newcastle university creative writing

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English Literature with Creative Writing BA (Hons) Newcastle University

Course options

Qualification.

Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)

Main Site (Newcastle)

• TUITION FEES
• ENTRY REQUIREMENT
• UNIVERSITY INFO

Course summary

Discover the literature that has shaped our society and tap into your creative skills on our English Literature with Creative Writing degree.

Course overview

This three-year English Literature with Creative Writing BA Honours degree focuses on expanding your knowledge of literary texts, and developing your critical, theoretical and creative writing skills.

You will learn from subject experts, world-leading literature researchers and internationally acclaimed writers throughout your degree. Our teaching is linked to the programme of the Newcastle Centre for Literary Arts, giving you contact with leading creative artists.

You'll be able to immerse yourself in local culture, at venues such as Seven Stories, The Wordsworth Trust and the Literary and Philosophical Society.

You will have opportunities to work with arts organisations such as the on-campus Northern Stage theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company to support your study of creative writing.

Teaching methods

You can normally expect to spend around 10 hours per week attending lectures, seminars, workshops and film screenings. You also spend around 25 hours per week on class preparation, reading, writing, and other kinds of independent research recommended by your tutor.

Employability

All Stage 2 students take part in the English Employability Challenge, an event run in collaboration with School alumni and the Newcastle University Careers Service. This event gives you the opportunity to take on real-life business situations with a brief set by an employer. You have the option to gain work experience in the cultural industries in Stage 3. These experiences will develop your communication and management skills, as well as your ability to work in a team.

Those interested in developing their enterprise skills or setting up a business, will also have the opportunity to take part in the Developing Enterprise, Entrepreneurship and Employability module.

Application deadline

Modules (Stage 1)

Modules (stage 2), modules (stage 3), tuition fees.

• Afghanistan
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• Switzerland
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22,900 per year

Tuition fees shown are for indicative purposes and may vary. Please check with the institution for most up to date details.

Entry requirements

Choose a qualification.

QUALIFICATION TYPE

• Scottish Higher
• Access to HE Diploma
• Cambridge International Pre-U Certificate - Principal
• Extended Project
• International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
• Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
• Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

A level : AAB

Either including English Literature or English Language and Literature, or including evidence of readiness to begin university-level study in literature (such as A-levels in other arts and humanities subjects).

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University information

Newcastle university, university league table, campus address.

Newcastle University, King’s Gate, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, NE1 7RU, England

Subject rankings

Subject ranking.

• Creative Writing

14th out of 97 17

7th out of 56 2

Entry standards

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Creative Writing MA, PGCert

Newcastle university, different course options.

• Key information

Course Summary

Tuition fees, entry requirements, university information, similar courses at this uni, key information data source : idp connect, qualification type.

MA - Master of Arts

Subject areas

Creative Writing

Course type

Our PGCert and MA in Creative Writing provide a unique opportunity to explore and develop your creative writing skills through practice, revision and discussion.

Our Creative Writing MA develops your understanding of your own writing and your technical writing skills.

You'll further your awareness of:

• writing processes
• professional writing

This PGCert and MA in Creative Writing provide a unique opportunity to explore and develop your creative writing skills. We teach creative writing in three areas:

• prose writing, with an emphasis on short fiction, creative non-fiction and the essay
• poetry with an emphasis on the practice and study of a variety of poetic traditions and contemporary techniques
• scriptwriting, which includes writing for the theatre and screenwriting

Through these areas, we'll introduce you to a wide range of subjects and opportunities with which writers are working professionally.

Members of our Creative Writing staff have received national and international recognition for their writing. You'll work with them to prepare your own writing for submission.

If you complete the Creative Writing PGCert, you can choose to transfer to the second year of our part-time MA.

What you'll learn

Through this Creative Writing Master's you'll be inducted into the habits and inventive strategies of writers in a module dedicated to this process. You'll also begin to concentrate on skills specific to different fields of the writing craft.

You'll go on to test your own writing in one of three workshops dedicated to poetry, prose or script. You'll also take the opportunity to focus on areas of imaginative writing that are specialisms of our staff.

UK fees Course fees for UK students

For this course (per year)

International fees Course fees for EU and international students

Usually a 2:1 honours degree, or international equivalent, in a related subject such as: creative writing; English literature; drama; screenwriting. We will also consider applicants on an individual basis with lower or non-standard qualifications. Those who complete the PGCert can choose to transfer to the second year of our part time MA.

Newcastle University is a world-leading university renowned for the quality of its teaching and research. The university is recognised internationally for its contributions to global problem solving in innovative and creative ways. Newcastle University is a prestigious founding member of the Russell Group association of research-intensive universities in the UK. The university enjoys an outstanding reputation as an institution at which... more

Creative Writing MPhil, PhD

Full time | 36 months | 16-SEP-24

Writing Poetry MA

Part time | 24 months | 16-SEP-24

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• Newcastle University »
• School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics »
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find your perfect postgrad program Search our Database of 30,000 Courses

Newcastle university: creative writing, doctor of philosophy - phd, full-time, 36 months starts sep 2024.

Our supervision expertise, partnerships and passion for creative writing offers you an energetic, creative and well-resourced research culture to immerse yourself in.

We offer MPhil and PhD in Creative Writing supervision from a diverse range of experienced writers who are recognised specialists in their field. Areas of expertise include:

poetry prose fiction, including fiction for children or young adults writing for stage, screen, or radio writing creative non-fiction, including: memoir biography narrative non-fiction essay writing the literature of travel, nature and place We have strong links with a variety of partners, who all provide a wealth of materials, knowledge and opportunities:

Seven Stories: The National Centre for the Children's Book Wordsworth Trust (Dove Cottage) Bloodaxe Books Northern Stage Live Theatre Tyneside Cinema

Part-Time, 72 months starts Sep 2024

Full-time, 36 months started sep 2023, part-time, 72 months started sep 2023, full-time, 12 months starts sep 2024.

Our PGCert and MA in Creative Writing provides a unique opportunity to explore and develop your creative writing skills through practise, revision and discussion.

Our Creative Writing master's develops your understanding and awareness of your own writing and your technical writing skills.

You'll further your awareness of: writing processes professional writing publishing

This PGCert and MA in Creative Writing provide a unique opportunity to explore and develop your creative writing skills. We teach creative writing in three areas: prose writing, with an emphasis on short fiction, creative non-fiction and the essay poetry with an emphasis on the practice and study of a variety of poetic traditions and contemporary techniques scriptwriting, which includes writing for the theatre and screenwriting

Through these areas, we'll introduce you to a wide range of subjects and opportunities with which writers are working professionally.

Members of our staff have received national and international recognition for their writing. You'll work with them to prepare your own writing for submission.

If you complete the Creative Writing PGCert, you can choose to transfer to the second year of our part-time MA.

What you'll learn Through this Creative Writing master's you'll be inducted into the habits and inventive strategies of writers in a module dedicated to process. You'll also begin to concentrate on skills specific to different fields of writing in craft.

You'll go on to test your own writing in one of three workshops dedicated to poetry, prose or script. You'll also take the opportunity to focus on areas of imaginative writing that are specialisms of our staff. Examples of our specialisms include: The Short Story Poetry and Translation Life Writing Screenwriting

Our Profession of Writing module explores the roles and importance of: agents editors reviewers professional opportunities for creative writers

Delivery and teaching methods You’ll be taught using a range of methods, typically including: taught sessions workshops guided reading individual consultations

The portfolio will see you finely develop your work through one-to-one supervision. Our small seminar groups and one-to-one supervision mean you'll work closely with your tutors, who are all writing practitioners.

All our classes take place in the early evening.

Facilities The School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics is a lively and diverse community with over 700 undergraduates and 200 postgraduates. We're based in the Percy Building. Our purpose-built postgraduate suite includes: several dedicated computer clusters meeting rooms a kitchen and lounge area

Our award-winning Phillip Robinson Library has an extensive audio-visual collection.

Part-Time, 24 months starts Sep 2024

Full-time, 12 months started sep 2023, part-time, 24 months started sep 2023, master of philosophy - mphil, postgraduate certificate - pgcert.

Newcastle University

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About us A Global Top 125 university (QS World University Rankings 2023), Newcastle University is dedicated to excellence, creativity and innovation, pioneering solutions that can change our world.

Through world-class research it tackles some of the biggest challenges facing society globally, leading in its key strengths of ageing and health, data, energy, cities, culture and creative arts. The UK’s Research Excellence Framework 2021 assessed its research as world-leading with outstanding impact.

Through high quality teaching it …

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• A-Z Societies

Creative Writing Society

This is an official student-ran society at the students' union. if you're interested in the creative writing society, then check out their socials, memberships and description below..

Description

Perfect for anyone who has a passion for creative writing!

We run sessions every Thursday alongside regular socials and welcome writers of all abilities, whether you have been writing for years or are just starting out!

Memberships

Login to view memberships, member products, cresoc tote bag (£5.00).

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Press Office

Conversation creative industries

Comment: why is arts education facing cuts.

Published on: 18 April 2024

Writing for The Conversation, Dr Adam Behr examines how the creative industries bring in more revenue than cars, oil and gas, yet are facing a funding freeze.

Recent guidance issued by the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, to the Office for Students reveals conflicting priorities in government and pours fuel on fires burning in an already troubled higher education sector.

The focus on science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) – “strategically important high-cost subjects” – is met by a freeze on funding for arts subjects such as music, fashion and drama at undergraduate level.

This amounts to a cut in real terms in the face of inflation, and there are cuts in grants for postgraduate provision – as well as the programme for widening participation to support access to higher education for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

It follows a previous tranche of cuts in 2021 and comes as universities in general – and the arts and humanities in particular – are struggling. Inflation has added weight to the burdens felt across the sector, bringing long-term tensions to the surface as the university funding model starts to unravel .

This article is part of our State of the Arts series. These articles tackle the challenges of the arts and heritage industry – and celebrate the wins, too.

In brief, the cost of educating a student has outstripped the fees, with no immediate prospect of raising them, not least because they already leave graduates with large debts. This is compounded by falling A-Level numbers in the arts and humanities, making recruitment more difficult. The inevitable result is a decline in provision.

Oxford Brookes and Kent universities have announced the closure of their music departments, while redundancies at Goldsmiths could threaten up to half of jobs in departments including English and creative writing, history, music, theatre and performance, and visual cultures.

A false economy

The ostensible logic of supporting the hard sciences, and the wider economy, reveals contradictions in the government’s own stated strategies, and masks a false economy. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) Creative Sector Vision , for instance, states that: “Creative industries are a true British success story, from global music stars like Adele and Ed Sheeran to world-class cultural institutions like the National Theatre”.

It also, crucially, highlights the importance of skills “to ensure that the sector can attract and develop the very best creative talent … from all backgrounds and parts of the country”.

Even a hard-nosed economic perspective suggests that arts provision warrants support, rather than a freeze. By the government’s own estimates, the creative industries contribute around £126 billion to the UK economy . That’s more than the car industry , for instance, or aerospace, oil and gas .

While obviously many of the skills needed will be in areas like coding, the contribution still includes around £27 billion in music, visual and performing arts, publishing, design, fashion, museums and galleries.

Higher education arts provision also adds broader value to the cultural life of the nation and to its school-age educational framework as, again, the government acknowledges. The National Plan for Music Education , for instance, notes that universities “offer access to live music performances … through free tickets to concerts held on site or taking student performers out into schools … bring[ing] reciprocal benefits, as students gain invaluable experience of working with young audiences, and school-age pupils are inspired by musicians close to their own age”.

Value of arts and science exchange

The contradictions also reach past the creative sector, and the courses directly affected. The funding cuts appear to gloss over the value that arts courses bring to the higher education sector (itself worth £71bn in gross value added to the economy) overall.

Universities don’t operate in siloes with arts and STEM separated. They support one another financially, with cross-subsidy across degrees that are cheaper to deliver and those that are more expensive (including subjects like engineering).

In research too, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, with humanities and sciences each benefiting from collaboration across subjects, especially in the rapidly evolving creative sector, where technological savvy, critical thinking and an imaginative approach are mutually beneficial.

This zero-sum approach to arts and STEM in higher education also undermines the holistic, Humboldtian model of the university whereby a combination of research and teaching across arts and sciences generates knowledge, value and engaged an citizenship. This has long been central to the strength and international appeal of British universities.

The DCMS’ Creative Sector Vision points to the value of dialogue across interdisciplinary research, business and the wider public sector, arguing that, “the government and industry have demonstrated how we can leverage public funding, the UK’s world-leading university base, and the creative sector’s ingenuity”.

Straitened times make for difficult decisions, especially when headline figures show a variation in earnings across graduates in different subjects. But pitting degrees against one another and dividing them into those that are “useful” is an approach that deploys immediate tactics at the expense of long-term strategy.

If funding cuts degrade provision for creative subjects, the effects will be felt beyond the departments immediately affected. The arts underpin the creative industries, and universities exist as part of a wider ecosystem of research, development and education which, even in the government’s own terms, relies on the exchanges between arts and science to create value across the board.

Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here .

Adam Behr , Senior Lecturer in Popular and Contemporary Music, Newcastle University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .

Latest News

The second James Berry Poetry Prize has opened for submissions.

published on: 15 April 2024