creative writing cambridge uni

Study at Cambridge

About the university, research at cambridge.

• For Cambridge students
• For our researchers
• Business and enterprise
• Colleges and Departments
• Give to Cambridge
• Museums and collections
• Events and open days
• Fees and finance
• Postgraduate courses
• How to apply
• Fees and funding
• Postgraduate events
• International students
• Continuing education
• Executive and professional education
• Courses in education
• How the University and Colleges work
• Visiting the University
• Annual reports
• Equality and diversity
• A global university
• Public engagement

Cambridge launches first Creative Writing degree

The University of Cambridge’s first Master of Studies (MSt) in Creative Writing will explore the art of writing in all its many forms and guises, not just novel writing, according to Course Director Dr Sarah Burton.

There is always an element of writing that is almost inexplicable – that’s the magical element that can’t be taught – that’s what the student brings. Sarah Burton

The two-year, part-time course, run by the Institute of Continuing Education and developed in conjunction with the Faculty of English, begins in October 2013 with applications for entry closing at the end of this month (March).

But rather than focusing purely on fiction and creative non-fiction, the MSt in Creative Writing will also take in political speechwriting, radio essays, stand-up comedy and polyphonic scripts for stage, screen and radio.

Students will also learn the art of the short story, flash fiction, writing for children, as well as poetry, literary non-fiction, criticism, reviews, and travel writing in the first year of study.

Guest speakers are likely to include Wendy Cope, Michael Holroyd and comedian Stewart Lee.

Dr Burton said: “The MSt has been carefully designed to fit around people’s busy lives with intensive residential study pods strategically placed across the two years to enable the fullest participation. The first year will cover a wide range of genres and styles to encourage our writers to develop versatility through experimentation with new forms – while there is the chance to focus on a specialist strength, under expert supervision, in their second year.

“Writing for children is often neglected and this course is unique in offering a relationship with a local school where ideas can be developed and workshopped with a live audience.”

Successful applicants to the course will become members of one of three Cambridge colleges (Wolfson, St Edmund’s and Lucy Cavendish) and will join the wider graduate community with full access to the facilities of the University.

Dr David Frost, Tutor for Part-Time Students at Wolfson College, said: “I am very excited at the prospect of Creative Writing students becoming members of our college. We are already a vibrant postgraduate community which includes professionals such as journalists, lawyers, teachers, doctors and architects as well as researchers in the arts and the sciences. We would really love to add writers to this mix.”

Another unusual feature of the course is that in the first year critical writing is formally assessed, but creative writing is not.

Added Dr Burton: “Extensive feedback will be given on creative writing, but we are removing the pressures of formal marking, freeing students to allow themselves to develop and extend their skills by having permission to experiment, rather than fall back on what they already do well. This encourages ambitious and original, rather than conservative and ‘safe’, writing.”

The course tutors and guest speakers are all established literary professionals. Year one consists of four modules, which take place in October, December, February and June: Finding Voices, Writing for Readers, Writing for Performance and Non-fiction. A four-day residency of intensive workshops, seminars and lectures forms the core of each module.

The second year of study, in which students work more independently on their chosen genre, features two more short residential sessions at Madingley Hall and students will write a thesis in the form of a portfolio of creative and critical writing.

“The question of whether you can teach anyone to write is a valid one, and of course you can’t make anyone a writer,” Dr Burton added. “However, you can nurture raw talent, help nascent writers find their own voices and offer the sort of advice and counsel that writers have historically offered each other informally (Charles Lamb’s advice to Coleridge to ‘cultivate simplicity’ is a great example) in a structured and methodical way. There are more efficient routes to improving your writing than trying to work out, all on your own, how to create certain effects. But it’s by no means a science. There is always an element of writing that is almost inexplicable – that’s the magical element that can’t be taught – that’s what the student brings.”

Further details on course fees, entry and visa requirements are available at the ICE website .

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence . If you use this content on your site please link back to this page.

Read this next

John Milton's notes identified in an influential book he once owned

Murder by the Book: a celebration of 20th century British crime fiction

The poetry scholar, the Black Atlantic and the Trembling Hand

Memes-field Park? ‘Digital natives’ are flirting with Jane Austen’s vision of the ideal man all over again

Credit: words words words by Chris Blakeley

Search news

Sign up to receive our newsletter.

The University's news digest summarises news and features from across the University of Cambridge into one weekly email. Enter your email address, confirm you are happy to receive our emails and then select 'Subscribe'.

I wish to receive the University's news digest by email.

The University of Cambridge will use your email address to send you our University news digest email once each week. We are committed to protecting your personal information and being transparent about what information we hold. Please read our email privacy notice for details.

• English literature
• creative writing
• non-fiction
• Sarah Burton
• David Frost
• Institute of Continuing Education
• Faculty of English
• Wolfson College
• Lucy Cavendish College
• St Edmund's College
• School of Arts and Humanities

Find out more

Connect with us.

© 2024 University of Cambridge

• Contact the University
• Accessibility statement
• Freedom of information
• Privacy policy and cookies
• Statement on Modern Slavery
• Terms and conditions
• University A-Z
• Undergraduate
• Postgraduate
• Cambridge University Press & Assessment
• Research news
• About research at Cambridge
• Spotlight on...

Study at Cambridge

About the university, research at cambridge.

• Undergraduate courses
• Events and open days
• Fees and finance
• Postgraduate courses
• How to apply
• Postgraduate events
• Fees and funding
• International students
• Continuing education
• Executive and professional education
• Courses in education
• How the University and Colleges work
• Term dates and calendars
• Visiting the University
• Annual reports
• Equality and diversity
• A global university
• Public engagement
• Give to Cambridge
• For Cambridge students
• For our researchers
• Business and enterprise
• Colleges & departments
• Email & phone search
• Museums & collections
• Course Directory
• Department directory

Faculty of English

Postgraduate Study

• Why Cambridge overview
• Chat with our students
• Cambridge explained overview
• The supervision system
• Student life overview
• In and around Cambridge
• Leisure activities
• Student union
• Music awards
• Student support overview
• Mental health and wellbeing
• Disabled students
• Language tuition
• Skills training
• Support for refugees
• Courses overview
• Qualification types
• Funded studentships
• Part-time study
• Research degrees
• Visiting students
• Finance overview
• Fees overview
• What is my fee status?
• Part-time fees
• Application fee
• Living costs
• Funding overview
• Applying for University funding
• Doctoral training programmes
• External funding and loans
• Colleges overview
• College listing overview
• Accommodation
• Applying overview
• Application deadlines
• Entry requirements
• International qualifications
• English language requirements
• Find a supervisor
• Widening access and participation
• Supporting documents overview
• Writing a research proposal
• Preparing a personal statement
• Application fee overview
• Application fee waiver
• International applications
• Disabled applicants
• AI and postgraduate applications
• Admissions fraud
• How we assess your application
• Outcome of your application overview
• Appeals and complaints
• Your offer overview
• Visas and immigration
• Declaring criminal convictions
• Defer your application
• Prepare to arrive
• Track your application
• International overview
• International events
• International student views overview
• Akhila’s story
• Alex’s story
• Huijie’s story
• Kelsey’s story
• Nilesh’s story
• Get in touch!
• Events overview
• Upcoming events
• Postgraduate Open Days overview
• Discover Cambridge webinars
• Virtual tour
• Research Internships
• How we use participant data
• Postgraduate Newsletter

7 courses offered in the Faculty of English

Creative writing - mst.

The Master of Studies (MSt) in Creative Writing is designed for postgraduate students who wish to develop high-level skills in creative writing both in fiction and non-fiction literature. Students will be guided in the production of creative work in a range of genres and styles and also in critical reflection on their own work and that of other writers. The MSt aims to facilitate students’ creative practice, whether for their own personal creative development as writers or for professional development. Students could include teachers of English at the primary or secondary level and those working in areas such as journalism, broadcasting, publishing and editing. The programme’s administration and teaching are undertaken by the Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) and its academic standards are monitored and assured by a subcommittee of the Degree Committee of the Faculty of English.

More Information

Digital Humanities - PhD

The PhD in Digital Humanities, run by Cambridge Digital Humanities and based in the Faculty of English, is a research-intensive programme that will enable students to engage at doctoral level with projects demanding the use of digital methods and tools or adopting critical/theoretical orientations. The programme expands the humanities offering at research postgraduate level at Cambridge by offering a route for cross-disciplinary engagement, responding to the growth of the field of Digital Humanities as a research area. 

The programme is designed to enable students from many areas of the arts and humanities to develop practical skills and knowledge and to generate the necessary critical literacy to understand and engage with digital research, and digital cultures, and to respond to questions that arise around the ethics of automation, algorithmic analysis, privacy/surveillance, virtual cultures, data sharing, intelligent agency and creativity, archival justice and digital histories, and to explore work in relation to collections and heritage issues. Through supervisions and technical support from a research software engineer, contextualised by a research culture providing research-led seminars and lectures, guest seminars, and practice-driven workshops, Cambridge Digital Humanities provides the conditions for original PhD research in DH or in other arts and humanities/social science disciplines that make a significant intervention into shaping the field. 

Digital Humanities - MPhil

The MPhil in Digital Humanities is directed by Cambridge Digital Humanities, a research centre with links across a wide range of faculties and units at Cambridge.  The course is administered by the Faculty of English. 

This exciting MPhil explores the ways in which the humanities engage with digital futures, digital research, and digital cultures, as questions arise around the ethics of automation, algorithmic analysis, privacy/surveillance, virtual cultures, data sharing, intelligent agency and creativity, archival justice and digital histories, collections and heritage issues. 

The course gives students critical/theoretical orientations and delivers a structured form of engagement with digital methods, tools, and approaches while enabling flexibility in terms of specialism.  Students may come from multiple disciplines and the course caters to different skill levels in DH methods. Students take two broad core courses – Approaches and Methods, and Data and Algorithmic Analysis – and follow two courses from a basket of more specialist options. The course is assessed through shorter essays and a year-long dissertation or portfolio project. 

The MPhil in Digital Humanities runs from October to June.  

English - PhD

The PhD is a research degree examined, usually after three or more years of research, by a thesis of 60,000–80,000 words. The criteria for obtaining the degree are that the thesis represents a 'substantial contribution to knowledge' and a realistic amount of work for three years of study.

English Studies - MPhil

The Cambridge English Faculty's collaborative MPhil in English Studies is a nine-month taught course which offers a uniquely wide-ranging and innovative approach to the study of literature, criticism, and culture in the Anglophone world. Our versatile modular structure provides a choice of 'Specialist Seminars', which cover, between them, all the major periods of English literature, as well as addressing a range of different regional, national and international fields of Anglophone writing and diverse theoretical, conceptual and philosophical concerns. There are also specific 'Textual Studies' courses for those wishing to develop research expertise in either Medieval or Renaissance literature. In addition, 'Research Frameworks' seminars cut across these specialist emphases, encouraging students with otherwise differing interests to work collaboratively on cross-period methodological and inter-disciplinary topics. In the MPhil as a whole depth, diversity, the historical, and the conceptual are thus each available in equal measure. The course provides a truly distinctive context in which to develop as a thinker, writer, and researcher.

The course is supported by first-class teaching delivered by a Faculty with a distinguished international reputation, and because that teaching is research-led, we are also able to offer a cutting-edge view of the discipline. Both small-group teaching and one-to-one supervision are established strengths here, having been foundational to the Faculty's identity since its inception a century ago. Our lively, supportive seminars will allow the students to learn from people with very different interests. At the same time, an individual Supervisor will help the student plan a coherent programme of personal study and will oversee both their research for and writing of their dissertation (the student's unique research project). In addition, a programme of focused training on research methods will assist the students in developing practical study skills.

These qualities make our MPhil in English Studies an ideal preparation for further research in English and associated disciplines. Equally, the course can serve as the basis for success in a wide range of non-academic careers.

Writing for Performance - MSt

The Master of Studies (MSt) in Writing for Performance is designed for postgraduate students who wish to develop high-level theoretical skills, and a vibrant and innovative creative practice within writing for a range of performance mediums. Writing for Performance is defined as making scripts for theatre, film/TV, radio drama, or text for performance art, podcasts, digital platforms or stand-up comedy. 

Students will develop skills initially in all mediums and then be guided to choose a specific genre of script-making for their final project. They will develop the capacity to critically reflect on their own work, the work of their peer-group, and that of other professional writers.

The MSt. aims to facilitate a high standard of creative practice, in order that students may develop their professional practice in several areas. For example, they may wish to develop as dramatists in order to have a professional career in the entertainment industry as writers or directors, or to enhance their skills as dramaturgs/script editors to allow them to follow a career in literary management, publishing, or agenting. The programme would also be of interest to applicants wishing to enrich their creative writing/drama teaching practice at GCSE or on A-level English Language and Literature courses. 

Writing for Performance (EdX) - MSt

The Master of Studies (MSt) in Writing for Performance is designed for postgraduate students who wish to develop high-level theoretical skills, and a vibrant and innovative creative practice within writing for a range of performance mediums. Writing for Performance is defined as making scripts for theatre, film/TV, radio drama, or text for performance art, podcasts, digital platforms, or stand-up comedy.  Students will develop skills initially in all mediums and then be guided to choose a specific genre of script-making for their final project. They will develop the capacity to critically reflect on their own work, the work of their peer-group, and that of other professional writers. 

2 courses also advertised in the Faculty of English

Anglo-saxon, norse and celtic - phd.

From the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic

This research degree is usually examined after three years of research by a thesis of up to 80,000 words. The department can offer doctoral supervision on topics in a variety of early medieval languages and literatures, in the history of a comparable range of geographical areas, and palaeography.

Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic - MPhil

This unique programme allows students to achieve an understanding of early Insular culture as a whole while also specialising in aspects of particular interest. Although 50% of the overall assessment is an independently researched dissertation, formal teaching is offered in the form of weekly text seminars.

Students also follow two undergraduate courses of their choice, in order to acquire or enhance disciplines appropriate to their individual research subject (e.g., history, palaeography, languages, philology, textual criticism). In addition, each student will have regular meetings with the allocated  MPhil supervisor.

Department Members

Professor nicolette zeeman head of department.

• 105 Academic Staff
• 3 Postdoctoral Researchers
• 200 Graduate Students
• 600 Undergraduates

http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/

Research areas.

• Renaissance
• 18th Century and Romantic
• 20th Century
• Criticism and Culture
• Contemporary

Postgraduate Admissions Office

• Admissions statistics
• Start an application
• Applicant Self-Service

At a glance

• Bringing a family
• Current Postgraduates
• Cambridge Students' Union (SU)

University Policy and Guidelines

Privacy Policy

Information compliance

Equality and Diversity

Terms of Study

About this site

About our website

Privacy policy

© 2024 University of Cambridge

• Contact the University
• Accessibility
• Freedom of information
• Privacy policy and cookies
• Statement on Modern Slavery
• Terms and conditions
• University A-Z
• Undergraduate
• Postgraduate
• Research news
• About research at Cambridge
• Spotlight on...