Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom
DURATION
1 up to 2 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline *
EARLIEST START DATE
Request earliest startdate
TUITION FEES
GBP 9,860 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* there is no application deadline for postgraduate courses
** home full-time: £9,860 | international full-time: £16,200
Key Summary
Introduction
Why choose this course?
You will learn in workshops, one-to-one or in small groups, with support from practising and published writers, and fellow students. Our award-winning former creative writing students include Booker-shortlisted Oyinkan Braithwaite, and Joe Pierson, who won the Bridport Prize, Stefan Mohammed, awarded the Dylan Thomas Prize, Bafta-winner, Sarah Woolner, the acclaimed poet Dom Bury and celebrated novelist Faiqa Mansab.
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 with the support of published practitioners.
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 enables you to specialise in one genre, such as fiction, non-fiction, poetry or drama.
This Creative Writing MA will give you the knowledge and confidence to enter the cultural debate and begin to identify outlets for your own writing.
Our external examiner has rated it highly:
'The Kingston MA is very lively, energised and relevant in its outlook.'
'You are more experimental, adventurous and original than other creative writing MAs in the UK.'
Reasons to choose Kingston
- The Creative Writing MA helps you to develop the craft of creative writing, either on a general level or through specialising in your chosen genre.
- You will become part of Kingston's thriving community, with events such as readings, lectures from published authors, editors and agents, masterclasses and enriching discussions.
- The creative dissertation and critical essay give you the chance to further specialise. You also explore writing in a range of forms and styles and take a module exploring critical theory and experimental/avant-garde writing.
- You will 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.
- You'll study in workshops, learning one-on-one or in small groups with experts in your chosen area. The course is taught by a combination of:
- appointed staff - many are published authors or active researchers, which keeps your learning dynamic.
- peer review - giving you the chance to discuss your own and other students' work in a mutually supportive environment.
- appointed staff - many are published authors or active researchers, which keeps your learning dynamic.
- peer review - giving you the chance to discuss your own and other students' work in a mutually supportive environment.
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.
Gallery
Admissions
Curriculum
What you will study
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 and will 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.
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.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
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 run 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.