MA Creative Writing Prose Fiction

Course Overview

The MA in Creative Writing Prose Fiction at UEA is the oldest and most prestigious Creative Writing programme in the UK. Our course will help transform you as a writer, giving you a surer sense of the imaginative, artistic and intellectual challenges involved in writing fiction.

You’ll study the craft of prose fiction with an international cohort of other excellent writers, and you’ll be taught by an outstanding and committed faculty alongside internationally recognised visiting writers. Recent examples include Tsitsi Dangarembga, Margaret Atwood, Ali Smith, Eleanor Catton and Preti Taneja.

Our Masters in Creative Writing will challenge you to explore your notions about writing and being a writer, provoking you into play, experimentation and risk, to make you the best writer you can be. You’ll take core creative modules but can also choose from a wide range of critical modules.

You’ll be based in Norwich, a beautiful historic city and England’s first UNESCO City of Literature. You’ll also be part of 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 may pitch ideas for books to visiting publishers and literary agents. 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. In 2011, UEA’s Creative Writing programme was awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in recognition of our continuing excellence in delivering innovative courses at a world-class level.

After this intensive year, you’ll leave the course confident of technique and craft, as well as your own voice. It’s no wonder that our students’ success is unparalleled, with many of our graduates going on to publish their own work and others moving into publishing, journalism or teaching. Our alumni include Nobel Laureate Sir Kazuo Ishiguro, Booker Prize winners Ian McEwan and Anne Enright, and many other internationally renowned novelists including Ayobami Adebayo, Naomi Alderman, Tash Aw, Stephen Buoro, and Tracy Chevalier, to name but a few. The continuing success of our graduates means we’re fortunate in being able to attract the best writers from around the world. Are you ready to join them?

This course is open to

UK and International fee-paying students. Choose UK or International above to see relevant information. The entry point is in September each year.

Please note that those candidates offered a place on the course will not be able to defer their offer to the next year if they are unable to take up the offer of a place, however they are welcome to reapply the next year.

Typical International Entry Requirements

Degree classification

UK Bachelors degree - 2.1 or equivalent

Degree Subject

Any subject

Additional Entry Requirements

Candidates are required to submit a portfolio of writing for assessment of between 3000 and 5000 words with their application. This could be part of a novel in progress or a piece or pieces of short fiction.

English Foreign Language

Applications from students whose first language is not English are welcome. We require evidence of proficiency in English (including writing, speaking, listening and reading): 

IELTS:  7 overall (minimum  7  in Writing, 6 in Speaking, Reading and Listening) 

We also accept a number of other English language tests. Review our English Language Equivalencies for a list of example qualifications that we may accept to meet this requirement.

Test dates should be within two years of the course start date.

 If you do not meet the English language requirements for this course, INTO UEA offer a variety of English language programmes which are designed to help you develop the required English skills.

Interviews

Promising candidates will be invited to one of our online interview days, which are scheduled across the academic year. Typically a candidate will be interviewed by two members of the Creative Writing faculty and we aim to inform candidates of the outcome within five working days. Unsuccessful candidates are welcome to re-apply, though not within the same academic year. Successful candidates will either be offered a place for the forthcoming academic year or a place for the following academic year (if it is felt that they need more time to develop as a writer). Once the forthcoming year is full candidates will be offered a place on our reserve list with the option of a place for the following academic year if a place does not become available.

Admissions Policy

Our Admissions Policy applies to the admissions of all postgraduate applicants.

Employability

You’ll graduate as a better writer, reader and editor. You'll graduate knowing how to best critique others’ work and your own. Many students go on to publish, others go on to a career in publishing, journalism, or teaching.

Example of careers that you could enter include:

• Writing
• Publishing
• Journalism
• Teaching
• Advertising
• Film and television

Discover more on our Careers webpages.