University of East Anglia to deliver a new Creative Writing MA course for the new creative economy
By: Communications
The University of East Anglia (UEA), which launched the first ever Masters programme in Creative Writing in the UK, is opening up a new MA Creative Writing degree, commencing in January 2025 and with a further intake in September, that will inspire and equip the latest generation of writers with skills to progress their work in both the print and digital economies.
Based in the historic city of Norwich, a UNESCO City of Literature, the new MA Creative Writing will focus on how writers can craft their work to adapt it to the new forms and opportunities afforded by the changing digital landscape – be it books, plays, poetry, and writing for screen, including games and adapting narratives across all emerging platforms, to meld their ideas to the new literature economy.
The course spans all genres, from fiction and non-fiction, script and poetry, and hybrid, multimodal, and cross-genre writing. It will give students the opportunity to develop industry-oriented genre writing, from speculative fiction to young adult, fantasy to historical. It will also explore how digital technologies including artificial intelligence are transforming ideas of writing and writers.
UEA has educated some of the most celebrated figures contemporary literature, and has benefitted from having forward-thinking influential tutors. Its prestigious history developing the craft of writing stems from its first Creative Writing course that started in 1970 under the leadership of Sir Malcom Bradbury and Sir Angus Wilson. That tradition of creative strength and innovation continues today.
Speaking at the inaugural Norwich Book festival, where the programme will be officially announced to an audience of prominent cultural industry figures, Dr Iain Robinson (Course Director for MA Creative Writing) said: "We are excited to be announcing this new addition to the Creative Writing courses at UEA. Today’s writers work in a digital world that is rapidly transforming. This new MA programme will lead the way internationally in encouraging students to embrace and experiment with the commercial, intellectual, and formal opportunities presented by a changing digital landscape. It is a course that will open a space for writers to experiment and write across different forms and genres, giving them the opportunity to acquire a wide range of future orientated writing skills, as well as allowing them to specialise in a chosen form or genre in their final dissertation project."
Prof Jean McNeil, Director of Creative Writing at UEA, said: "UEA's world-renowned Creative Writing programme is nearly 55 years old. Through those years, we have consistently innovated and offered new courses and programmes as the literary and cultural landscape has changed. We are excited to add to our suite of form-specific Masters programmes (MA Prose Fiction, MA Non Fiction, MA Poetry, MA Scriptwriting, MA Crime Fiction) with a Masters that will allow students to study and experiment across a whole range of creative forms."
To find out more about the course and apply, visit the MA Creative Writing 2025/26 course page.
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