Creative Writing at University of Hertfordshire at Main

The University of Hertfordshire MA in Creative Writing offers students the opportunity to develop their creative, critical and professional writing skills in a stimulating and supportive environment.

Through writing workshops and intensive tutorial-based supervision the teaching staff - all established authors themselves - will help students improve their own writing as you explore the advanced craft, theory and techniques of poetry, prose and drama.

Whether students have an unfinished novel they are passionate about or want to learn how to write powerful dialogue or create memorable characters, this MA Creative Writing offers a range of modules that give students both literary context and practical professional guidance.

In all modules students will be taught by lecturers who are themselves professional practitioners and who bridge the gap between creative and academic approaches to their fields. These include two award-winning playwrights, Simon Vinnicombe, whose work has been produced at the National Theatre, Old Vic and around the world, and Drew Pautz, who is additionally a screenwriter and director whose work has also been performed at the National Theatre. As a feature film screenwriter he has worked with UK and European production companies.

The poetry lecturer Wayne Holloway-Smith was winner of the National Poetry Competition 2018 and has been published widely in national and international journals and anthologies. His debut poetry collection, Alarum, is published by Bloodaxe Books. Our prose lecturer Helen Gordon’s work includes a novel, Landfall, published by Penguin, and a book of nature and travel writing (forthcoming from Profile Books). Helen was previously an editor at Granta magazine and her journalism has appeared in, among other places, Wired and the Guardian.

Guided by staff, students will take two core Writing Workshop modules examining creative and critical processes in their first two semesters. These workshops provide supportive spaces for students to contribute their own writing, reading their work to their fellow students and learning in turn to critique their work from a writer’s point of view.

Other modules may change but could include Working as a Writer and People and Places. As part of Working as a Writer students will submit their work to magazines and creative writing competitions, helping them to gain a practical understanding of the publishing world and how to approach editors and prepare their work for publication.

People and Places focuses on aspects of writing with communities, including the methods and approaches writers have used to portray communities or locations in creative work, and the tradition of writers working with communities to create joint artistic projects.

In their final semester students will complete a dissertation. This can take the form of a novel, script for stage, TV or film, a work of creative non-fiction, short story or poetry collection. Wherever students' writing ambitions lie, this is the opportunity to add polished work to their portfolio and look ahead to their future writing life.