Language is required if you have studied A-Levels. Alternatively, an equivalent English subject will be accepted e.g. Grade 5 in IB Higher Level English.

International qualifications

We also accept a wide range of international qualifications. Find out more about the qualifications we accept from around the world .

If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or equivalent English language qualification ) of 6.5 with a 6.5 in writing and no element lower than 6.0 to study this programme. If you need assistance with your English language, we offer a range of courses that can help prepare you for degree-level study .

Fees & funding

Annual tuition fees.

These are the fees for students starting their programme in the 2023/2024 academic year.

From August 2021 EU/EEA/Swiss nationals will no longer be eligible for 'Home' fee status. EU/EEA/Swiss nationals will be classified as 'International' for fee purposes, more information can be found on our fees page .

• Home - full-time: £9250
• Home - part-time: £4625
• International - full-time: £19640

If your fees are not listed here, please check our undergraduate fees guidance or contact the Fees Office , who can also advise you about how to pay your fees.

It’s not currently possible for international students to study part-time under a student visa. If you think you might be eligible to study part-time while being on another visa type, please contact our Admissions Team for more information.

If you are looking to pay your fees please see our guide to making a payment .

Additional costs

In addition to your tuition fees, you'll be responsible for any additional costs associated with your course, such as buying stationery and paying for photocopying. You can find out more about what you need to budget for on our study costs page .

There may also be specific additional costs associated with your programme. This can include things like paying for field trips or specialist materials for your assignments. Please check the programme specification for more information.

Funding opportunities

We offer a wide range of scholarships and bursaries, and our careers service can also offer advice on finding work during your studies. Find out more about funding your studies with us .

We are a centre of excellence for poetry. Recent BA graduates include Rachael Allen, whose debut poetry collection Kindgomland was published by Faber in 2019 to great acclaim, and who now works as Poetry Editor for Granta; Poet and non-fiction writer Sophie Collins, is author of the ground-breaking non-fiction work, Small White Monkeys: On Self-expression, Self-help and Shame published by Bookworks in 2018, and a collection of poems, Who Is Mary Sue? Published by Faber in 2018, and selected as a Poetry Book Society Choice. Sophie was awarded a Fellowship by the Royal Society of Literature as part of its inaugural 40 Under 40 scheme in 2018, and is now a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Glasgow; Ella Frears is author of Shine, Darling, her debut collection published by Offord Road Books in 2020, which was shortlisted for both the Forward and TS Eliot Prizes, as well as being selected as a Poetry Book Society Recommendation; Cecilia Knapp was named Young Person’s Poet Laureate for London in 2020 and has been widely commissioned and held residences internationally. Her theatre pieces Finding Home and Losing the Night both opened to sell out London runs at The Roundhouse before touring the UK. Her debut novel Little Boxes is forthcoming from The Borough Press (Harper Collins.) while her debut poetry collection Peach Pig will be published by Corsair in 2022. She curated the anthology Everything is Going to be alright: Poems for When you Really Need Them, published by Trapeze in 2021; Aria Aber is the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection Hard Damage, published by University of Nebraska Press in 2019. After graduating from Goldsmiths, Aria left to study an MFA in Creative Writing at New York University,  before winning a 2020 Whiting Award in Poetry and continuing her practice as a Wallace Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford University; other recent poetry publications by former undergraduates include Glass by Emily Cooper, published by Makina Books, Platinum Blonde by Phoebe Stuckes, published by Bloodaxe, Earth Sign and HYPERLOVE by Naomi Morris, published by Partus Press and Makina Books, with an exciting debut pamphlet by Eve Esfandiari Denney, expected in 2022 with Bad Betty. Our poets’ successes have been matched in recent years by our prose writers. Four novels which began as creative writing dissertations and portfolios have since been published or acquired for publication: Sara Jafari’s debut novel The Mismatch was published by Penguin in 2021, started life on the Creating the Text module, while Marlowe Granados’ best-selling debut, Happy Hour, also published this year by Verso, formed part of Marlowe’s third year creative writing dissertation. Similarly, Abi Andrews debut, The Word for Woman is Wilderness, published by Serpent’s Tail in 2018, was first aired in a workshop taken during her third year on the BA Hons English Creative Writing programme, as did Paddy Crewe’s debut novel, Yip, which will be published in hardback in spring 2022 by Doubleday. Kandace Siobhan Walker’s short story Deep Heart, was winner of the 2019 4th Estate and Guardian short story prize (Kandace was also winner of the 2020 White Review Poetry Prize) and she is also working on her debut novel and collection of poetry; Goldsmiths Creative Writing BA and MA graduate, Dizz Tate’s debut novel Brutes is scheduled for publication by Faber in February 2023. Aside from literary forms, Goldsmiths undergraduate creative writing alumni also include a number of exciting non-fiction writers and journalists: Daisy Jones, who is Associate Editor of VICE UK and author of ALL THE THINGS SHE SAID: Everything I Know About Modern Lesbian and Bi Culture, published by Hachette in 2021; Charlie Brinkhurst Cuff is Award-winning journalist, book editor, columnist and podcast host. She is currently a Senior Staff Editor at the New York Times having enjoyed a celebrated tenure as Editor-in-Chief at gal-dem magazine. She has also written for the  Guardian, Observer, ipaper and Metro, and has worked as weekend editor and writer at Dazed. Excitingly, her debut collection of non-fiction, Black Joy will be published under the Penguin imprint in hardback on 2nd September 2021; Felix Petty, now executive editor at i-D Magazine, following on from his time as music editor for TANK.

About the department