Creative Writing BA(Hons)

International equivalencies

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Why study with us?

• You’ll study at our Falmer campus on the edge of Brighton and the South Downs, with its outstanding modern facilities and easy access to the city centre, and its well-established arts and social scene.

• Our talented teaching team create a dynamic and supportive environment where you will be challenged and helped to learn and grow. They will guide you to think critically and creatively, develop detailed methods of analysis and interpretation and precisely communicate your ideas.

• You will be able to use skills acquired through this course and enhance your individual professional and personal development by taking advantage of volunteer placements with local community projects and city schools by becoming involved with local events.

• Guest speaker sessions will give you the chance to meet inspirational writers such as bestselling author Karen Joy Fowler.

• You will have chances for your work to reach a wider audience through submissions to an online journal, subject-related student societies and a student-led annual anthology.

Course structure

Full-time students will have a minimum of nine hours' contact time a week in a range of lectures, seminars and workshops but they will be expected to carry out independent study for the rest of their time. Part-time study is possible and this can be tailored to suit individual needs.

There are placement opportunities available in the second year as well as field trips to theatres, museums, schools, retirement villages and other community organisations. You are also welcome to study abroad after your second year.

Research informs all our teaching and you will benefit from the insight generated by our staff during their research. You will learn through lectures, seminars and workshops as well as small group and individual tutorials.

Our courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis in order to make sure that what you learn with us is relevant and that your course enables you to develop appropriate skills. When you apply to study with us, we will inform you of any new developments in your chosen programme through our applicant portal.

Year 1

In your first year you will develop your awareness of writing genres and work with local writers on the core modules. 

Modules

• Practices of Reading and Writing
• Brighton Writes
• Narrative Literary Texts
• Storying the Self
• Literature and Theory
• Drama in Society

Year 2

Modules

• Creative Writing: Process and craft
• Research and Practice
• The Art of Publishing
• Creative Writing in Practice

Options*

• Studying Travel Writing
• Power and Persuasion
• Writing for Stage, Radio and Screen
• British Literature in the 20th Century
• Nineteenth Century Literature
• Television Studio Production
• Introduction to Journalism
• Modernisms
• Literature and Art History
• Photography
• Literature in Practice
• Studying Travel Writing
• Queer Writing
• Documentary Film Making: Theory and Practice
• Image and Text: The Language of Comics and Graphic Novels.
• Poetry and Process

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Final year

Modules

• Dissertation
• Final Year Conference

Options*

• Reading and Writing Landscapes
• Community Engagement in Practice
• Gothic: Texts and Contexts
• Apocalypse, Utopia, Dystopia
• Adaptations
• Autoethnographies
• Brighton Rocks
• From Script to Screen
• Women's Writing and Feminist Theory
• Post-War American Literature
• Postcolonial Literatures
•  (Re)viewing Shakespeare
• Autobiography and the Screen
• Literature and Philosophy
• Conflict, Migration, Borders
• Victorian Sexualities
• Popular Culture: Europe and Beyond
• Language, Culture and Ideology
• Writing the Contemporary
• Culture Wars: Creating the Great Divide
• The Language of Gender and Sexuality
• Television News Production
• Images of War
• Russian Literature and Culture
• European Literatures and Film
• Literature and the World Wars
• Restoration Dramas

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Staff profile

Jess Moriarty

Jess Moriarty researches in the field of teaching writing practice, especially in auto-ethnographical academic writing and in creative writing with undergraduates.

She graduated from the University of Sussex with a Creative Writing MA in 2002 and joined the University of Brighton soon after. Jess's doctorate looked at how to make academic writing more personal and creative and included a play based on her autobiographical and researched experiences with academic life. She won a Teaching Excellence award for her workshops with undergraduates.

Jess is the co-founder of Work Write Live, which provides a range of writing short courses and volunteering opportunities for students across arts and humanities courses to develop the vocational and academic skills they are acquiring on their degree programme. You can read more about Jess on her staff profile.

Further information on other Creative Writing staff:

Craig Jordan-Baker, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing. Winner of the 2018 Excellence in Facilitating and Empowering Learning Award. Craig’s drama has been widely performed, and his writing widely published. You can read more about Craig on his staff profile.

Ross Adamson, Senior Lecturer in Media and Digital Storytelling. His research interests are in narrative inquiry, documentary filmmaking and auto/biographical pedagogies. You can read more about Ross on his staff profile.

Julie Everton, Senior Lecturer, playwright and script editor. She teaches drama, script writing, and screenwriting. Her research includes writing about real events/people, models of script development and autoethnography. You can read more about Julie on her staff profile.

What to expect 

Innovative teaching
The written word is always in dialogue: with society, history and with the other arts. We create innovative teaching formats and spaces to help students make new connections and explore that dialogue. Our teaching diet contains museum visits, art gallery tours, archival research and walks in the South Downs National Park.

As well as the traditional formats of the lecture, seminar and workshop, we also deliver a variety of classes aimed to inspire students to think and see differently. In our Life Writing classes for example, students develop observational skills, as life models are ‘written’ rather than drawn.

We also make use of video games and interactive fiction software to visually explore concepts of narrative and narrative structure. Additionally, we have a long-standing connection with the Man Booker Prize, and every year a Man Booker winner or nominee delivers masterclasses to our students.

As a team we pride ourselves on our diverse and friendly teaching, something which has been recognised by awards and nominations for our pedagogic practice.

Extracurricular
Study happens outside the classroom as well as in it and our courses have a vibrant culture around them. Not only are there many exciting student societies you can join, but regular open mic nights give you a chance to share your work and an annual student anthology gives you the opportunity to see it in print.

Staff also help to organise activities and every term our Scrivener Series brings in professional writers to read and speak to students about their craft. All students also receive a weekly email digest of competitions and opportunities to encourage you to get your work out there and think about the future.

You can find out more on the Brighton Students' Union Societies site.

Location

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

Maps

Accommodation

University building

Falmer campus