Creative Writing with English Literary Studies

Entry requirements

2:1 degree in a related subject is normally required. We will also consider applications on an individual basis where you have a degree in other subjects, have a 2:2 or equivalent result or extensive relevant experience. You should clearly be able to demonstrate how your skills have prepared you for relevant discussions and assessments during postgraduate study.

If you have studied outside of the UK, we would advise you to check our list of international qualifications before submitting your application.

Additional Requirements

As part of your application you also need to provide

A sample of your academic writing about literature

A portfolio of original writing (no more than 12 poems or 20 pages of prose/scriptwriting) showing potential for publication

Months of entry

October

Course content

Why Lancaster?

• Develop your own creative voice as well as your critical, or even creative-critical writing with support from widely published authors, scholars and critics
• Be inspired by our rich programme of literary events on campus, online, and in the city’s historic Castle Quarter
• Study on campus in the University Library’s bespoke Postgraduate Study Space, or in the Castle Quarter within the University’s Postgraduate Study Hub at The Storey, the city’s Victorian-build arts venue
• Present your work at our annual MA Showcase
• Get involved with our four student-run literary journals: Cake, Lux, Flash, and Errant and our partners, the city-based LitFest
• Enjoy the benefits of our partnership with the archive-rich Wordsworth Grasmere, including internship opportunities

Lancaster was one of the very first universities to teach Creative Writing. Today we continue to lead in this field as well as the new field of creative-critical writing through not only our celebrated tutors but our students who, most years, publish an anthology, and compete for a place within our LitFest student showcase.

Writing and reading

This degree provides a rare opportunity to develop both your creative and critical writing at Master's level, and indeed to explore, if you wish, radical fusions of these two modes. You will take the in-common module ‘Research Training and Professional Practice,’ exploring the many ways that your writing can flourish both within the academy and beyond. In addition, you will select two Creative Writing modules and two modules in Literary Studies. You will also complete a Creative Writing Portfolio, which comprises of a creative piece and a critical essay.

Focused on your growth

We’ve been helping creative writers reach their potential since 1970. From day one, our focus has always been on helping our students hone their work, and sharpen the myriad skills involved in writing at the very highest levels. With our many author-tutors, you can practice in traditional forms such as the short story, the novel, poetry, theatre, as well as digital media, life-writing, place-writing, graphic novels, writing for games, the lyric essay, and writing for young adults.

Other worlds

Creative Writing and Literary Studies at Lancaster means not only a deep and close engagement with writing itself but the opportunity, if you wish, to explore how literature opens onto many other worlds – politics, ecology, philosophy, psychology, theology, film, and fashion, etc. To support this, you can if you wish take one a module from outside of the Department -- in, say, History, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Politics, Sociology or Film Studies (subject to availability).

Supportive community

You will be taught in regular small-group workshops and seminars, and have frequent one-to-one tutorials with a genre-specific supervisor when working on your final portfolio. This is intended to be suitable for submission to literary journals or agents, setting you on the road to publication. We also encourage you to meet in person with all your tutors to discuss your work. And you will have an academic advisor who you meet to review your progress.

Literary Community

Many of our special literary events (readings, conversations etc) take place in the Castle Quarter, with the Department’s flagship events, the October Lecture and May Gathering, being usually held at Lancaster’s ancient Priory. In addition, we have a unique partnership with the archive-rich Wordsworth Museum at Grasmere, which includes internships, an annual study retreat day, and free entry at any time of the year.

Department Bursaries, Awards, and Prizes

Thanks to generous endowments, in addition to the support offered by the University, the Department is currently able to offer:

The David Craig Writing Award

One award of £500 is made each year to a student starting a Master’s programme in Creative Writing.

• The Bailrigg Awards – these are awards of up to £150 and are open to any student in the Department who is suffering financial hardship endowment.
• Two end-of-programme prizes for students on this MA

Careers

The course provides many opportunities to develop professionally. You can get involved with our student-run journals, and will also benefit from our rich programme of guest events featuring leading authors, and specialists from the publishing industry.

We hope that most of our students go on to publish their own work, and many of the Department’s alumni are now celebrated authors. Recent success stories include Camille Ralphs, Andrew McMillan, Nguyen Phan Que Mai, Martha Sprackland, and Daisy Johnson, the youngest-ever author shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize (2018).

You will also develop skills valued in a host of non-literary professions, skills such as researching, drafting, editing, listening, understanding, persuading and presenting.

Information for international students

We may ask you to provide a recognised English language qualification, dependent upon your nationality and where you have studied previously.

We normally require an IELTS (Academic) Test with an overall score of at least 7.0, and a minimum of 6.5 in each element of the test. We also consider other English language qualifications.

If your score is below our requirements, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language programmes.

Contact: Admissions Team +44 (0) 1524 592032 or email pgadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk

Fees and funding

Learn more on our fees and funding page.