MA Modern and Contemporary Writing

Course Overview

Our MA in Modern and Contemporary Writing combines criticism and creativity. It’s a unique opportunity to study contemporary literature where it's being made and where modernism is alive in the present.

Here a world-leading group of scholars in 20th- and 21st-century literature is intertwined with Europe’s most prestigious department of Creative Writing, and with the British Centre for Literary Translation. Here leading writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Angela Carter, W.G. Sebald, Ian McEwan, and Malcolm Bradbury taught and studied alongside pioneering critics such as Lorna Sage and Clive Scott.

The MA is very flexible. You’ll study classics of modernism, while choosing from optional modules in modern and contemporary literature. You can also take modules in creative writing, and modules bridging creative writing and criticism. We lead the discipline in the new field of the ‘creative-critical’. And you can also take modules in neighbouring disciplines such as gender studies, race studies, and film. You’ll also have opportunities to develop your interests in translation and in neighbouring disciplines such as philosophy, film, anthropology, and American studies.neighbouring disciplines such as philosophy, film, anthropology, and American studies.

At UEA, you ’ll be part of a vibrant literary world. Based in the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing (by the way, you can follow us on Instagram!), you’ll’ be able to attend readings and author visits at UEA Live, volunteer with the UEA Publishing Project and visit the renowned British Archive for Contemporary Writing. Norwich is a UNESCO World City of Literature and host to the National Centre for Writing.

As a postgraduate here, you’ll be part of a vibrant mix of MA and PhD students who are engaged in modern and contemporary literature in a variety of ways, whether it be through producing critical studies of novels, poetry or plays, or through writing their own. Our students progress to careers in publishing, teaching, media, academia, journalism, marketing, and more. Many have progressed to do a PhD or gone on to publish their creative, critical, and scholarly work.

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.

Typical International Entry Requirements

Degree classification

UK Bachelors degree - 2.1 or equivalent

Degree Subject

Literary or Humanities

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.

Admissions Policy

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

Employability

After the course, you could follow in the footsteps of many past graduates who’ve gone onto PhD study at UEA or at other universities in Britain and internationally.

You’ll also be well placed to develop your own writing in fiction, poetry, journalism or literary criticism, or to move into careers such as publishing, teaching, or the media. Or you could simply see this MA as a pleasure and an end in itself.

Example of careers that you could enter include:

• Writing
• Academia
• Teaching
• Publishing
• Media
• Publicity

Discover more on our Careers webpages.