Entry requirements: Normally a first or second-class Honours degree in a related subject or professional experience in the area of study. Applicants are also required to submit a sample of their creative writing
Full-time: 1 year
Part-time: 2 years
Programme Leader: Carole Burns
Telephone +44 (0) 1962 827369
Email Carole.Burns@winchester.ac.uk
If English is not your first language: IELTS 6.5 (including 6.5 in academic writing) or a TOEFL score of 575 (paper-based) or 232 (computer-based) or equivalent
Start dates: September
Application process: Direct Entry Application Form (part-time applicants only) or via UKPASS (full-time study only)
Students develop creative work in progress, give and receive feedback and produce new writing. The programme encourages students to discuss the work of established
writers and consider the theoretical, social and cultural contexts of contemporary writing. Students undertake four core modules and choose two optional modules
taken from the genre-based modules, which creatively and critically explore the structures of a particular genre of writing.
Publishing Project is a module in which all students develop a writing project to the point of submission for publication. This could involve, for example, newer forms of publishing such as blogs or more traditional forms such as the development of pieces of short fiction along with cover letters for submission to appropriate literary journals or magazines.
Core modules include:
• Theories of Creativity and Writing
• The Writers’ Toolkit: Creative Research
• Publishing Project
• Independent Study Proposal
Optional genre-based modules include:
• Advanced Writing Workshop
• Advanced Poetry Workshop
• Advanced Scriptwriting Workshop
• Advanced Fiction Workshop
Academic staff are professional novelists, scriptwriters, poets and writers of creative non-fiction as well as musicians, cultural critics and playwrights. They are supported by guest writers – most recently Linda Grant and Tessa Hadley (novelists), Jack Zipes (literary critic) and Philip Gross (T.S.Eliot prize-winning poet).
Modules are assessed by a combination of critical and creative work, either in discussion with a tutor or amongst peers.
Dissertation
Students undertake a dissertation of 15,000 to 20,000 words as part of their independent study, along with a 3,000 word critical rationale, with full tutorial support. This can be a creative piece or pieces of work, supported by the creative rationale, or it can be a critical piece in its entirety. Students work independently and meet regularly with their supervisor for feedback and support.
Graduates have become published writers and poets. Others have careers in teaching, media and the arts. The programme also provides a firm foundation for undertaking a research degree or further training.