Creative Writing (Non-Fiction)

Entry requirements

Degree classification

Bachelors degree - 2.1

Degree Subject

Literary or related subject

For more information please see our website.

Months of entry

September

Course content

Do you have a story to tell? A memoir you want to write? Biography? Travel? Autofiction? Consider a career as a creative non-fiction writer with an MA that gives you the best grounding possible in an exciting literary field.

This is one of the only dedicated creative non-fiction writing courses in the UK. You’ll be taught by award-winning authors who will support your development as a writer. You’ll think from day one about where you might publish your own work.

You’ll experiment with your writing and develop your skills through reading your peers’ non-fiction in workshop groups. Each week in the seminar room, with its lively, collegiate atmosphere, you’ll analyse a celebrated work of non-fiction by Joan Didion, for example, or Zadie Smith, Primo Levi or Zora Neale Hurston – to see how it’s done. In one-to-one tutorials with your supervisor, you’ll be encouraged to explore new ways of storytelling and to experiment with different subjects and voices. You’ll write a dissertation under the supervision of a faculty member; the dissertation might contain the seed of a future book.

You’ll be based in UEA’s world-famous Creative Writing department, which is part of the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing (you can follow our activities on Instagram!). You’ll also take part in Norwich’s vibrant literary culture, from regular readings and events to the well-established programme at the National Centre for Writing. You'll benefit from UEA’s connections in the publishing industry and pitch ideas for books to visiting publishers and literary agents. You’ll meet established non-fiction authors and quiz them about their craft. Recent guest speakers include Marina Warner, Olivia Laing, Julia Blackburn, Lea Ypi, and Colin Grant. At the end of each year, we publish an anthology of our students’ writing and distribute it to a key list of editors, agents and critics.

Graduates from the course, such as Andrew Kenrick (winner of the 2023 Tony Lothian Prize), Ike Anya, Caroline Davison and Pyae Moe Thet War, have gone on to publish acclaimed and diverse works of non-fiction. If you want to join them and become a biographer, nature writer, essayist, memoirist or travel writer, this MA programme is for you.

Information for international students

For more information for international students, please go to UEA’s website.

Fees and funding

Find out more about UEA’s fees and funding options.