Creative Writing (specialist pathway) MA

In addition to our generalist MA in Creative Writing, we offer three MA programmes that allow you to focus on fiction, fiction for young readers or poetry.

These three discipline-specific programmes allow you to focus on your chosen writing area and benefit from all the same opportunities offered on the MA Creative Writing. You will simply take fewer optional modules and undertake a longer dissertation.

Taught by published, working writers including internationally acclaimed poets, novelists and editors, you will be supported to develop your personal writing style. You will discover how to make your writing more effective, how to break bad habits and how to assess your work professionally. You will graduate with the skills needed for professional writing practice, and with an understanding of the professional context in which these skills are marketed.

You will undertake independent and extended research and practice in a specialised area of Creative Writing and over the course of the programme you will secure the skills and knowledge required for a career in professional publishing, the creative industries, or to continue in academia. Whether you choose to specialise in fiction, fiction for young readers or poetry, you will take a core module that explores theoretical and research-based issues faced by creative writers, as well as an extended creative dissertation.

We will prepare you for your career after you graduate, whether it is as a published writer, a career working in the professional arts sector, or continuing with your academic studies. We regularly invite writers, who have previously included Emma Donoghue and Kazuo Ishiguru, to give guest lectures and workshops, as well as speakers from different sectors of the creative industries. You will be encouraged to make the most of Roehampton’s connections with the literary world through events such as networking evenings where you can make professional contacts with invited publishers and agents.

The department has thriving partnerships with Wimbledon Bookfest and Barnes Children’s Literature Festival, as well as with local schools, providing you with the chance to volunteer or undertake paid work experience during your time at Roehampton. Our in-house publishing imprint, Fincham Press, means you could see your work published or be involved in publishing the work of your peers.