MA Course
The MA in Creative Writing is one of the UK's longest established postgraduate creative writing courses. It is taught by practising professional writers with wide experience of the publishing industry.
The course core sessions have a wide variety of visiting speakers, ranging from successful former students to major figures like Jackie Kay and David Lodge, who share their writing expertise and knowledge of the current publishing climate. The MA has two distinguished visiting professors, the children's novelist David Almond (Skellig, The Fire Eaters) and Michael Eaton (Shipman, Shoot To Kill) who contribute to core sessions and give tutorials to students who are writing in their field.
The heart of the course is the fortnightly workshop, where students intensively discuss each other's work with the aid of their tutor. Each year, students edit a professionally produced and distributed anthology which showcases their work alongside that of writers connected with the course. MA Students also have access to events and lectures in Nottingham Trent University's English department, which has one of the highest research ratings in the UK.
Further information:
Nottingham literary scene
Nottingham has a thriving literary community that includes several small presses, a regular reading scene, two magazines and a writer's studio. Many alumni of the NTU Creative Writing MA are involved in the city's literary activity and remain keen to support current students on the course.
For information about writing groups in Nottingham and to read more about former MA Creative Writing students, please visit our useful information section below.
Information for applicants
The most important aspect of your application is the 3,000 word writing sample. We do not arrange interviews until this sample has been considered. Overseas candidates are interviewed by phone.
You can email us to request an application form and brochure or apply online.
Alternatively, visit our course information section to request a brochure.
General enquiries about NTU, the MA course and bursaries can be made by email. If you have specific enquiries about the MA please contact the programme leader, Sarah Jackson.
Useful information
- Laura Dietz, MA graduate, novelist
- An interview with MA graduate, author Stephan Collishaw, which discusses his time on the MA course
- Christine Coleman, MA graduate, novelist
- Nicola Monaghan The Loneliness of the Long Distance Writer, Blog of MA graduate, author of the prize winning The Killing Jar.
- Martin Stannard (poetry tutor at NTU, course contributor and Royal Literary Fund Fellow) has a literary eZine, Exultations and Difficulties
- David Miller, contributor to the MA course
- Lowdham Book Festival, which the MA sponsors
- Nottingham Writers' Studio
- The MA Creative Writing course belongs to the National Association of Writers in Education (NAWE) which supports the development of creative writing of all genres
- American Association of Writers and Writing Programs
- Novelist David Lodge's account of his visit to Nottingham to give a public lecture for the MA course
- MA graduate and crime writer, Clare Littleford
- Blog for alumni of the MA Creative Writing course
