Creative Writing MA (Online)
Write with Confidence
100% online
24 months (part-time)
180 credits
4 starts per year
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Shape your future as a professional writer
- Apply By: 05/02/27
- Start: 01/03/27
Develop your creative voice and build a sustainable writing practice with Goldsmiths, University of London’s online Creative Writing MA/PGDip/PGCert. Through workshop-based learning across fiction, poetry, life writing, and the novel, you’ll refine your craft, receive expert feedback, and create a polished portfolio of original work. Combining creative practice with publishing, professional development, and critical reflection, you’ll graduate with the confidence, portfolio, and industry insight needed to shape a sustainable future as a writer.
Programme details
- Create original work through collaborative writing workshops
- Gain an understanding of current, applicable publishing and professional expectations
- Develop your voice with feedback from writers and peers
- Study online with the flexibility to fit around your life
- Learn with Goldsmiths’ renowned creative writing community
More information about the MA Creative Writing
Click on each tab below to learn additional details regarding the programme requirements and features.
Curriculum
Develop your voice through expert feedback and creative practice
8 courses plus final project
15-20 hours per week
Writing is a craft that develops through practice, reflection, and constructive critique. This MA combines creative workshops and literary study to help you refine your writing across a range of forms while developing the confidence to experiment with new ideas and techniques. Through collaborative learning and regular feedback from tutors and peers, you’ll produce a substantial portfolio of original work that reflects your creative growth.
Alongside developing your craft, you’ll explore the wider publishing landscape, contemporary literary culture, and sustainable approaches to a creative practice and career. The programme does not lead to professional licensure or certification but provides a strong academic and practical foundation for careers in writing, publishing, communications, and the creative industries, as well as further doctoral study.
What you will gain with an MA in Creative Writing
Learn within Goldsmiths’ renowned creative community
Study at a university internationally recognised for creative arts and humanities, joining a vibrant community of writers, artists, and creative thinkers.
Practice‑based learning with critical engagement
Strengthen your writing through creative practice, workshops, and literary analysis while exploring the cultural and contemporary issues that shape creative work.
Explore four genres, then specialise in your focus area
Experiment with short fiction, the novel, poetry, and life writing before specialising in the genre that best reflects your creative interests and ambitions.
Entry criteria
Your next step towards a rewarding literary career
Application Deadline 05/02/27
Start Date 01/03/27
This programme is for curious creatives from a broad range of related disciplines who share a passion for creative writing.
| Online application form | Apply now |
| Degree | Typically, applicants hold a 2:1 bachelor’s degree in literature, humanities, creative arts, or social sciences. Applicants with substantial professional experience may also be considered. |
| Language criteria | If English is not your first language, you’ll usually need an IELTS overall score of 6.5 (with no band below 6.0). In some cases, this may be waived based on prior study, supporting access for a global cohort. |
Apply today
Review our admissions pages for more information on language criteria and how to apply.
AdmissionsFees & funding
Build your future with flexible tuition options
Invest in your future with flexible payment options. You can choose to pay in full or spread the cost across instalments for each module. All fee information is provided to help you make an informed decision.
Programme fees are reviewed annually and are subject to change each academic year. The fees listed above are for the academic year [2026-27].
| Total estimated cost | £12,500 |
|---|---|
| Cost per module | 8 payments of £1,300 and £2,100 for the Final Project (split into two instalments) |
| Total number of credits | 180 |
| Other costs to budget for | The tuition fee includes access to the online learning platform, course materials, and required digital resources. Personal costs such as technical equipment, office supplies, travel, visas, and expenses related to optional residencies are not included. |
Fees and funding
We are excited to be offering discounts. Review our tuition and funding pages for more information.
Funding options
Turn your passion for writing into creative career opportunities
Exceptional writing remains one of the most valuable skills across the creative economy. This MA prepares you for opportunities in publishing, content creation, communications, education, media, and arts organisations by combining advanced creative practice with critical thinking, editing, and professional writing skills. Many graduates continue to develop their own creative practice while also applying their expertise across a wide range of writing and communication roles.
The UK’s creative industries contribute £124.6 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) to the economy each year, highlighting the continued demand for creative talent and communication expertise.1
Explore careers“I was able to learn from and forge connections with other writers (staff and students), and find a sense of community.”
–Emily Berry, MA Creative and Life Writing (campus)
What you’ll learn
In this programme, you’ll refine your voice and technique, strengthen your critical skills in analysing and critiquing texts, and contextualise your work within literary traditions and contemporary markets. You’ll also build confidence in bridging creative practice with academic study, from essays to close reading and literary analysis.
Creative Writing MA programme outcomes
- Develop and articulate a distinctive writerly identity
- Demonstrate advanced creative and technical writing skills
- Critically engage with literary texts, traditions, and contemporary debates
- Produce original creative work to an academic standard
- Navigate publishing, creative industries, and related professional contexts
- Build sustainable practices for ongoing creative and professional development
Meet your faculty
Our expert faculty offer extensive knowledge and diverse perspectives, bringing industry insights and real-world expertise directly into the classroom to enhance your learning experience.
- Academics with advanced qualifications and specialised expertise
- Real-world experience integrated into coursework and discussion
- A learning environment that blends academic rigour with structured support
- Smaller study groups that enable individual attention and feedback
- Ongoing mentorship and support at each stage of your studies at Goldsmiths
Dr Jocelyn Page, Programme Convenor, Creative Writing
Dr Jocelyn Page
Jocelyn Page has published in various journals including The Spectator, Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry Salzburg, South Carolina Review and Poetry Review. Her debut pamphlet, smithereens, was published in 2010 by tall lighthouse press and her 2016 You’ve Got to Wait Till the Man You Trust Says Go was the winner of the Goldsmiths’ Writer Centre’s Poetry Pamphlet award. She is a Lecturer in English and Creative Writing at Goldsmiths College and the University of London Worldwide. She has held residencies at London’s The Reach Climbing Centre and the 999 Club homeless centre and currently serves as a Creative Consultant for Greenpeace International. Jocelyn is the co-chair of the National Association of Writers in Education and a Fellow of Higher Education Association.
Amy Sackville, Senior Lecturer, Creative Writing
Amy Sackville
Amy Sackville is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing. She writes novels, short stories and occasional personal essays and reviews, with interests in historical fiction, experimental form, ekphrasis, and the intersections of life writing, biography and (auto)fiction. Her most recent book, Painter to the King (Granta, 2018), is about the painter Diego Velázquez and his life and work in the court of Philip IV of Spain. She has written for The Guardian, The Independent, Literary Hub, Fictionable, and others. In 2018, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She completed the MA in Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmiths in 2008.
Dr Livia Franchini, Lecturer in Creative Writing
Dr Livia Franchini
Livia Franchini is a writer and translator from Tuscany, Italy. She is the author of two novels, Shelf Life and High Tide, and the co-editor of Too Little, Too Hard, a collection of essays on writing, work and value. Her most recent English-language translation is Lorenza Mazzetti’s The Sky Is Falling. Livia is Lecturer in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, where she also coordinates the Goldsmiths Prize. She lives in south east London with her family.
Related programmes
Source
- UK Government, DCMS Economic Estimates: Gross Value Added, 2023.