MA in Creative Writing
Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom
MA
DURATION
2 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
GBP 17,600 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* there is no application deadline for postgraduate courses
** for international full-time | international part-time: 9,680 GBP/year | home full-time: 10,300 GBP/year | home part-time: 5,665 GBP/year
Key Summary
With a full programme of workshops and critical study, this Creative Writing MA offers you the chance to work on your own writing in different genres and forms.
At our Penrhyn Road campus, you will have access to a modern environment with the latest equipment, including the Learning Resources Centre. This offers:
- subject libraries, plus a free inter-library loan scheme to other libraries in the Greater London area
- online database subscriptions
- a growing selection of resource materials.
Kingston is just a 30-minute train journey away from central London, where you can access a wealth of additional libraries and archives, including the British Library.
Why choose this course?
During this Creative Writing MA, you will learn in workshops, one-to-ones or in small groups, with support from practising and published practitioners and fellow students.
The Writers' Workshop module will encourage you to develop your writing 'voice' through engagement with fellow students across a range of genres (in fiction or creative non-fiction). While the Special Study module will enable you to specialise in one genre, such as fiction, non-fiction, poetry or drama.
You will explore critical theory and experimental/avant-garde writing. And your creative dissertation and critical essay will give you the chance to specialise further.
Throughout this course, you will become part of Kingston's thriving community, with events such as:
- a series of masterclasses with publishing specialists and professionals
- weekly guest lectures from leading journalists. These include
- Samira Ahmed – an award-winning journalist with 20 years' experience in print and broadcast
- David Jenkins – editor of Little White Lies
- Richard Moynihan – Head of Digital Journalism, The Telegraph
- Alex Stedman – Fashion Blogger at The Frugality and former Style Editor at Red magazine
- Regular readings through Writers' Centre Kingston, which offers an annual programme of events from talks to workshops and festivals. These are hosted and curated in partnership with local institutions, such as The Rose Theatre, the Rich Mix Cultural Foundation, the Museum of Futures and Kingston First
- Regular philosophy lunchtime lectures, which focus on a major figure in the history of Western philosophy. These introduce students to that thinker's work, usually through the discussion of one of her or his emblematic works
You will also have the opportunity to contribute to Kingston University's publication, Ripple, which includes fiction, poetry, reviews and creative non-fiction and is edited by students on the course. This provides:
- a platform for the publication of creative work
- a chance to get hands-on experience of the publishing process
The Art School Experience
As part of Kingston School of Art, students on this course benefit from joining a creative community where we encourage collaborative working and critical practice.
Our workshops and studios are open to all disciplines, enabling students and staff to work together, share ideas and explore multi-disciplinary making.
For students interested in studying Creative Writing MA at Kingston, there are several opportunities to seek funding support:
- Inspire the Future Scholarship
- International scholarships
- Progression Scholarship
- Discounts for Kingston University alumni
Course content
You will have the opportunity to develop your creative writing skills in general or specialise in a chosen genre. As well as studying literary criticism and theory, you will also look at the professional elements of writing, such as copy-editing and how to get your work published.
Core modules
You'll be expected to pass all four modules and the dissertation to complete the course.
Core modules
- Creative Writing Dissertation
- Special Study: Workshop in Popular Genre Writing
- Writing the Contemporary
- Ten Critical Challenges for Creative Writers
- Writers' Workshop
Optional placement year
Many postgraduate courses at Kingston University allow students to do a 12-month work placement as part of their course. The responsibility for finding the work placement is with the student; we cannot guarantee the work placement, just the opportunity to undertake it. As the work placement is an assessed part of the course, it is covered by a student's Student Route visa.
Some of our departmental graduates have achieved notable successes, having published short stories and novels which were started as part of their degree, and attracted good literary agents, for example:
- Oyinkan Braithwaite's novel, My Sister the Serial Killer, reviewed by The New Yorker and BBC Radio 4's Open Book and Front Row, has won the Crime and Thriller book of the year at the British Book Awards; Oyinkan is the first black woman to do so.
- Grainne Murphy has recently signed a two-book deal with Legend Press. Her debut novel, Where the Edge Is, was published in September 2020, with The Ghostlights to be published in 2021.
- Ben Halls' debut, The Quarry, was a book of the day in The Guardian in March 2020.
- Amy Clarke has signed a two-book deal. Like Clockwork is a psychological suspense novel about a true crime podcast host who's obsessively trying to solve the decades-old cold case of a notorious Minnesotan serial killer whose victims were each one year younger than the last. It is due to be published in March/April 2021 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, with a second book to follow.
- A story Seraphina Madsen wrote for the MA Critical Challenges module was published in the UK's pre-eminent literary journal, The White Review, and secured her an agent and a book deal.
- Stevan Alcock is another MA student whose debut novel, workshopped on our MA, was published by the 4th Estate.
- Hannah Vincent is a former MFA student with novels out with Myriad Editions and Salt.
- Myriad Editions also runs a writing competition each year aimed at finding new writers, with MFA student Karly Stilling winning in 2015. This year, the award was won by another current Kingston student, Sylvia Carr. Former MA (now a PhD student) Joseph Pierson was a recent runner-up.
- Julia Lewis is a former MFA student and experimental poet who has gone on to publish a wide range of works. She also rewrote MA tutor James Miller's novel Lost Boys as a collection of experimental poetry.
- Stefan Mohamed won the Dylan Thomas Prize and has gone on to have a successful career as a writer of YA fiction.
- MA student Vicky Newham signed a two-book deal for her crime series. Vicky is on the Daggers longlist for the best crime novel by a first-time author.
- Faiqa Mansab published her debut novel, This House of Clay and Water, in Pakistan and India to great acclaim, and it has been optioned by the talented Sheherzade Sheikh for screen adaptation.
- Other successes include Susie Lynes and Lauren Forry.
- Other former students have gone on to work in editorial posts in the publishing industry.