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Postgraduate Creative Writing Menu

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Postgraduate Study in Creative Writing

student publications          postgraduate courses          transcultural writing

The Aiming Higher Poetry and Fiction course for prospective applicants

The Lancaster University postgraduate Creative Writing Programme is one of the longest established and most prestigious writing programmes in the UK. It forms an integral part of the larger Department of English & Creative Writing and is located in County College for most teaching and administrative purposes.  It also, however, has rapidly growing distance learning programmes at both MA and PhD level, enabling students to study wholly or partly away from the university campus.  In the Quality Review carried out in 2009, some of the key departmental strengths commended were developments in the postgraduate teaching of Creative Writing - in particular, the pioneering use of virtual learning environments and forward thinking about the discipline in national and international contexts.

Publications by Lancaster Students

Writers who have studied in Lancaster's Creative Writing programmes have published over seventy books in recent years. Recent Lancaster writers who have won or been nominated for major prizes include: Ali Shaw (Desmond Elliott Prize); Monique Roffey (short-listed for the Orange Prize); Jacob Polley (shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize and the Forward Prize); Andrew Miller (James Tait Black Memorial Prize; the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award); Ray Robinson (James Tait Black Memorial Prize). For many more examples, see our page on publications by past and present students.

See our left-hand navigation bar for links to full descriptions of all of our postgraduate programmes. 

The MA takes three forms, all of which share common academic and creative objectives: the campus MA, full-time; the campus MA, part-time; the distance learning MA, part-time. Our full-time campus MA course runs every year, and the part-time campus MA enrols in odd calendar years.  Our distance learning MA enrols every year (there are two overlapping cohorts with 20 students in each).

The PhD in creative writing can be undertaken as a full-time attending student, a part-time attending student, or as a distance learning student. All models of study involve close supervision by one or more expert supervisors.

Postgraduate study in Creative Writing has recently been strengthened by the establishment, in May 2007, of the Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research (CTWR), which links Lancaster University's postgraduate student community to extensive research activity in creative writing and its impact on society. The Centre incorporates a range of pre-existing transcultural and intercultural research activity - Moving Manchester, Crossing Borders, Radiophonics, Trans-Scriptions - and aims to promote the generation and comparative study of creative writing across cultures.  Lancaster's distance learning MA in Creative Writing and our new distance learning PhD recruit internationally and deploy the latest virtual learning technology to support their programmes of writing and research, which have a strong intercultural dimension.

The Creative Writing Postgraduate Handbook contains all the procedural and academic information about each form of delivery and you should read it carefully before embarking on your programme of study. Other information can be obtained from your tutors or from Lyn Kellett (l.kellett@lancaster.ac.uk).

Contact:

Director of PhD Programme in Creative Writing
Dr George Green, B93 County Main, (5)94173

Convenor of Campus MA in Creative Writing
Prof Paul Farley, B206 County Main, (5)93237

Convenors of Distance MA in Creative Writing
Dr George Green, B93 County Main, (5)94173       

Administrative SecretaryPostgraduate Secretary for Creative Writing
Mrs Lyn Kellett, B114 County Main, (5)94169          
                                               
Departmental Officer
Mrs Anne Stewart-Whalley, B112 County Main, (5)92129

Head of Department
Prof John Schad, B99 County Main, (5)92234