COURSE SUMMARY
In our modern, uncertain and ever-changing world, words - written or spoken - are needed perhaps now more than ever to help us share experiences, process thoughts and feelings, and fuel our imagination.
The MA Creative Writing course at Keele brings together a strong community of published and aspiring writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and storytelling who, like you, appreciate the potential power of words and have embarked on a journey of self-expression.
If you are looking to write, publish or share creative material, this course is designed to advance your writing abilities and boost your confidence, helping you learn more about the critical and intellectual context in which your work is situated and build a professional portfolio. For those with the beginnings of book in mind, it can help you refine your manuscript and even set you on your path to publication.
You’ll be taught and mentored by published writers, prize-winning poets and novelists, both from here within the University and from the active participation of invited guests, for example, at the fortnightly Keele Creative Writing Anthology. Last year, this included acclaimed writer Okechukwu Nzelu, whose first book won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Polari First Book Prize.
You’ll also have the option to participate directly in a wide range of on campus, online and local events, publications, workshops and short courses. This provides experience in event management, curation, reading, presenting and even teaching, as well as the reviewing and editing that is often a writer’s secondary source of income.
YOUR CAREER
Many of our graduates have gone on to become successful poets and novelists; some are dedicated to spreading the positive vibes that creative writing can bring.
Take Gabriella Gay, for example, who chose to set up a writers residency at Hanley car boot sale while studying, or the ‘Emergency Poet’ Deborah Alma. As well as sharing poetry from the back of a vintage ambulance at festivals, conferences, hospitals and care settings, libraries and schools, Deborah has transformed a disused Edwardian shop in Shropshire into a walk-in pharmacy dispensing poetry.
During the course, if students choose The Writer in the Community module, they will often undertake editing, the production of literary events, publications, websites and unusual digital platforms for writing. Throughout your studies, you will be encouraged to reflect on the academic, creative and general skills you are developing and, more importantly, how you can articulate these skills in applications and interviews.