university of east anglia ma creative writing

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MA Creative Writing Prose Fiction

Key Details

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Course Overview

Our course will help transform you as a writer, giving you a surer sense of the imaginative, artistic and intellectual challenges involved in any act of writing.

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 – which includes Jean McNeil, Naomi Wood and Tessa McWatt, to name a few – alongside internationally recognised visiting writers – recent examples include Tsitsi Dangarembga, Margaret Atwood, Ali Smith, Caryl Phillips and Preti Taneja.

We’ll challenge you to explore your notions about writing and being a writer, provoking you into play, experimentation and risk, with the intention of making you the best writer you can be.

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.

The MA in Prose Fiction at UEA is the oldest and most prestigious Creative Writing programme in the UK. Solely focused on the writing of fiction, we take a rigorous and creative approach to enable you to develop your ideas, voice, technique and craft.

You’ll experience an intensive immersion in the study of writing prose fiction. You’ll take core creative modules but can also choose from a wide range of critical modules, and benefit from our proven strengths in modernism and creative-critical studies, among others.

Graduates of our MA Creative Writing Prose Fiction have enjoyed extraordinary success in terms of publications and prizes. Our alumni include Nobel Laureate Sir Kazuo Ishiguro, fellow Booker Prize winners Ian McEwan and Anne Enright, Costa First Book Award Winners Emma Healey and Christie Watson, and many other internationally renowned novelists including Ayobami Adebayo, Naomi Alderman, Tash Aw, Stephen Buoro, Tracy Chevalier, Joe Dunthorne, Diana Evans, Mohammed Hanif, Elizabeth Macneal and Catriona Ward. The continuing success of our graduates means we are fortunate in being able to attract the best writers from around the world – writers like you.

While you are at UEA, the focus will be on exploring your creative potential, in a highly supportive and well-resourced environment.

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.

Study and Modules

This MA is a one-year full-time course (you can also take it part-time over two years). The full-time course consists of two semesters of 12 weeks, followed by a dissertation period of six weeks. The autumn semester lasts from September to December, and the spring semester from January to April. The dissertation supervision period ends in June, and you’ll submit your final piece of work in September.

In each semester, you’ll study two modules. One of these – in both semesters – is the compulsory Prose Fiction workshop. This is a weekly three-hour session, during which your group will discuss your fellow students’ works-in-progress. You’ll get the chance to attend a follow-up tutorial with your class tutor each time your work is discussed in these workshops.

Each workshop is assigned a tutor for the autumn semester, and a different tutor for the spring semester. Groups are ‘shuffled’ in December so you can encounter the widest range of peer responses to your work during the course. Teaching styles vary, but typically three students each week will have their work discussed by the group. The work-in-progress (around 5,000 words) is circulated a week in advance, and annotated copies are returned to the student at the end of the session. The emphasis is always on constructive criticism, and the expectation is that the group will gain as much from the discussion as will the individual whose work is being discussed. You can expect your writing to be workshopped multiple times over the course of the two semesters.

In each semester, you’ll choose a second module from the broad range of modules, both creative and critical, available in the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing .

In the summer dissertation period, you’ll be assigned a supervisor for individual tutorials in which you’ll discuss your dissertation. You’ll then write this independently over the summer.

Compulsory Modules

Creative writing workshop: prose 1, creative writing workshop: prose 2, creative writing research methodology conference, creative writing (prose) dissertation, optional a modules, the transformation of the book 1500-1700, the art of short fiction, fiction 'after' modernism: re-reading the 20th century, the art of the novel, japanese literature, living modernism, optional b modules, crime, mystery and the novel, ludic literature, east anglian literature, the non fiction novel, the poetics of place, creative encounters, the northern renaissance, 1500-1620, theory and practice of fiction, creative-critical writing, adaptation and interpretation.

Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.

Teaching and Learning

You’ll be taught by an internationally renowned cohort of prize-winning authors, who have many years of experience in teaching Creative Writing. Current staff members who have taught on the MA include Trezza Azzopardi, Stephanie Bishop, Philip Langeskov, Giles Foden, Jean McNeil, Tessa McWatt, Julianne Pachico, and Naomi Wood. You’ll also be taught via one-to-one tutorials with your workshop leader to enrich your understanding of the key insights to come out of your workshop.

The one-to-one dissertation supervisions are intended to emulate the relationship that you may go on to have with an editor at a publishing house. Over the dissertation period, your tutor will be able to discuss your work and your ambitions for your project so that you will be best placed to draft and then finalise your work over the summer vacation.   Independent study

One of the great benefits of this year is that you’ll have ample time to read and write on your own. Some students use their independent study time to write a draft of a whole novel; others want to experiment over the course of the year with different projects and different styles.

You’ll submit 5,000 words of original fiction at the end of the autumn semester, and another 5,000 words at the end of the spring semester. You will also submit a 5,000-word piece of creative work or an essay (requirements vary) for each of your two optional modules.

For your dissertation, you’ll write 15,000 words of original fiction, to be submitted in September. All assessed work is marked and moderated by two members of the Creative Writing faculty, with the mark agreed between them.

Your work will be read and commented upon by faculty members around sixteen times over the course of the MA – this includes workshops, dissertation tutorials and the marking of assignments. Since this course and its tutors focus on prose fiction and the development of your abilities as a writer of prose fiction, we cannot workshop or assess other work you might produce, such as poetry or creative non-fiction. However, we would encourage you to circulate such work informally among your fellow students.

Entry Requirements

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: 7.0 overall (minimum 7.0 in writing and 6.0 in all other components)

Test dates should be within 2 years of the course start date.  

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

If you do not yet 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 English skills necessary for successful undergraduate study:   

Pre-sessional English at INTO UEA    

Academic English at INTO UEA   

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. 

This course is open to UK and International applicants. The annual intake for this course 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.

Additional Information or 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.

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

Fees and Funding

Tuition fees for the Academic Year 2024/25 are: 

UK Students: £11,000 (full time) 

International Students: £22, 450 (full time)

If you choose to study part-time, the fee per annum will be half the annual fee for that year, or a pro-rata fee for the module credit you are taking (only available for Home students). 

We estimate living expenses at £1,023 per month. 

Further Information on tuition fees can be found  here . 

Scholarships and Bursaries 

The University of East Anglia offers a range of  Scholarships ; please click the link for eligibility, details of how to apply and closing dates.

The University of East Anglia offers a range of Scholarships . The following have the most relevance to the MA in Creative Writing:

Annabel Abbs Scholarship The Difference scholarship Global Voices Scholarships  Kowitz Scholarship  Maggie Humm Scholarship  Miles Morland Foundation African Writers' Scholarship Seth Donaldson Memorial Bursary  Sonny Mehta India Scholarship  Sonny Mehta Scholarship for Writers  UEA Booker Prize Foundation Scholarship  UEA Crowdfunded Writers' Scholarship 

To find out more, please go to the Scholarships Finder . Select the name of the scholarship, then select ‘view more’ to see if you meet the criteria, and ‘apply here’ to make an application.  

Course Related Costs

Please see Additional Course Fees for details of course-related costs.

How to Apply

Applications for Postgraduate Taught programmes at the University of East Anglia should be made directly to the University. 

The closing date for receipt of complete applications is 1 June 2024, including the relevant supporting documents and references. 

To apply please use our   online application form . 

FURTHER INFORMATION 

If you would like to discuss your individual circumstances prior to applying, please do contact us: 

Postgraduate Admissions Office 

Tel: +44 (0)1603 591515  Email:  [email protected]  

International candidates are also encouraged to access the  International Students  section of our website. 

Employability

After the course.

You’ll graduate as a better writer, reader and editor. You will 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.

A degree at UEA will prepare you for a wide variety of careers. We've been ranked 1st for Job Prospects by StudentCrowd in 2022.

Example of careers that you could enter include:

    Writing

    Publishing

    Journalism

    Teaching

    Advertising

    Film and television

Discover more on our Careers webpages .

Creative Writing Prose Fiction starting September 2024 for 1 years

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Creative Writing: Prose Fiction

Entry requirements.

Degree Subject - Any Subject

Degree Classification - Bachelors (Hons) degree (2.1 or equivalent preferred)

For more information see our website .

Months of entry

Course content.

The MA Prose Fiction at UEA is the oldest and most prestigious Creative Writing programme in the UK. Solely focused on the writing of fiction, we take a rigorous and creative approach to enable you to develop your ideas, voice, technique and craft.

You’ll experience an intensive immersion in the study of writing prose fiction. You will take core creative modules but can also choose from a wide range of critical modules, and benefit from our proven strengths in modernism and creative-critical studies, among others.

Graduates of our MA Creative Writing Prose Fiction have enjoyed extraordinary success in terms of publications and prizes. Our alumni include Nobel Laureate Sir Kazuo Ishiguro, Baileys Women’s Prize-winner Naomi Alderman, Emma Healey and Tash Aw. The continuing success of our graduates means we are fortunate in being able to attract the best writers from around the world – writers like you.

While you are at UEA, the focus will very much be on exploring your creative potential, in a highly supportive and well-resourced environment.

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.

Information for international students

For more information for international students, please go to UEA’s website .

Fees and funding

Find out more about UEA’s funding options .

Qualification, course duration and attendance options

• Campus-based learning is available for this qualification

Course contact details

Creative Writing Research Group

• Faculty of Arts and Humanities
• School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing
• Website https://www.uea.ac.uk/groups-and-centres/creative-writing-research-group

Organisation profile

For half a century Creative Writing has proved one of our most productive and successful areas of research. Each piece of prose fiction and creative non-fiction, each poetry collection, script or dramatic production that emerges out of our school constitutes a research project informed by historical investigation, archival study or critical interrogation.

Our work in these diverse forms repeatedly extends the boundaries whereby those forms are understood and valued. Our writers also contribute important critical studies of the creative practices in which they lead the world.

Our research is taught and developed in the classroom, making us a place where ground-breaking experimental practice and practice-based research flourish. International, national and local creative writing research is enhanced by close collaboration with the  National Centre for Writing , the  British Centre for Literary Translation , the  British Archive for Contemporary Writing  and a range of international associations. Our students doing PhDs in creative and critical writing benefit from access to a sophisticated training schedule run by active practitioners who are leaders in their fields.

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Dive into details.

Select a country/territory to view shared publications and projects

Nathan Ashman

• School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing - Lecturer in Crime Writing
• Creative Writing Research Group - Member
• Modern and Contemporary Writing Research Group - Member

Person: Research Group Member, Academic, Teaching & Research

Tiffany Atkinson

• School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing - Professor in Creative Writing (Poetry)

Trezza Azzopardi

• School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing - Lecturer
• 18 Finished

Projects per year

A partnership for community-led health behaviour change research in areas of high socio-economic disadvantage

Hardeman, W. , Gordon, J. , Hanson, S. , Minihane, A. , Sweeting, A. , Abranches, M. , McNeil, J. , McWatt, T. , Robinson-Pant, A. & Varley, A.

National Institute for Health and Care Research

1/06/23 → 30/11/24

Project : Research

The Critical Decade for Climate Change

Le Quéré, C. , McNeil, J. & Tebboth, M.

Leverhulme Trust

1/10/21 → 30/09/27

Project : Training

Just Scapes

Martin, A. & McNeil, J.

Economic and Social Research Council

1/12/20 → 31/05/24

Research output

• 135 Article
• 71 Performance
• 16 Other contribution
• 8 Chapter (peer-reviewed)
• 8 Book/Film/Article review
• 5 Featured article
• 4 Special issue
• 3 Editorial
• 2 Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
• 2 Foreword/postscript
• 2 Other chapter contribution
• 2 Conference article
• 2 Digital or Visual Products
• 1 Anthology
• 1 Comment/debate
• 1 Exhibition

Research output per year

1939: Before Darkness Fell

Research output : Contribution to specialist publication › Article

Indigo Giant (UK production and national tour of stage play)

Research output : Non-textual form › Performance

Avoiding the Housekeeping Trap: Challenges and Opportunities in a Decolonizing Project at the University of East Anglia, UK

Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

Arts Council Developing Your Creative Practice Grant

Robinson, S. (Recipient), 1 Sep 2021

Prize : Prize (including medals and awards)

BBC Audio Drama Awards 2023

Waters, Steve (Recipient), 19 Mar 2023

Prize : National/international honour

Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, Non-Fiction Winner

McWatt, Tessa (Recipient), 4 May 2020

• 52 Festival/Exhibition/Performance
• 36 Public lecture/debate/seminar
• 16 Participation in conference
• 13 Invited talk
• 13 Visiting an external academic institution
• 9 Examination
• 4 Participation in workshop or seminar
• 3 Committee
• 2 Publication editorial role
• 1 Publication peer-review
• 1 Social or cultural organisation
• 1 Public/government panel or group
• 1 Research and teaching at external organisation

Activities per year

Norwich Book Slam

Tom Benn (Speaker)

Activity : Participating in or organising an event › Public lecture/debate/seminar

Murder One Crime Writing Festival 2023 (Dublin)

Activity : Participating in or organising an event › Festival/Exhibition/Performance

Historical Debuts: Writing the Past for the Present with Jacqueline Crooks, Bridget Walsh and Natalie Marlow (Noirwich Crime Writing Festival 2023)

Press/media, 'working class noir' (the writing life podcast, national centre for writing).

1 Media contribution

Press/Media : Press / Media

Q&A with Tom Benn for NB. Magazine issue 116, Light (Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year)

Wales arts review: in conversation.

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MA Creative Writing Scriptwriting

University of east anglia uea, 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

Script Writing

Course type

Prepare for a career writing for theatre, film, or television with an MA that allows you to explore and produce dramatic writing across the media.

You’ll study both the theory and practice of dramatic writing, addressing contemporary critical debates, analysing written and performance texts, and experimenting with a range of techniques in original writing. You’ll develop your skills in constructive criticism and creative editing of your peers’ writing, creating a supportive writers’ network in the process.

You’ll be taught by renowned theorists, practitioners, and visiting specialists through seminars, presentations, screenings, workshops, readings, and performance visits. All with the rigour and professional insight that are the hallmark of our creative writing teaching.

The scriptwriting strand of our world-renowned MA Creative Writing has three core modules.

First, Dramaturgy, in which you’ll study the core conventions of drama as explored from Aristotle to McKee and as embodied in a range of plays, films, and TV programmes, from Antigone to I May Destroy You.

You will also take part in the Scriptwriting workshop, building upon your study of dramaturgical theory, where each week you will benefit from the scrutiny and feedback of your fellow writers and workshop leaders, such as the renowned scriptwriters Steve Waters, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Molly Naylor, Ben Musgrave, and Sian Evans. You’ll incorporate this theory into your own writing practice in weekly creative development workshops, completing scriptwriting and planning exercises. Over the course of the workshop, you and your fellow writers will bring your exercises to the group for discussion and evaluation.

You’ll then go on to study the Process module, where you will explore the differing contexts of scriptwriting across media and develop a script for your choice of medium, building an idea from concept to realisation and exploring the modes of script development that are common practice for working writers.

Over the summer, you’ll also write a dissertation, under the supervision of a member of our faculty.

UK fees Course fees for UK students

For this course (per year)

International fees Course fees for EU and international students

Bachelors (Hons) degree - 2.1 in any subject. Candidates will be expected to submit a portfolio of writing for assessment - up to 30 pages of dramatic script/screenplay.

The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a world-renowned university known for its high standard across both taught and research postgraduate courses. Based in Norwich, in the county of Norfolk, the university has an excellent international reputation for the high standard of its research output. UEA is home to over 17,000 students, of which around 25% are postgraduate students. UEA is part of one of the biggest research communities in Europe... more

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