exeter college creative writing

Course details

Creative writing summer school.

The intermediate-level strand of the summer school is currently full, with an extensive waiting list, and we are no longer accepting applications.

Immerse yourself in your writing over three intensive weeks spent in Oxford.

This unique summer school offers opportunities for writers at both intermediate and advanced levels to work under the guidance of experienced tutors.

You will write, develop your technique, sharpen your critical faculties and discuss your work in small, focused seminars. Each weekday you will attend a talk given by an author, publisher, agent, or editor. You will live and work in beautiful Exeter College, the environment that nurtured J R R Tolkien, Philip Pullman, Martin Amis, William Morris, and many others.

At the end of your three weeks, you will have acquired new skills, made new friends, and developed a fresh portfolio of creative writing.

A three-week residential summer school.
Take part in interactive seminars featuring writing exercises and group discussion.
Benefit from guidance by tutors who are both published authors and experienced teachers.
Attend daily talks given by established authors, agents, editors and others.

Participate in open mic nights and peer-led workshop sessions.

Study and live at Exeter College, founded 1314 - one of Oxford University's oldest colleges.
Enjoy a range of social events, including walking tours and excursions.

What is meant by intermediate and advanced?

The intermediate strand of the summer school is open access; it is for keen readers aged 18 and over who have written regularly and read widely over a sustained period. Students on the intermediate programme take two seminars, one in fiction and one in creative non-fiction. Applications for the intermediate strand do not require samples of written work.

The advanced strand of the summer school is an intensive programme which is suitable for writers who have completed or nearly completed a single-honours degree in Creative Writing or English Literature, or who have taken a significant number of courses in creative writing or English literature. Students on the advanced strand are likely to have developed specialisms in their work; they choose two from seven available seminars: creative non-fiction, fiction (two options), middle-grade and teen/young adult fiction, poetry, scriptwriting, and short story. Applications for the advanced strand include a statement of purpose and samples of written work.

Both strands live and work in beautiful Exeter College, socialising, dining and attending plenary lectures together.

All of the seminars involve writing exercises, group discussion, and the development of a portfolio of creative writing.

Each seminar has two two-hour meetings per week. Classes typically contain no more than 15 students.

(See "Programme details", below, for seminar descriptions.)

Contact hours

The programme provides you with a minimum of 46.5 contact hours, comprising:

24 hours of seminar meetings (12 hours per seminar); and
22.5 hours of talks (15 sessions, each lasting 1.5 hours).

Social programme

You can enjoy optional social events throughout the summer school. These may include a walking tour of Oxford, after-dinner talks and weekend excursions to sites of literary and/or historical interest. Most of these activities incur additional costs.

You will have an opportunity to share ideas and work with your fellow students at open mic nights (one per week) and informal peer-led workshop sessions (two per week).

Beyond the summer school, Oxford is a vibrant and cosmopolitan city with a busy cultural and social scene offering a wide variety of plays and shows, concerts, films and exhibitions.

Programme details

Intermediate-level seminars.

Click here to download the intermediate-level seminar timetable .

Creative Non-Fiction

Writing about real lives and experiences – your own, or someone else’s – is rewarding but also daunting. What if you have too much information, or your story involves other people? How do you fill the gaps? How do you keep the reader reading? What if your core purpose is to write creatively not about a life, but about a specific place or time, journey or sickness, idea or vocation? And when does storytelling tip over into fiction? In this course we will use practical exercises, examples, discussion and the sharing of writing to explore ways of imagining, researching, developing, shaping and voicing real-life material to form a narrative.

Tutor: Dr Emma Darwin’s memoir, This is Not a Book About Charles Darwin (Holland House Books, 2019), explores her disastrous attempt to write a novel about her family. Her debut novel, The Mathematics of Love (Headline Review, 2006), was nominated for the Commonwealth Writers’ and other awards; her second, A Secret Alchemy (Headline Review, 2009), was a Sunday Times bestseller; Get Started in Writing Historical Fiction (John Murray Learning) was published in 2016. She has a PhD in Creative Writing (London) and was an Associate Lecturer at the Open University; she blogs at This Itch of Writing .

In this course you will explore who you are as a writer, reflecting on the stories that you see and hear in the stuff of everyday life and thinking about what you, uniquely, can bring to those stories that you choose to tell. We will discover how to depict fictional worlds, characters, relationships, situations and sequences of events so that they seem ‘real’ but at the same time sing on the page and make for compelling reading. To this end, we will be spending our time on writing exercises and discussion - sharing our work, ideas and experiences as and when we are comfortable to do so.

Tutor: Suzannah Dunn has published two collections of short fiction and twelve novels, seven of them historical, one of which, The Confession of Katherine Howard, was a Richard and Judy Pick. Her thirteenth novel, Levitation for Beginners , will be published by Little, Brown in 2024. She has decades of experience as a tutor of creative writing in all kinds of settings with writers of all levels of confidence and skills. For five years she was Director of Manchester University’s MA in Novel Writing, and is now a tutor and mentor at Curtis Brown Creative.

Advanced-level seminar options

Click here to view the advanced-level seminar timetable .

We tell stories about ourselves and others every day. Taking a close look at autobiography, memoir, and biography, we will discuss how these stories are told and the extent to which this influences what we think we know about our own lives and those of others. The course will focus on narrative prose. It will provide an opportunity for students to work on an idea for a life story or an existing project. Students will be encouraged to work on their own writing during the course. We will discuss the challenges we all face as writers and how to address them. There will be opportunities to explore contemporary examples of life-writing that challenge traditional autobiographical and biographical narratives and the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction. We will address questions about form and style that help us to decide what kind of narrative we want to write, whether it be a book, an article, or a short life story.

Tutor: Rebecca Abrams is the author of Touching Distance , which won the MJA Open Book Award for Fiction and was shortlisted for the McKitterick Prize for Literature, The Playful Self , Woman in a Man's World , and Licoricia of Winchester: Power and Prejudice in Medieval England . She is the editor of Out of Exodus , two anthologies of new fiction, and Jewish Treasures of Oxford Libraries , which was long-listed for the 2021 Wingate Literary Prize. A journalist of many years standing, Rebecca is a regular literary critic for the Financial Times , a former columnist for the Daily Telegraph , and the recipient of an Amnesty International Press Award for Journalism.

Fiction: Turning Ideas Into Narratives

This course is aimed at those who are starting to write prose but do not yet feel fully confident. Using a variety of exercises and some examples from literature, we shall investigate the formation of character, and develop character arcs. Then we shall develop story and plot outlines together, planning scenes. Finally, we shall attempt to identify and discuss your unique strengths and preferences with a view to finding your USP - unique selling point.

Tutor: Dr Rachel Bentham has been Royal Literary Fellow at Bath University, and teaches for both Bristol and Bath Spa Universities. Her plays and short stories have been regularly broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and her poetry is internationally published. She has recently completed a novel set in nineteenth-century Tahiti. A recent collection of haiku was called Let All Tongues Flower (Firewater Press, 2013); and her most recent collection, also of haiku, is titled Other Roads North (2019) and reached number one on Amazon.

Fiction: Fine-Tuning Your Writing

This course is designed to help you hone your craft as a writer and see your project through to its completion. We shall start by examining your aims and motivation, troubleshooting any problems you are having in maintaining commitment and progress. We shall explore how to give your writing maximum resonance and power, analysing how you can use voice and point of view, give your characters extra depth and weave together story strands, themes and images. Finally, we shall look at sending your work out into the world, with workshopping and advice on editing and pitching.

Tutor: Lorna Fergusson is a writing coach, editor and speaker. She runs Fictionfire Literary Consultancy and has taught on various Oxford University writing programmes since 2002. She is the author of The Chase and An Oxford Vengeance . Her stories have won an Ian St James Award and the Historical Novel Society’s Short Story Award, as well as being shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and Pan Macmillan’s Write Now prize. In both 2021 and 2022 she was runner-up for the Mogford Prize. She is developing one of the Mogford stories into a novel, and is working on poetry, a collection of short stories and a book on mindset for writers.

Middle-Grade and Teen/Young Adult Fiction

The middle grade and teen/young adult fiction markets are exciting, and rewarding, areas of publishing. This course, run by an established novelist, will look at the way successful writers have chosen subjects and themes, explored fantasy and/or social realism, and found exactly the right voice to appeal to younger readers. It will also explore such key topics as planning, plot development and perspective. Students will be guided in the development of a story of their own, and there will be plenty of opportunities to workshop ideas and get feedback on stories as they progress.

Tutor: Julie Hearn is the critically acclaimed author of a number of novels for young adults, all published by Oxford University Press. Included are: Follow Me Down, shortlisted for the Branford Boase First Novel Award , The Merrybegot, shortlisted for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and the Highland Children’s Book Award , and Rowan the Strange, shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and described by The Guardian as “nothing short of extraordinary”. Her eighth novel, I am NOT adorable, written for younger children, was published by Jolly Heron in 2018 and a collection of short stories, The Princess Thing, is in the pipeline.

Poetry may well be 'a pheasant disappearing in the brush', as Wallace Stevens quipped, but on this course we will carefully and cunningly follow that pheasant into the underwood. In this series of workshops, we will go in deep and examine new and old examples of poetry, to figure out how it can be made. You can write poetry in so many ways these days, and you will experiment with traditional and avant-garde methods of writing poems, learning not only how to write different kinds of metrical lines but also accomplished free verse, among other things. Ben Jonson knew that 'a good poet's made, as well as born', and on this course you will be made into one through continual practice, innovative imitation, and workshop discussion.

Tutor: Dr Edward Clarke teaches English literature and art history at various colleges and the Department for Continuing Education, Oxford University. He is the author of two books of criticism, The Later Affluence of W. B. Yeats and Wallace Stevens and The Vagabond Spirit of Poetry , and he has edited a selection of poems by Henry Vaughan and George Herbert, Divine Themes and Celestial Praise . His collection of poems, A Book of Psalms , was published 2020. ‘Clarke’s Psalter’, the documentary he presented about writing these poems, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. His latest collection of poems is called Cherubims . A selection of his poems, The Voice inside Our Home , was recently published.

Scriptwriting

This course is based on the study and creation of scripts for stage, screen and radio and on helping aspiring dramatists to develop a practice to engage with a golden age of script writing. Convincing characters in coherent plots, with a keen awareness of genre, is the basis of all good fiction. We shall explore such core elements, culminating in the submission of a short script. In the third week, students can workshop a script begun outside the course. Dramaturgy will be strictly focused to help writers to develop individual writing for performance projects, using processes that are ‘industry standard’.

Tutor: Shaun McCarthy has had over a dozen stage plays professionally produced and a range of radio dramas broadcast. His adaptations include J.M. Synge’s The Aran Islands (BBC R4 Classic Serial), a stage version of A Christmas Carol that was a critique of David Cameron’s ‘big society’ and had a happy, unexpected ending; and a re-set of Strindberg’s Miss Julie to Oxford 1963. He teaches a range of creative writing courses for OUDCE, runs Hooligan Theatre Productions to develop his new plays and co-runs the writing events and residential writers’ retreats company ‘Stage and Page' in the UK and Italy.

The Short Story

This course encourages you to become a braver, more vital writer by experimenting with the short story form. As close to poetry as it is to prose, the short story is ideal for testing uncommon characters and situations, innovative structures and syntax. Unlock voices and creative techniques that will transform your writing practise. In the final week we will focus on intensive self-editing and how to transform a saggy, weak story into a powerful, shapely narrative, through close examination of language, rhythm, energy and pace. Perfecting short fiction is a great way to build your track record through publication in literary journals and entry to awards judged by agents and publishers.

Tutor: Susannah Rickards' collection of short fiction, Hot Kitchen Snow, drawn from experiences of growing up in North East England and working in East Africa, won the international Scott Prize in for best debut fiction collection in 2010, and is published by Salt. Her writing regularly appears in journals and anthologies and has been broadcast on BBC radio. She read English at Oxford University and now lives in Surrey, UK, where she writes and mentors new and established authors.

Certification

All students who complete the programme will receive an attendance certificate.

Those seeking credit at their home institution may request a detailed certificate which lists contact hours (for seminars and talks), an assessment of their contribution to seminar discussions, grades achieved for written work, and the number of private study hours required. Certificates will usually be sent to students' home institutions within a month of the end of the summer school.

As Oxford University does not offer credit for this summer school, those wishing to obtain credit from their home institution for attending this programme must make appropriate arrangements with that institution in advance.

Residential: Standard (shared bathroom) - £4,380; Residential: En suite (private bathroom facilities) - £4,765; Non-residential (no accommodation; limited meals) - £2,255

Programme fees

Residential: Standard (shared bathroom facilities) - £4,380 Fees include tuition (2 seminars and the daily programme of talks); access to IT facilities and libraries; accommodation in a standard single room with shared bathroom facilities for the nights of Sunday 21 July to Friday 9 August 2024 inclusive; meals in hall from dinner on Sunday 21 July to breakfast on Saturday 10 August 2024 (except lunch on Saturdays and Sundays).

Residential: En suite (private bathroom facilities) - £4,765 Fees include tuition (2 seminars and the daily programme of talks); access to IT facilities and libraries; accommodation in a single en suite room with private shower and toilet for the nights of Sunday 21 July to Friday 9 August 2024 inclusive; meals in hall from dinner on Sunday 21 July to breakfast on Saturday 10 August 2024 (except lunch on Saturdays and Sundays).

Non-residential - £2,255 Fees include tuition (2 seminars and the daily programme of talks); access to IT facilities and libraries; no accommodation; lunch Monday-Friday, and the programme`s formal opening and closing dinners on Sunday 21 July and Friday 9 August 2024, respectively.

There are no sources of funding (scholarships, bursaries, etc) available for applicants.

Invoicing and payment

Successful applicants who accept their offer of a place on the summer school will be invoiced for the appropriate programme fee once they have been formally enrolled on the programme.

Invoices will be emailed to students together with full instructions for payment. Fees may be paid online with a credit or debit card, or by bank transfer.

Students are required to pay the full fee within 30 days of the date on which their invoice was issued. Late applicants (see "Apply for this course", below) are required to pay the full fee within 7 days of their invoice date.

Please note that:

students need to purchase travel insurance to cover the programme fee, travel costs, and any other expenses incurred (see "Cancellations", below);
a student's place on the summer school is not confirmed until their fees have been paid in full;
places will not be held for students whose fees are not paid in full by the due date; and
in no circumstances will students be admitted to the summer school unless all fees have been paid in full.

When you have paid your fees

Your place on the summer school is confirmed as soon as your payment is received by OUDCE.

You will receive a receipt for your payment: an automated email from [email protected] if paid online, or via email from [email protected] if paid by bank transfer.

The Programme Administrator will provide all non-UK/Irish nationals enrolled on the summer school with a standard format pdf letter by email confirming enrolment and course details (see "Level and demands", below).

Cancellations

Intermediate-level strand

All enrolments are subject to OUDCE's Open Access Terms and Conditions .

You will enter into your contract with the University when you pay the course fees in full.

You have the right to cancel your contract at any time within 14 days, beginning on the day you paid your fees. You will receive a full refund of any payments you have made.

Advanced-level strand

All enrolments are subject to OUDCE's Short Selective Course Terms and Conditions .

By accepting your offer of a place on the summer school you enter into your contract with the University.

You have the right to cancel your contract at any time within 14 days, beginning on the day you accepted the offer. You will receive a full refund of any payments you have made within those 14 days.

Both strands

If you cancel your place at any time after the expiry of the 14-day period you will not be entitled to a refund.

You need to purchase travel insurance to cover the programme fee, travel costs, and any other expenses incurred.

If you wish to cancel your place on the summer school you must inform the Programme Administrator by email at [email protected]

OUDCE reserves the right to alter details of any course should illness or any other emergency prevent a tutor from teaching, and to cancel a course or individual seminar if exceptionally low enrolment would make it educationally unviable.

Course aims

Each seminar has its own course aim and objectives.

Teaching methods

Students will attend a programme of talks and readings.

Elements of seminar teaching will normally include:

mini lectures by tutors;
tutor-led class discussions;
writing exercises;
small group activities; and
individual student presentations.

Students will attend short (10-minute) one-to-ones with their tutors to receive feedback on their written work.

Learning outcomes

Each seminar has its own learning outcomes.

Assessment methods

Tutors will monitor and assess students’ contribution to class discussions.

Students are expected to submit an assignment of 2,500 words in length for assessment for each seminar taken.

Application

Before you submit your application.

ensure you meet the admissions requirements (see "Selection criteria", below);
check the seminar timetable carefully to ensure that your first and second choice courses do not run at the same time (advanced-level applicants only);
make sure you have all the required supporting documents listed below;
ensure you are familiar with the terms and conditions of enrolment on the summer school, especially those relating to payment of fees and cancellations (see "Payment", above); and
read the 'Important information regarding immigration and visa requirements' (see "Level and demands", below).

The application process - intermediate strand

Complete the application form (intermediate) .

Please ensure all sections are completed fully, clearly, and in BLOCK CAPITALS.

The form must be accompanied by:

In the case of non-native speakers of English, official evidence of English language proficiency.

A portrait photograph (JPEG format).

Applications should be emailed to: [email protected]

Application deadline

Applications for the intermediate strand will be processed on a first come, first served or rolling basis until 1 May 2024.

Subject to the availability of places, late applications may be accepted until 1 June 2024.

After you have submitted your application

Applicants will normally be offered a place by email from [email protected] within 14 days of their application having been received.

Applicants who are offered a place on the summer school must respond in writing within 14 days to accept or decline the offer. In accepting an offer of a place applicants are committing to paying their programme fees in full by the due date.

Late applicants will normally be offered a place within 7 days of their application having been received, and will then have 7 days in which to accept or decline the offer.

The application process - advanced strand

Complete the application form (advanced) .

The form must be accompanied by the following documents as PDF files unless otherwise indicated:

A brief statement of purpose (250-300 words) detailing your academic reasons for wishing to attend the summer school. This should include what you feel the programme would offer you and your writing, and what you feel you could bring to the summer school. This may include details of creative writing courses you have previously taken, or the relevance of the summer school to your present course of study or professional development. It is essential that you clearly state your reasons for wishing to enrol on specific seminars.
Please provide samples of your work relevant to your first and second choice courses and ensure that the name of the seminar is printed at the top of each sample. As a guideline prose fiction, creative non-fiction and dramatic dialogue samples should be no more than 1,000 words in length (please provide an extract of a longer piece of work if appropriate); applicants for the poetry seminar should provide five short poems.

You will receive an email from [email protected] confirming receipt of your application materials, and informing you when your application will be reviewed by the admissions panel.

Application deadlines

The advanced strand of the summer school operates a gathered field closing date system by which applications are reviewed fairly and equally in batches at specific dates throughout the admissions period rather than on a first come, first served or rolling basis.

There is a limited number of places available on every seminar within each gathered field, and in assigning successful applicants to seminar groups the admissions panel will pay particular attention to applicants' personal statements.

There are three deadlines for applications to the advanced strand of the programme:

Gathered field 1 - 1 March 2024
Gathered field 2 - 1 April 2024
Gathered field 3 – 1 May 2024

Subject to the availability of places, late applications may be considered on a first come, first served basis until 1 June 2024.

Notification of the admission panel's decision

Applicants will normally be notified of the panel's decision by email from [email protected] within 14 days of the relevant gathered field deadline.

Late applicants will be notified within 7 days of their materials having been received, and successful applicants will then have 7 days in which to accept or decline the offer of a place.

Enrolment - both strands

Students will be formally enrolled on the summer school once they have accepted their offer of a place.

The enrolment process includes the issuing of invoices, which will be emailed to students together with full instructions for payment (see "Payment", above).

Any queries?

Please contact the Programme Administrator by email at [email protected]

Level and demands

Participants are expected to.

undertake preparatory reading in advance of the programme;
attend all seminar sessions and talks and readings;
be actively engaged with their seminar topics;
submit an assignment of 2,500 words in length for each seminar taken; and
undertake approximately 96 hours of private study during the programme (elements of private study will include: reading, writing and other preparation between seminar meetings, work in the library, writing papers, etc).

Important information regarding immigration and visa requirements

OUDCE welcomes international students on all its courses. However, it is the responsibility of successful applicants to ensure that they conform to UK immigration law.

If you are not a UK or Irish national, you might need to apply for a Standard Visitor visa to study in the UK. We strongly recommend that you establish whether you will require a visa before submitting your application.

Information regarding visiting the UK to study is available on the UK Government’s website as well as Oxford University’s Student Immigration website .

If you will require a visa, you should ensure your summer school application is submitted as early as possible to allow yourself sufficient time to complete the visa application process (see current visa processing times ).

For legal reasons the Programme Administrator is not permitted to provide any visa advice to applicants; any queries should be addressed to [email protected] .

The University takes no responsibility for a visa being denied at any point before or during a course.

Please note that the standard cancellation policy applies in all cases. (See "Cancellations", above.

Support for students with disabilities

OUDCE welcomes applications from students with disabilities or learning difficulties. Individual student needs are taken into account, and adaptations and assistance provided within the resources available. We ask that students advise us in advance where any special provision might be needed. Further information is available at www.conted.ox.ac.uk/about/students-with-disabilities .

Selection criteria

This is an intensive programme of study taught to an informed international audience. Applicants should be confident that they are academically and linguistically prepared for such a programme.

Academic requirements for the intermediate strand

We welcome applications from all aspiring writers aged 18 and over.

You should be a keen reader who brings an open-minded, questioning approach to both reading and writing; you should also have written regularly and read widely over a sustained period.

Academic requirements for the advanced strand

Applications are welcomed from those who have completed or nearly completed a single honours university degree programme in creative writing or English literature, or a combined honours university degree programme in creative writing and English literature.

If your degree is in a different, but related, subject, the admissions panel will look for evidence that you have taken a significant number of courses in creative writing or English literature, namely the equivalent of two years’ worth of credits.

The summer school is not appropriate for those who have already achieved commercial publication.

English language requirements

As students are expected to participate fully in seminar discussions and are required to produce written work, it is important that applicants can demonstrate an appropriate level of proficiency in the four language skills - listening, reading, writing and speaking.

If English is not your first language, you must provide evidence of your proficiency in the form of an original certificate or a certified copy that is not more than two years old on the date the summer school starts. You must satisfy one of the following requirements:

IELTS Academic - minimum overall score of 7.5, with not less than 7.0 in each of the four components

TOEFL iBT - minimum overall score of 110, with not less than 22 for listening, 24 for reading, 25 for speaking and 24 for writing

C1 Advanced (formerly known as Cambridge English: Advanced or CAE) - minimum overall score of 191, with not less 185 in each of the four components.

For further information on English language qualifications:

Click here for IELTS

Click here for TOEFL

Click here for Cambridge English

The requirement to provide English language test scores may be waived in either of the following circumstances:

If you have completed a full-time degree-level programme at a recognised institution where teaching and assessment throughout the course was undertaken entirely in English, and the programme was completed with a gap of no more than two academic years to the course to which you are applying. If you studied this course in a country that is not majority English speaking, you will need to provide evidence that the course was taught in English. This can either take the form of a link to the appropriate page of the institution’s website or a statement from the institution confirming this.
If you have worked for a minimum of two years in a majority English speaking country where the main language for the role was English, and your role involved daily professional use of each of the four language components (reading, writing, listening and speaking).

Accommodation

Founded in 1314, Exeter College is one of Oxford University`s oldest colleges and is situated in a prime city centre location.

Bedrooms and meals

Students who choose to attend the summer school on a residential basis will have a single study bedroom.

Bedrooms are located up the four to nine floors of a staircase; bath and/or shower and toilet facilities on each staircase are shared. A limited number of rooms have private bathroom facilities (shower and toilet) and these are available for a higher fee. Early application for these rooms is essential.

Students cannot be accommodated at Exeter College either prior to or beyond their programme dates. Family members and/or friends who are not enrolled on this summer school cannot be accommodated in college.

Residential students will take meals in the college's dining hall. All meals are self-service with a range of options available. The only exceptions are the summer school's opening and closing dinners, which are formal served set menu meals. Should applicants have any dietary requirements (eg vegetarian, gluten-free) they are required to complete the relevant section on the application form.

Please be aware that accommodation at Exeter College is limited and may not be available for those who submit their applications towards the end of the admissions period.

Non-residential students

Students who choose to attend the summer school on a non-residential basis are responsible for finding their own accommodation. Information on accommodation in Oxford is available at:

Conference Oxford
Experience Oxfordshire
University Rooms Oxford

Lunch is provided for non-residential students Monday-Friday, and the summer school's opening and closing dinners are also included in the non-residential programme fee.

IT requirements

Although it is not required, most students bring a laptop to Oxford to assist them with their studies.

For residential students, wireless internet access is available in all bedrooms; for all students, wireless access is available in communal spaces of the college.

All students will be eligible to use the computers and printer in Exeter College's computer room.

Terms & conditions for applicants and students

Information on financial support

For students

Current Students website
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Make a payment
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Programme and module information
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iExeter (staff)
Finance Helpdesk
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View 2024 Entry

Fast Track (current Exeter students)

Open days and visiting us

Get a prospectus

Programme Director: Professor Andy Brown

Web: Enquire online

Phone: +44 (0)1392 72 72 72

Discover MA Creative Writing at the University of Exeter.

88% of our English research is internationally excellent

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

Top 50 in the world for English Language and Literature

QS World University Subject Rankings 2024

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

Top 10 in the UK for English

9th in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024

Entry requirements

We will consider applicants with a 2:2 Honours degree with 53% or above in their first degree in a relevant subject area. While we normally only consider applicants who meet this criteria, if you are coming from a different academic background which is equivalent to degree level, or have relevant work experience, we would welcome your application.

Applicants will be asked to submit a sample of creative writing which can be roughly 2,000 words of prose or 3-4 poems.

Entry requirements for international students

English language requirements.

International students need to show they have the required level of English language to study this course. The required test scores for this course fall under Profile E . Please visit our English language requirements page to view the required test scores and equivalencies from your country.

Course content

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

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

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

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

2024/25 entry

Uk fees per year:.

£12,000 full-time; £6,000 part-time

International fees per year:

£24,300 full-time; £12,150 part-time

Scholarships

For more information on scholarships, please visit our scholarships and bursaries page.

*Selected programmes only. Please see the Terms and Conditions for each scheme for further details.

Find out more about tuition fees and funding »

Teaching and research

Learning and teaching.

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

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

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

Research areas

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

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

John Wedgwood Clarke

Vesna Goldsworthy

Wendy O’Shea-Meddour

Ellen Wiles

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nazneen Ahmed Pathak

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

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

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

While at Exeter, our MA students publish their creative work in RIPTIDE and in the new postgraduate journal EXCLAMATION . The Creative Writing Society also run a journal called Enigma.

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

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

Careers and employment support

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

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Module details

Creative Writing Subject Guide: Home

Welcome to the Creative Writing Subject Guide

Use this guide to help you make the most of the library and information resources and services.

Introduction to the library

MA Creative Writing - introduction to the library

Chat in Microsoft Teams

Browzine This link opens in a new window Browseable access to digital journal issues, organised by subject

Connect to the platform with your Exeter IT login, and create a free account to save and organise journals and articles.

Find out more

Use LibKey to help you get access to full text articles.

Click the LibKey icon above to add the extension to your web browser. Select 'University of Exeter' as your institution and login using your Exeter IT login when prompted.

LibKey Nomad Quick User Guide

Reading for leisure

More information can be found on the Libby guide .

Library Essentials @ Exeter

Email: [email protected]

Book study space
Library website - Exeter
Library Accessibility
Recommend a book for Library purchase
Library Induction
Events & Training
Referencing Guide

Where to start your search

Library search.

For more in depth research in databases and archives, use the A-Z Databases List .

Key resources

Journal and magazine articles
Short story collections
Dramatic writing
Writing fiction
Books on creative writing
Research databases
News sources
Archives/primary sources
Reference resources
Audio-visual
Availability of materials

Most of our journal articles are available in digital format.

For targeted searching, select a research database and explore the published literature in your field. Key databases are flagged in the Research Databases tab above.

On the app (or via your browser) you can save your favourites to your bookshelf, get notified about new issues, sort your articles into collections and connect to Library Search.

Granta Literary magazine for new writing
Mslexia Magazine for women writers, containing articles and resources on writers, writing, and publishing
New Yorker A national weekly magazine that offers a signature mix of reporting and commentary on politics, foreign affairs, business, technology, popular culture and the arts, along with humor, fiction, poetry and cartoons.
Paris Review The Paris Review is a literary magazine featuring original writing, art, and in-depth interviews with famous writers.
Wasafiri Magazine for international contemporary writing. One of its inaugural aims was to provide much needed literary and critical coverage of writers from African, Caribbean, Asian and Black British backgrounds who often struggled to get adequate attention in the mainstream press.

These are just a few examples of the titles available to you. Look on Library Search or your module's reading list for more.

How to search Proquest One Literature
How to search JSTOR
How to search Gale Literature

Some useful resources for creative writing modules may include literary reviews. You can find these in the sources below:

London review of books a journal of literary essays
New York Review of Books literary essays and reviews
Times Literary Supplement a weekly literary review

You can narrow your search results to book reviews when searching JSTOR:

Go to advanced search
Under Item Type, select Reviews

You can narrow your search results to book reviews when searching ProQuest One Literature:

Click on Advanced Search
Select Criticism from the options on the left

Select 'review' from document type:

News sources can be invaluable research resources.
They provide contemporaneous accounts of events as they emerge and unfold, affording a snapshot of developments at a point in time.
You can engage in historical research by tracing commentary on issues over time, to identify and track changing political, economic and social trends.
The availability of news resources online allows for very effective and comprehensive searching, in a way that was impossible with print or microfilm / microfiche editions of the newspapers
Poetry Foundation Poems, readings, poetry news and the entire 100-year archive of Poetry magazine.
Paris Review interviews In depth interviews with famous writers.

Online and print access to the interviews and articles in Paris Review is available via Library Search

Literary awards and award-winning titles that we have in the library collection

The University has access to an extensive range of online primary source materials. These contain digitised copies of documents, letters, books, photographs and other primary sources.

The Primary Sources Libguide will help you identify the best databases for your research.

We have literary manuscripts, reviews and literary magazines, collections of novels, short stories and poems. See the Art and Literature section on the Primary Sources guide for some more resources.

These are just some of the online collections you can access - there are many more!

We have a small collection of audiobooks, available for you to borrow from our Overdrive platform and the Libby app .

Where available, links to Overdrive e-books and/or audiobooks will appear on your reading list.

You can also see our collection here: https://exeteruk.overdrive.com/

How do I use Overdrive?

To search for books and borrow items you need to sign in to Overdrive using your University email address and password.

Check out up to 3 titles at a time
Borrow titles for up to 14 days
Place up to 3 holds on titles that are currently checked out

N.B. This is separate to your borrowing allowances on your University library account.

Click on your account or the bookshelf icon to view your loans, holds, and borrowing history.

Alternatively, you can do this in the Libby app - there are more instructions here .

A reference resource, such as an encyclopedia, dictionary, guide, or volume of literary criticism, provides general background information on a topic. High quality reference works produced by scholars are an excellent place to start your research, and can give you give a useful overview of a subject.

Includes the Historical Thesaurus, where you can explore synonyms of a word over time, arranged chronologically. Use the OED video guides for more information.

A wide range of sound, video and audio resources are available to help bring drama, poetry and prose to life.

Find out more on the English: which resources do I use? guide

In some cases, material you want to consult may not be available to you at Exeter.

This service can be used to request books/journal articles from other libraries.

Students can make book suggestions to the Library. Submit requests online and they will be reviewed by the library. If the book is unlikely to be used by others after your dissertation work, then you may be directed to the Document Delivery scheme instead, for short term access to material.

Use this service to search across the book and journal collections of the UK research and specialist libraries.

You can search to see if copies of books/journals are available in other libraries that you could visit whilst at home over the vacation, or by a special trip. Always check the access requirements before you travel, if you wish to visit another library. Find out more about visiting other libraries.

Find poetry via the library
Literary magazines
Books on writing poetry
Books on reading and studying poetry
Contemporary poetry collections
Award winning poetry
Poetry audio recordings

Use Library Search to look for particular works of poetry.

You can also try searching some of our databases, such as:

American Poetry Review The American Poetry Review is dedicated to reaching a worldwide audience with a diverse array of the best contemporary poetry and literary prose. The American Poetry Review has been in continuous publication since 1972 and has presented the work of over 8,000 writers.
PN Review Launched as Poetry Nation, each issue includes an editorial, letters, news and notes, articles, interviews, features, poems, translations, and a substantial book review section.

Keep up to date with the work of the most recent award-winning poets, and look back on previous winners of these prizes.

Forward Prize Forward Prizes for Poetry honour excellence in contemporary poetry published in UK and Ireland.
T.S. Eliot Prize Award for the best new poetry collection published in the UK or Ireland
Books in the Guardian Includes poetry roundup - the best recent collections of poetry
Poetry Archive
National Poetry Library
Scottish Poetry Library
Poetry on vinyl
The poet speaks (vinyl)

We have a selection of recordings of poets reading their own works , on vinyl.

This collection is reference only and can't be borrowed, but we have a listening booth and record player available for you to use at the Old Library on the Streatham campus.

Just let us know if you'd like to arrange to listen to any of the recordings; email [email protected] or use Library chat to get in touch.

Click here to listen to some radio programmes discussing form in poetry . Click on Sign in and then search for University of Exeter

In this series, free verse poet Andrew McMillan meets a diverse group of contemporary British poets who are re-framing traditional techniques to write about the modern world, exploring why form is fashionable again.

2016 BBC Radio 3 programme The Verb: On Form

Ian McMillan looks at form with guests Claudia Rankine, Don Paterson and AL Kennedy.

Writing for children and young adults

Primary sources
Author biographies

You have access to hundreds of online books that cover creative writing and wider topics.

Use Library Search to search by topic to discover relevant content.

Some of the titles highlighted below may be of interest to you.

The best way to find articles is to search by keyword using Library Search or a database. This method will searches across a large number of journals at one time, helping to ensure that you don't miss a useful piece of research/

However, you may want to view and keep up to date with a particular journal if it is key to your subject area.

The following journals relevant to Children's literature are available via Library Search.

Children's literature association quarterly
Children's literature
Children's literature in education
Bookbird: a journal of international children's literature

We have access to many collections of online primary sources, covering a wide range of topic areas, historical periods and encompassing a variety of different types of digitised material.

You can see the full range on the Primary Sources guide .

The following collections of online primary sources would be of interest to those studying the history of children's literature.

Children's Literature and Culture This link opens in a new window Rare books, games, ephemera, and artwork from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the golden age of childrens literature. From mass-produced chapbooks to richly illustrated book-beautifuls, this resource examines the way in which new concepts were introduced to young readers, encouraging an engagement with the imagination which went on to fundamentally shape established notions of childhood.
Gale Literature This link opens in a new window 'Something about the author' includes biographies of children and young adult authors and illustrators
Last Updated: Mar 20, 2024 2:09 PM
URL: https://libguides.exeter.ac.uk/creativewriting

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing The Write Stuff for Writers

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Grow Your Writing Passion into a Career with Liberty’s Online MFA in Creative Writing

Many people write creatively, but few hone their skills to develop their writing craft to its highest form. Even fewer learn the other skills it takes to become a successful writer, such as the steps needed to get a book published and into the hands of readers. Liberty’s 100% online Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing can help you develop your writing passion into a career so you can set your works free to impact culture and the world.

Employers in every industry need professionals who have strong writing skills, so you can be confident that your ability to write effectively can also help set you apart in your current career. With in-demand writing expertise and the ability to customize your degree with electives in literature or writing practice, Liberty’s online MFA in Creative Writing can help you achieve your professional writing goals.

Our online MFA in Creative Writing is designed to help you build on your writing skills with specific workshops dedicated to the craft of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, or screenwriting. With a work-in-progress approach to writing practice and mentorship from our faculty of experienced writers and scholars, you can learn the specific skills you need to make your writing stand out.

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Our online MFA in Creative Writing is mainly offered in an 8-week course format, and our tuition rate for graduate programs hasn’t increased in 9 years. Through our program, you can study the writing process and develop your creative skills through workshops with experienced writing professionals. With our flexible format, you can grow in your creative writing while continuing to do what is important to you.

As a terminal degree, the online MFA in Creative Writing can also help you pursue opportunities to teach writing at the K-12 or college level. You will gain comprehensive and in-depth exposure to writing, literature, publishing, and many other professional writing skills that you can pass on to students. Partner with the Liberty family and learn under faculty who have spent years in the field you love. Your career in professional writing starts here.

What Will You Study in Our MFA in Creative Writing?

The MFA in Creative Writing program is designed to help you become an excellent creative writer across the genres of creative fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting, and poetry. You can learn how to produce aesthetically and culturally engaged creative works while gaining professional knowledge and practice. You will also study foundational contemporary literature so that you have a background in studying important works to draw on for your writing.

To help you in your professional writing, you will also study many essential skills in editing, layout, and the business of publishing so that you can best position yourself for success in the market. Through your creative writing courses and workshops, you can develop your craft so that you will be ready for your thesis project.

Here are a few examples of the skills Liberty’s MFA in Creative Writing can help you master:

Marketing your projects and pursuing new writing opportunities
Organizing writing and adapting it to different types of writing
Tailoring writing to specific audiences and markets
Understanding what makes art effective, compelling, and impactful
Writing compelling stories that engage readers

Potential Career Opportunities

Book and magazine writer
Business communications specialist
Creative writing instructor
Publications editor
Screenwriter
Website copy editor and writer
Writing manager

Featured Courses

ENGL 600 – Editing, Layout, and Publishing
ENGL 601 – Writing as Cultural Engagement
ENGL 603 – Literary Theory and Practice
WRIT 610 – Writing Fiction

Degree Information

This program falls under the College of Arts and Sciences .
View the Graduate Arts and Sciences Course Guides (login required).
Download and review the Graduate Manual for MFA .

Degree Completion Plan (PDF)

Not sure what to choose?

Speak to one of our admissions specialists to help you choose the program that best fits your needs.

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Your success is our success, which is why we are committed to providing quality academics at an affordable tuition rate. While other colleges are increasing their tuition, we have frozen tuition rates for the majority of our undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs for the past 9 years – and counting.

All Tuition & Fees

Financial Aid & Scholarships

Financial Aid Forms & Eligibility

Scholarship Opportunities

Admission Information for the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA)

Admission requirements.

A non-refundable, non-transferable $50 application fee will be posted on the current application upon enrollment (waived for qualifying service members, veterans, and military spouses – documentation verifying military status is required) .
Unofficial transcripts can be used for acceptance purposes with the submission of a Transcript Request Form .
Creative Writing Sample – A creative writing sample of one creative writing work of at least 2,500 words or a culmination of creative writing samples totaling 2,500 words.*
Applicants whose native language is other than English must submit official scores for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or an approved alternative assessment. For information on alternative assessments or TOEFL waivers, please call Admissions or view the official International Admissions policy .

*A sample of one or more poems totaling a minimum of 750 words may also be submitted. Song lyrics are not accepted at this time as writing samples.

Preliminary Acceptance

If you are sending in a preliminary transcript for acceptance, you must:

Be in your final term and planning to start your master’s degree after the last day of class for your bachelor’s degree.
Complete a Bachelor’s Self-Certification Form confirming your completion date. You may download the form from the Forms and Downloads page or contact an admissions counselor to submit the form on your behalf.
Submit an official/unofficial transcript to confirm that you are in your final term. The preliminary transcript must show a minimum of 105 completed credit hours.
If you are a current Liberty University student completing your undergraduate degree, you will need to submit a Degree/Certificate Completion Application .
Send in an additional, final official transcript with a conferral date on it by the end of your first semester of enrollment in the new master’s degree.

Dual Enrollment

Please see the Online Dual Enrollment page for information about starting graduate courses while finishing your bachelor’s degree.

Transcript Policies

Unofficial college transcript policy.

Unofficial transcripts combined with a Transcript Request Form can be used for admission. Official transcripts are required within 60 days of the admissions decision or before non-attendance drops for the first set of matriculated classes, whichever comes first, and will prevent enrollment into future terms until all official transcripts have been received.

Before sending unofficial college transcripts, please make sure they include the following:

Your previous school’s name or logo printed on the document
Cumulative GPA
A list of completed courses and earned credit broken down by semester
Degree and date conferred (if applicable)

Official College Transcript Policy

An acceptable official college transcript is one that has been issued directly from the institution and is in a sealed envelope. If you have one in your possession, it must meet the same requirements. If your previous institution offers electronic official transcript processing, they can send the document directly to [email protected] .

If the student uses unofficial transcripts with a Transcript Request Form to gain acceptance, all official transcripts must be received within 60 days of the admissions decision or before non-attendance drops for the first set of matriculated classes, whichever comes first. Failure to send all official transcripts within the 60-day period will prevent enrollment into future terms until all official transcripts have been received.

Admissions Office Contact Information

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8-week courses, 8 different start dates each year, and no set login times (may exclude certain courses such as practicums, internships, or field experiences)

*Not applicable to certificates.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an mfa in creative writing.

A Master of Fine Arts degree, or MFA, is a terminal degree in an artistic craft that demonstrates that you have achieved the highest level of training and skill in your discipline. Like a doctorate, an MFA often allows you to teach courses at the graduate level while also providing many opportunities for scholarship and leadership in education. If you want to grow your creative writing skills to become the best writer you can be, then the Master of Fine Arts can help you get there.

How will students work towards developing their writing skills?

With creative writing workshops and a thesis project, you will receive support and guidance to help you become the best writer you can be.

How long will it take to complete the MFA in Creative Writing?

You can complete the MFA in Creative Writing in just 48 credit hours!

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The Pirates topped the Cubs 10-9 in a game that offered a reminder that Skenes alone cannot save Pittsburgh.

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"Poetry," wrote Robert Frost, "is a way of taking life by the throat." From its origins in oral tradition and tribal lore, as well as its role in incantatory spiritual practice, poetry has carried in its rhythms the deep longings of humanity. In this course, students will dip into this current, writing poems with a view to aspects of craft modeled by poets in a diverse range of voices and writing traditions. In our workshops of one another's poems, we will consider the relationship between content and form, as well as what differentiates poetry from other writing genres. Through experiments in received forms (traditional forms such as the sonnet and sestina), as well as more contemporary approaches (for example, writing in free verse or in prose poems), students will move toward the development of a distinctive voice and style.