university of glasgow creative writing phd

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Creative Writing DFA

University of glasgow, different course options.

• Key information

Course Summary

Tuition fees, entry requirements, university information, similar courses at this uni, key information data source : idp connect, qualification type.

Doctoral Programme

Subject areas

Creative Writing

Course type

Our Creative Writing Research degrees are unique and intense programmes for practising writers who wish to complete an ambitious creative project.

Our new research Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and Doctor of Fine Arts (DFA) build on a long history of offering Masters and Doctoral options in the study and practice of Creative Writing.

Our research degrees incorporate hybrid taught elements (literary and practical seminars; workshops; and practical pedagogy) within a supervised research context that best support your creative and critical work.

Both programmes give you dedicated, supported time to complete a substantial creative work, include opportunities to teach writing to undergraduates and apply to be a graduate teaching assistant for other literature courses, and the DFA additionally allows you to undertake an extended academic research, informed by your work and practice, leading to a significant critical essay or output.

Our students enjoy the guidance of writers including Carolyn Jess-Cooke, Colin Herd, Laura Marney, Elizabeth Reeder, Zoë Strachan and Louise Welsh, and critics such as John Coyle, Jane Goldman, Rob Maslen, Alan Riach, and Helen Stoddart.

Across all our postgraduate provision, both taught and by research, students have access to the best of the new and also develop a sense of the origins and histories.

Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow is based in the Edwin Morgan Writing Room with its book, periodical and audio-visual library. There is an ambitious programme of visiting speakers, masterclasses and public events. The University Library with its modern collections and archives is a crucial resource, including the archive for Edwin Morgan’s Papers. We also collaborate with the Mitchell Library, one of the great civic libraries of Europe. And our popular Creative Conversations bring a carefully curated range of visiting speakers to campus every week during the semester.

We have strong links with literary agents and an impressive history of published graduates.

Thesis length 70,000-100,000. Both the MFA and DFA run as Low Residency options, where students must attend at least two intense weeks of seminars, visiting speakers, workshop and practical elements (including teaching creative writing in the second year). One week will take place during the first week of the autumn semester in first year; the other will take place in the spring or early in the summer semester of second year.

UK fees Course fees for UK students

For this course (per year)

International fees Course fees for EU and international students

All applications must follow the standard entry requirements for the College of Arts: First or Upper Second Class Honours Degree or equivalent qualification (2:1 in the case of UK Research Council supported students); A Masters qualification or equivalent. In addition, for both our MFA and DFA we are looking for writers to have a preparatory one-year, postgraduate masters in Creative Writing with either Merit or Distinction (MA, MLitt or MPhil) or three publications in respected literary journals or magazines, in the intended genre of study. Compelling equivalencies will be considered.

The University of Glasgow is one of four ancient universities in Scotland, founded back in 1451. Alumni include seven Nobel Prize winners, Scotland’s First Minister and a Prime Minister, while Albert Einstein gave a seminal lecture on the theory of relativity there in 1933. The university consists of four colleges: College of Arts College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences College of Science and Engineering College of... more

Creative Writing MLitt

Full time | 1 year | 23-SEP-24

Playwriting and Dramaturgy MLitt

Creative writing mlitt (online).

Online | 12 months | 23-SEP-24

Creative Writing MFA

Full time | 2 years | 23-SEP-24

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University of glasgow: creative writing.

The Creative Writing programme at Glasgow has gained an excellent reputation amongst writers, agents and publishers. It is perfect for talented and aspiring writers who want to develop their craft, take risks in their work, and gain creative and critical skills; all as part of a supportive community of fellow writers.

Our postgraduate taught and research-led writing courses are among the most challenging and popular in Britain, and have helped launch the career of a number of successful writers including Anne Donovan, Louise Welsh and Rodge Glass, to name but a few.

Our postgraduate taught and research-led writing courses are among the most challenging and popular in Britain, and have helped launch the career of a number of successful writers including Anne Donovan, Louise Welsh and Rodge Glass, to name but a few. * We invite a range of guest speakers who can offer inspiration and advice to you, including authors, poets, journalists, publishers, editors, literary judges and playwrights. You can find information on previous guest speakers by visiting our creative writing subject page. * We have strong links with literary agents and publishers, and an impressive number of our graduates are published and acclaimed authors. * Join our creative community and study at a world-leading university. The University of Glasgow has been named Scottish University of the Year 2022 by the Times and the Sunday Times Good University Guide and rank 33rd in the World for English Language & Literature (QS World Rankings 2022). * Listen to our podcast: Stories from Glasgow - Writing Space with Dr Oliver K. Langmead. * Read From Glasgow to Saturn, our literary journal.

The MLitt in Creative Writing is directed at those who are already engaged in writing. The programme’s clear three-part structure, focused on creative, critical and practical issues, distinguishes it from others offered in the UK.

The programme structure covers:

• CREATIVE WRITING: CRAFT AND EXPERIMENTATION 1
• CREATIVE WRITING: EDITING AND PUBLICATION 1
• CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP
• CREATIVE WRITING PORTFOLIO (PGT)
• CREATIVE WRITING: EDITING AND PUBLICATION 2

And your choice (subject to availability) of one of the following: * CRIME FICTION * CREATIVE WRITING: OF THE PERSONAL: EMOTIONS AND THE SELF IN CREATIVE NON-FICTION * CREATIVE WRITING: POETRY INTERVENES NOW: DIVERSE QUEER STRATEGIES OF MAKING * THE GENRE-BENDING ART OF ESSAYING * READING & WRITING DEATH & DYING

Creative Conversations and other visiting speakers, which are not courses, also run through both semesters. These courses have been developed to:

• encourage you to experiment with a range of voices, techniques and genres alongside a consideration of major creative and editorial engagements from the modern through the contemporary period
• provide a space to undertake extended portfolios of creative and editorial work
• familiarise you with the writing context (audience, publishing in all its forms, the legal framework, modes of transmission); help you develop a critical understanding of diverse creative, theoretic and critical texts through consideration of major creative and editorial engagements in modern and contemporary writing
• help you develop the discipline of regular writing by providing a stimulating workshop and tutorial environment in which writing skills can be acquired, discussed and honed

Your portfolio, consisting of fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, or script-writing, is at the heart of the summative assessment.

Glasgow is a city known for its culture and our students are involved in festivals, events, radio and literary magazines.

Graduates have gone into journalism, publishing and writing.

You can find a list of alumni on our Creative Writing subject pages. Others have been published in magazines and journals, or have had their work produced and broadcast on radio and television.

A number of our graduates have won or been shortlisted for major prizes for poetry, short fiction and fiction including the Dundee Book Prize, Booker Prize, Bailey’s Women’s Prize, Orange Prize, Fish Short Story Award, Bridport Prize, McCash Scots Poetry Competition, Macallan and Canongate short story awards, Saltire Awards, Scottish Book of the Year Awards.

Full-Time, 12 months started Sep 2023

The  University of Glasgow  is one of the UK’s most prestigious seats of learning, and the fourth oldest university in the English speaking world. Established in 1451 and recognised for its world-changing research and teaching, the University has inspired thinkers from eminent scientist Lord Kelvin and the father of economics Adam Smith, to Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. 

The University:

• is in the top 100 in the world: Times Higher World University Rankings 2023
• 95.9% of students in employment or further study 6 months after graduation …

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Creative writing

The Creative Writing discipline supports practice-based and critical research and PhD study focused on creative writing. This research activity is associated with the discipline's Contemporary Cultures of Writing Research Group. The core activity in this type of PhD study is the creation of a book-length work of literature (or script equivalent) and an accompanying critical reflective thesis, which elucidates the research and creative strategies involved in making the work. In this way the essence of the Creative Writing PhD is research through creative practice. The final creative work emerges from and embodies the research questions, and the decisions and discoveries made while producing the work. We welcome applications from candidates suitably qualified and with appropriate writing experience and ability.

We expect well-structured proposals which set out specific research questions and clearly outline creative and critical approaches. A substantial writing sample is also required.

Entry requirements

Minimum 2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent) and a strong academic and creative record, usually evidenced by an MA in Creative Writing and relevant publications. If you are not a UK citizen, you may need to prove your knowledge of English . 

Potential research projects

• Fiction – novel and short stories
• Creative Nonfiction – including life writing
• Script for stage, radio or screen

Current/recent research projects

• The Longest Fight: a novel and Getting into the Ring: an investigation of archetypes of the boxing hero, the creative influences of boxing reportage, and the role of personal memories in historical fiction.
• Freethinkers, a novel, and Inventing history: how do research, imagination and memory fuse creatively in the writing of an historical novel?
• Darkness Is Never Absolute: Ekphrasis of the Formless and Near-Black Paintings.
• The Other Mothers: Exploring adoption, surrogacy and egg donation through life writing.
• The Electric: A novel and critical commentary investigating narrative disruption in sign language, cinemagoing, and trauma.
• Longing to belong: an investigation into the potential for alternative storytelling techniques.
• A Sudden Light: a practice-led exploration of the significance and potential of the contemporary timeslip novel.

Potential supervisors

• Dr Emily Bullock
• Dr Siobhan Campbell
• Dr Donall Mac Cathmhaoill
• Dr Fiona Doloughan
• Dr Edward Hogan
• Dr Lania Knight
• Dr Derek Neale
• Dr Heather Richardson
• Dr Samuel Sargeant
• Dr Emma Sweeney
• Dr Jane Yeh

Some of our research students are funded via the Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership ; others are self-funded.

For detailed information about fees and funding, visit  Fees and studentships .

To see current funded studentship vacancies across all research areas, see  Current studentships .

• Creative Writing at The Open University
• Recent and current creative writing PhD students
• The Contemporary Cultures of Writing Research Group

Get in touch

If you have an enquiry specific to this research topic, please contact:

Dr Molly Ziegler / Dr Ed Hogan Email: FASS-EnglishCreativeWriting-Enquiries Phone: +44 (0)1908 652092

If you’re interested in applying for this research topic, please take a look at the application process .

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PhD, MPhil, MRes Creative writing

Research opportunities.

As well as the popular MLitt in Creative Writing , and a research-led MRes in Creative Writing route at Masters level, we also offer PhDs in Creative Writing which may suit those who wish to pursue a particular sustained project. You can study the PhD in Creative Writing full-time, over three years, or part-time over six years.

You'll create a piece of imaginative writing in collaboration with a successful, published author – either the novelist and screenwriter Andrew Meehan (One Star Awake, The Mystery of Love), Dr. Rodge Glass, novelist, short story writer, editor and biographer of the great Glaswegian writer Alasdair Gray, or the novelist and poet Sarah Bernstein (The Coming Bad Days, Now Comes the Lightning).

You can specialise in one of these genres:

• imaginative non-fiction
• hybrid writing

The length of your project can be negotiated with your supervisor, but will usually be around 80,000 words. All projects are different, and exact word counts will be tailored to particular projects, usually dependent on the form of the work, also the nature of the accompanying critical element that is also submitted as part of a PhD alongside the creative work. A good Creative Writing PhD contains these two parts - creative and critical writing - working in conversation with each other.

Previous PhD students at Strathclyde have gone on to notable success, such as the poet and performer Dr. Katie Ailes (I Am Loud Productions) and short story specialist Dr. Scott McNee (New Writing Scotland, 2022). As of September 2022, current PhD students in Creative Writing include:

• the novelist and short story writer Sindhu Rajasekaran (author of Smash the Patriarchy and So I Let it Be)
• poet, fiction and nonfiction writer Meredith Glasson-Darling (‘Notable Essay’ in Best American Essays, 2021)
• Sunday Times No.1 Bestselling author of The Young Team, Graeme Armstrong

Alex's Strathlife

Find out why Alex Wasalinko chose Strathclyde and what she thinks of Glasgow and the course.

I went to Scotland for the first time when I was a junior at university and fell in love with the country and I decided I wanted to come back to do my postgrad here...

View our current research opportunities

John anderson research studentship scheme (jarss).

John Anderson Research Studentship Scheme (JARSS) doctoral studentships are available annually for excellent students and excellent research projects.

There are two main sources of funding:

• Central University funding
• Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council - Doctoral Training Partnership (EPSRC - DTP) funding.

The JARSS 2023/2024 competition will open in October 2023 and students successful in this competition will commence studies in October 2024. Faculties will set their own internal deadlines for the competition.

Academics/Supervisors make the applications for this scheme and there are various deadlines across the Department and Faculties, therefore, in the first instance, all interested students should contact the Department where they would like to carry out their research.

Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences Scholarships

• EU Engagement Scholarships  are available to EU applicants who would have previously been eligible for Home (Scottish/EU) fee status.
• EU and International 50% Merit Scholarships available to self-funded, international fee-paying offer-holders (includes those classed as EU fee group). The scholarship entitles the recipient to a discount of 50% on tuition fees.

Fees & funding

All fees quoted are per academic year unless otherwise stated.

Entrants may be subject to a small fee during the writing up period.

Fees may be subject to updates to maintain accuracy. Tuition fees will be notified in your offer letter.

All fees are in £ sterling, unless otherwise stated, and may be subject to revision.

Annual revision of fees

Students on programmes of study of more than one year (or studying standalone modules) should be aware that tuition fees are revised annually and may increase in subsequent years of study. Annual increases will generally reflect UK inflation rates and increases to programme delivery costs.

Please note: the fees shown are annual and may be subject to an increase each year.

Supervisors

Our research.

Storytelling is at the heart of our culture. Whether you’re interested in poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, or screenwriting, we'll guide you towards telling the best story possible.

We combine the best creative instincts with first-hand experience in the creative industries. The world of storytelling is ever-changing, so we make sure to invite only the most relevant industry speakers from the worlds of broadcasting, publishing and digital media.

My whole journey at Strathclyde was instrumental for my career. It was here that I learned how to write essays to a higher standard, how not to write essays, how to express myself creatively, how to work as part of a team, how to publish and edit a book, how to wander the library and lose track of time reading about something new.

• Schools & departments

Creative Writing PhD

Awards: PhD

Study modes: Full-time, Part-time

Funding opportunities

Programme website: Creative Writing

Upcoming Introduction to Postgraduate Study and Research events

Join us online on the 19th June or 26th June to learn more about studying and researching at Edinburgh.

Choose your event and register

Research profile

The PhD in Creative Writing offers committed and talented writers the opportunity to study Creative Writing at the highest level.

Supported by an expert supervisory team you will work independently towards the production of a substantial, publishable piece of creative writing, accompanied by a sustained exercise in critical study.

The academic staff you will be working with are all active researchers or authors, including well-published and prize-winning writers of poetry, prose, fiction and drama. They include:

• Dr Jane Alexander - Fiction
• Dr Lynda Clark - Fiction
• Dr Patrick Errington - Poetry
• Dr Miriam Gamble - Poetry
• Dr Alan Gillis - Poetry
• Nicola McCartney - Drama
• Dr Jane McKie - Poetry
• Dr Allyson Stack - Fiction
• Kim Sherwood - Fiction
• Alice Thompson - Fiction

Find out more about the programme and our team

Training and support

We encourage you to share your research and learn from the work of others through a programme of seminars and visiting speakers.

We have an in-house Writer-in-Residence, annual writing prizes, and a range of opportunities to learn from experts in the publishing industry.

We also offer access to opportunities provided by the Sottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities.

Our postgraduate journal, Forum, is a valuable conduit for research findings and provides an opportunity to gain editorial experience.

• Forum: postgraduate journal of culture and the arts

A UNESCO World City of Literature, Edinburgh is a remarkable place to study, write, publish, discuss and perform prose, poetry and drama.

Take a PhD with us and you will be based in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) in the historic centre of this world-leading festival city.

Our buildings are close to:

• National Library of Scotland (where collections include the Bute Collection of early modern English drama and the John Murray Archive)
• Edinburgh Central Library
• Scottish Poetry Library
• Scottish Storytelling Centre
• Writers’ Museum
• Traverse Theatre

We have strong links with the Edinburgh International Book Festival, which annually welcomes around 1,000 authors to our literary city.

There are lots of opportunities to write and share your work, from Forum to The Selkie, which was founded by Creative Writing students in 2018 to showcase work by people who self-identify as underrepresented.

Around the city, you’ll find library readings and bookshop launches, spoken word gigs, cabaret nights and poetry slams, including events run by celebrated publishing outlets, from Canongate and Polygon / Birlinn to Luath Press, 404 Ink, Taproot Press and Mariscat.

You will have access to the University’s many literary treasures, which include:

• William Drummond library
• Lewis Grassic Gibbon library
• Hugh MacDiarmid library
• Norman MacCaig library
• W.H. Auden collection
• Corson collection
• works by and about Sir Walter Scott
• Ramage collection of poetry pamphlets

The Centre for Research Collections also holds a truly exceptional collection of early Shakespeare quartos and other early modern printed plays. These have been put together by the 19th century Shakespearean James Halliwell-Phillipps, the correspondence of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle (the focus of one of the major editorial projects in Victorian studies of the last half-century), and the extensive Laing collection of medieval and early modern manuscripts.

You will also have access to letters and papers by - and relating to - authors including:

• Christopher Isherwood
• Rudyard Kipling
• John Middleton Murry
• Walter de la Mare
• George Mackay Brown
• Compton Mackenzie

Many of the University's Special Collections are digitised and available online from our excellent Resource Centre, Computing Labs, and dedicated PhD study space in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC).

Look inside the PhD study space in LLC

Entry requirements

These entry requirements are for the 2024/25 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2025/26 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2024.

A UK masters degree, or its international equivalent, in creative writing, normally with distinction.

We may also consider your application if you have equivalent qualifications or experience. For additional information please refer to the pre-application guidance in the 'How to apply' section.

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

• Entry requirements by country
• English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

• IELTS Academic: total 7.0 with at least 6.5 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
• TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 100 with at least 23 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
• C1 Advanced ( CAE ) / C2 Proficiency ( CPE ): total 185 with at least 176 in each component.
• Trinity ISE : ISE III with passes in all four components.
• PTE Academic: total 70 with at least 62 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS , TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE , in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

• UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

• Approved universities in non-MESC

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old* at the beginning of your programme of study. (*Revised 05 March 2024 to extend degree validity to five years.)

Find out more about our language requirements:

• Fees and costs

Read our general information on tuition fees and studying costs:

Scholarships and funding

Featured funding.

There are a number of scholarship schemes available to eligible candidates on this PhD programme, including awards from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Please be advised that many scholarships have more than one application stage, and early deadlines.

• Find out more about scholarships in literatures, languages and cultures

Other funding opportunities

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

• Search for funding

Further information

• Phone: +44 (0)131 650 4086
• Contact: [email protected]
• School of Literatures, Languages & Cultures
• 50 George Square
• Central Campus
• Programme: Creative Writing
• School: Literatures, Languages & Cultures
• College: Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

This programme is not currently accepting applications. Applications for the next intake usually open in October.

Start date: September

Awards: PhD (36 mth FT, 72 mth PT)

Application deadlines

Due to high demand, the school operates a number of selection deadlines. We will make a small number of offers to the most outstanding candidates on an ongoing basis, but hold the majority of applications until the next published selection deadline when we will offer a proportion of the places available to applicants selected through a competitive process.

Deadlines for applicants applying to study in 2024/25:

• How to apply
• Pre-application guidance

Before you formally apply for this PhD, you should look at the pre-application information and guidance on the programme website.

This will help you decide if this programme is right for you, and help us gain a clearer picture of what you hope to achieve.

The guidance details the writing samples you should send us as part of your application (either fiction or poetry, along with a shorter sample of your academic writing).

It will also give you practical advice for writing your project summary – one of the most important parts of your application.

Find out more about the general application process for postgraduate programmes:

King's College London

Creative writing research phd.

Key information

The PhD in Creative Writing at King’s is a practice-led course, incorporating taught elements and aspects of professional development. It is designed to cater for talented, committed writers who are looking to complete a book-length creative work for publication and sustain a long-term career in writing.

Key Benefits

Our unique programme offers students:

• a varied, structured framework for the development of their creative work, with regular feedback from experienced author-lecturers in the department through supervision and workshops
• purposeful engagement with professionals from the publishing and performance industries throughout the course, building potential routes to publication
• valuable teaching experience in creative writing at HE-level through our Graduate Teaching Assistantship scheme
• practical experience in public engagement, through curating and chairing public literary events at King’s
• a community of fellow writers and collaborative projects

English Department

We have over 100 doctoral students from all over the world working on a wide range of projects. Together with our community of postdoctoral fellows, our early career researchers both organise and participate in our thriving seminar and conference culture.

The English department is home to award-winning novelists, poets, essayists, biographers, non-fiction authors, and literary critics, who supervise creative projects at doctoral level within their specialisms.

Works by our staff have won or been shortlisted for a number of literary accolades, including: the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Forward Prize, the Man Booker Prize, the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year, the Costa First Novel Award, the Costa Poetry Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, the Commonwealth Book Prize, the Biographers’ Club / Slightly Foxed First Biography Prize, the U.S. National Book Critics Circle Award, the CWA Gold Dagger Award, the European Union Prize for Literature, the RSL Encore Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Award, the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Letters, le Prix du Roman Fnac, le Prix du Roman Etranger, the Kiriyama Prize, the Republic of Consciousness Prize, the Royal Society of Literature’s Encore Award, and the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. Many of the creative writing staff are Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature.

Their most recent publications are:

Benjamin Wood

The Young Accomplice (Penguin Viking, 2022) – fiction

A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better (Scribner, 2018) – fiction

Edmund Gordon

The Invention of Angela Carter (Chatto & Windus, 2016) – creative non-fiction

Loop of Jade (Chatto & Windus, 2015) – poetry

Anthony Joseph

Sonnets for Albert (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022) – poetry

The Frequency of Magic (Peepal Tree Press, 2019) – fiction

Lara Feigel

The Group (John Murray Press, 2020) – fiction

Free Woman: Life, Liberation and Doris Lessing (Bloomsbury, 2018) – creative non-fiction

Homing: On Pigeons, Dwellings, and Why We Return (John Murray Press, 2019) – creative non-fiction

Daughters of the Labyrinth (Corsair, 2021) – fiction

Beethoven Variations: Poems on a Life (Chatto & Windus, 2020) – poetry

Emerald (Chatto & Windus, 2018) – poetry

Andrew O'Hagan

Mayflies (Faber & Faber, 2020) – fiction

The Secret Life: Three True Stories (Faber & Faber, 2017) – creative non-fiction

*may vary according to research leave and availability.

King's Alumni

The list of King’s alumni not only features many acclaimed contemporary authors—Michael Morpurgo, Alain de Botton, Hanif Kureishi, Marina Lewycka, Susan Hill, Lawrence Norfolk, Ross Raisin, Alexander Masters, Anita Brookner, and Helen Cresswell—it also includes major figures in literature, such as Maureen Duffy, Arthur C Clarke, Thomas Hardy, Christopher Isherwood, BS Johnson, John Keats, W. Somerset Maugham, and Virginia Woolf.

Course Detail

Our postgraduate writing students are given a supportive environment in which to enhance their technique, to explore the depths of their ideas, to sustain their creative motivation, and to prepare them for the demands of the writer’s life beyond the College.

At King's we know that writing well requires self-discipline and an ability to work productively in isolation; but we also appreciate that postgraduate writers thrive when they are part of a community of fellow authors, an environment of constructive criticism and shared endeavour.

That is why we offer our PhD students the guidance of knowledgeable and experienced practitioners. They will have frequent opportunities to interact and collaborate with peers and forge lasting connections within London’s writing industry.

Students will be expected to attend the quarterly Thesis Workshop, and also to take an active part in curating literary events at King’s, including the Poetry And… quarterly reading series. They will be invited to apply for positions teaching undergraduate creative writing modules as part of the Department’s Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA) scheme.

After three years (full-time) or six years (part-time), students are expected to submit either:

• a novel or short story collection
• a poetry collection
• a full-length work of creative non-fiction

In addition, they are also required to submit an essay (up to 15,000 words) that examines their practical approach to the conception, development, and revision of their project, and which explores how their creative work was informed by research (archival, book-based, or experiential).

• How to apply
• Fees or Funding

Many of our incoming students apply for AHRC funding via the London Arts and Humanities Partnership. Please see their website ( www.lahp.ac.uk ) for more detail of deadlines, application procedure and awards available. Also the ‘Student Funding’ section of the Prospectus will give you more information on other scholarships available from King’s.

UK Tuition Fees 2023/24

Full time tuition fees:

£5,820 per year (MPhil/PhD, Creative Writing)

Part time tuition fees:

£2,910 per year (MPhil/PhD, Creative Writing)

International Tuition Fees 2023/24

£22,900 per year (MPhil/PhD, Creative Writing)

£11,450 per year (MPhil/PhD, Creative Writing)

UK Tuition Fees 2024/25

£6,168 per year (MPhil/PhD, Creative Writing)

£3,084 per year (MPhil/PhD, Creative Writing)

International Tuition Fees 2024/25

£24,786 per year (MPhil/PhD, Creative Writing)

£12,393 per year (MPhil/PhD, Creative Writing)

These tuition fees may be subject to additional increases in subsequent years of study, in line with King’s terms and conditions.

• Study environment

Base campus

Strand Campus

Located on the north bank of the River Thames, the Strand Campus houses King's College London's arts and sciences faculties.

PhD in Creative Writing students are taught through one-to-one sessions with an appointed supervisor in their chosen specialism (fiction, creative non-fiction, or poetry) as well as through quarterly thesis workshops. They are also appointed a second supervisor whose role is to offer an additional perspective on the work being produced.

We place great emphasis on pastoral care and are a friendly and welcoming department in the heart of London. Our home in the Virginia Woolf Building offers many spaces for postgraduate students to work and socialise. Studying in London means students have access to a huge range of libraries from the Maughan Library at King’s to the Senate House Library at the University of London and the British Library.

Our PhD Creative Writing students are taught exclusively by practicing, published writers of international reputation. These include:

Benjamin Wood (Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing)

Supervises projects in fiction.

Edmund Gordon (Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing)

Supervises projects in fiction and creative non-fiction.

Sarah Howe (Lecturer in Poetry)

Supervises projects in poetry.

Anthony Joseph (Lecturer in Creative Writing)

Supervises projects in poetry and fiction.

Jon Day (Senior Lecturer in English)

Supervises projects in creative non-fiction and fiction

Lara Feigel (Professor of Modern Literature)

Supervises projects in creative non-fiction and fiction.

Ruth Padel (Professor Emerita of Poetry)

Andrew O’Hagan (Visiting Professor)

*Teaching staff may vary according to research leave and availability.

Our programme also incorporates the following taught components:

Thesis Workshop

A termly writing seminar for the discussion and appraisal of works-in-progress. These are taught on a rotational basis by all members of the creative writing staff, so that students get the benefit of hearing a range of voices and opinions on their work throughout the course.

The Writing Life

A suite of exclusive guest talks and masterclasses from leading authors, publishers, and editors, in which students receive guidance from people working at the top level of the writing industry and learn about the various demands of maintaining a career as a writer.

Recent speakers have included Amit Chaudhuri, Chris Power, Rebecca Watson, Mendez, Frances Leviston, Joanna Biggs, Joe Dunthorne, Francesca Wade, Kishani Widyaratna, Jacques Testard and Leo Robson.

Other elements of professional development are included in the degree:

Agents-in-Residence

Candidates in fiction or creative-nonfiction will meet and discuss their work in one-to-one sessions with invited literary agents, who are appointed to yearly residencies. These sessions offer writers a different overview of the development of their project: not solely from the standpoint of authorial technique, but with a view towards the positioning of their writing within a competitive and selective industry. Poetry candidates will meet and discuss their work with invited editors from internationally recognised poetry journals and presses.

Undergraduate Teaching

Through our Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) training scheme, our PhD students can apply to lead undergraduate creative writing workshops in fiction, creative non-fiction, and/or poetry, enabling them to acquire valuable HE-level teaching experience that will benefit them long after graduation.

Reading Series

Our students are required to participate in the curation of literary events at King’s. They are also responsible for curating Poetry And… , a quarterly reading in which leading poets illuminate the powerful connections between poetry and other disciplines. Students will develop skills in public engagement by chairing discussions and may also perform excerpts of their own writing.

Postgraduate Training

There is a range of induction events and training provided for students by the Centre for Doctoral Studies, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and the English Department. A significant number of our students are AHRC-funded through the London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP) which also provides doctoral training to all students. All students take the ‘Doctoral Seminar’ in their first year. This is a series of informal, staff-led seminars on research skills in which students can share and gain feedback on their own work. We run a series of ‘Skills Lunches’, which are informal lunch meetings with staff, covering specific topics, including Upgrading, Attending Conferences, Applying for Funding and Post-Doctoral Awards, etc. Topics for these sessions are generally suggested by the students themselves, so are particularly responsive to student needs. We have an Early Career Staff Mentor who runs more formal workshops of varying kinds, particularly connected to career development and the professions.

Through our Graduate Teaching Assistantship Scheme, doctoral students can apply to teach in the department (usually in their second year of study) and are trained and supported as they do so.

• Entry requirements

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Search through a list of available supervisors.

Accommodation

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Creative Writing

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Introduction

Our Creative Writing PhD programme offers a dedicated, supportive and multi-award winning team of full-time supervisory staff specialising in poetry, fiction and non-fiction prose.

Study Information

At a glance, want to know more.

Our writers include internationally renowned novelist Alan Warner (author of Morvern Callar, The Sopranos and The Stars in the Bright Sky as well as film and stage adaptations of his work); David Wheatley (author of Mocker, A Nest on the Waves and The President of Planet Earth, and a 2015 judge of the National Poetry Competition); Helen Lynch (author of The Elephant and the Polish Question and Tea for the Rent Boy); Wayne Price (author of Furnace, Mercy Seat and the Laureate’s Choice poetry collection Fossil Record); Alan Marcus (filmmaker of In Place of Death, The New Colossus and 216 Beach Walk, Waikiki) and Shane Strachan (author of DWAMS and Nevertheless: Sparkian Tales in Bulawayo).

The University of Aberdeen offers a rich and unique variety of inter-disciplinary creative opportunities based on the University’s centres of research excellence such as the WORD Centre for Creative Writing , The Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies (host of visiting writers such as Michael Longley and James Kelman), the Centre for the Novel (host of visiting writers such as Michele Roberts, Janice Galloway and Will Self), and the Sir Herbert Grierson Centre .

Our postgraduate programmes host masterclasses from world-class visiting writers (recent workshops have featured Claire Keegan, Don Paterson and Simon Armitage) and The WORD Centre organises a number of highly popular literary events each year as part of the University’s May Fest. The Centre also fosters many active and productive links with the wider writing community of the north east.

PGR students may opt to study part-time or full-time, and all successful applicants are considered for competitive bursary funding. We are open to discussing all potential projects with applicants, including the possibility of undertaking these via Distance Learning.

Approaches from applicants who wish to undertake their studies as Distance Learners will be considered, subject to discussion with an appropriate supervisor

Our Research

David Wheatley is a poet and critic with particular research interests in the field of twentieth-century and contemporary poetry, Irish literature and Samuel Beckett. As well as Creative Writing applications in poetry and translation, he welcomes applications from prospective PhD students in the above research areas.

In Creative Writing, Helen Lynch has research and practical expertise in short fiction, nature writing, life writing, travel writing, and fictional autobiography. She also has strong research interests in the literature and politics of the early modern period (especially Milton, Spenser, Shakespeare and the connections between them).

Wayne Price's research interests include practice-based research in fiction, particularly realism, postmodernism, regional literatures and short story theory and practice.

Alan Marcus engages with different methodological approaches to creative non-fiction filmmaking, with an interest in documentary, the essay film, experimental film and drama. His research incorporates cinematic storytelling involving post-traumatic sites and marginalized communities. Thematically, his work is often located in the visualisation of urban environments in conflict settings, in addition to research on differing perceptions of the landscape and notions of home and displacement.

Alan Warner is interested in Creative Writing research projects (generally in prose), across all genres, especially literary fiction, short stories, or thriller, crime, fantasy, science fiction, memoir and non-fiction.

Shane Strachan’s practice-based research interests include prose fiction (particularly short fiction), creative non-fiction (across forms), poetry (including spoken word) and multidisciplinary projects working with other artforms such as visual arts and design, theatre and music. He also has research interests in Scottish Literature, the Scots language (including translation), and writing in regional dialects.

Potential Supervisors

• Dr Helen Lynch
• Dr Wayne Price
• Mr Alan Warner
• Dr David Wheatley
• Professor Alan Marcus
• Dr Shane Strachan

Entry Requirements

Our minimum requirement is a 2:1 Hons degree or better in a cognate discipline (such as Creative Writing, English Literature, or other literature-focused discipline). Strong performance at PGT level (folio dissertation at Merit or above) is strongly preferred but not essential if UG performance has been outstanding.

Where applicants possess relevant professional expertise (such as in Journalism or accredited authorship), the degree requirement may be waived, but this would only apply where applicants can clearly demonstrate an ability to work at an advanced level in both creative practice and academic research.

International Applicants

• Information about visa and immigration requirements
• Information regarding country-specific entry requirements

Fees and Funding

Please refer to our Tuition Fees page for fee information for this Research Area.

Further Information about tuition fees and the cost of living in Aberdeen

Our Funding Database

View all funding options in our Funding Database .

Graduates go into Public/Private Sector Accounting and Management, Fund Management, Stockbroking, Investment Analysis, Banking and Financial Services and Academia.

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English and Creative Writing PhD

Course options.

• Apply for this course

Entry requirements

What is english and creative writing phd.

A research degree in the Humanities offers a multitude of opportunities, depending on your discipline, interests and experience.

Creative Writing The team has specialisms in the writing of poetry, plays, short-stories, novels and novellas, and in the creative process, creative writing pedagogy, language and style, writing and cognition. There are also opportunities for interdisciplinary work with English Language and Literature, Fine Art or Performance.

English Opportunities for research cover English Language and English Literature as well as interdisciplinary projects. While our expertise is broad, we particularly welcome applications in: Romantic and Nineteenth-century and North American literature; Crime Fiction; Children’s Literature; Women’s Writing; Postcolonial and Black British Literature; Nature Writing; Ecolinguistics; Discourse Analysis; Language Variation; Sociolinguistics and Dialectology.

Study style

The Humanities subject community offers a stimulating and supportive intellectual environment, consisting of a diverse culture of specialist and interdisciplinary postgraduate research. You’ll benefit from working with a team of research-active and industry-connected supervisors, as well as being part of a research community. Working closely with your supervisors, you will shape a research project which is current and cutting edge in your discipline.

Get English and Creative Writing PhD course updates and hear more about studying with us.

At least a 2.1 honours degree or equivalent in a relevant subject.

Please provide a copy of your research proposal. This should be 1,000 words (excluding references and appendices) following the structure outlined in this research proposal guide .

Please note; we’re unable to process applications without a proposal for the School’s consideration. Not supplying one will delay the processing of applications.

Fees and costs

You're viewing fees for the course option. Choose a different course option to see corresponding course fees.

Ready to apply?

Can't see your research area listed.

With research submitted in each of our research areas judged to be internationally excellent according to the results of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF2021), our research supervisors have a broad range of specialisms across a diverse range of subjects.

Get in touch to find out how we can support your research interests by emailing [email protected].

Established cultural links

We have close links with the local theatre, heritage and festival organizations, as well as religious, philosophical and community groups.

Internationally-recognised supervisors

Our supervisors have internationally-recognised profiles as academics and writers, providing a multitude of networking opportunities.

A vibrant community

Be part of a vibrant, interdisciplinary research community.

School of Creative Arts

Explore and collaborate with creatives from across the spectrum. We offer the perfect environment to practice your craft and prepare you to graduate career-ready.

Keep Me Updated

Other courses you might like, english literature and creative writing ba (hons)  , creative writing ba (hons)  , creative and critical writing ma, pgcert, pgdip  , take a look at our social media.

PhD in Creative Writing

Program overview.

The PhD in Creative Writing and Literature is a four-year course of study. Following two years of course work that includes workshop, forms classes, pedagogical training, and literature, students take exams in two areas, one that examines texts through the lens of craft and another that examines them through the lens of literary history and theory. Recent examples of the genre area include Comic Fiction, History of the Love Lyric, and Fantasy; recent examples of the scholarly area include History of the Novel, 20th Century American Poetry, and Modern & Contemporary British Fiction. In the first two years, students take three courses per semester; the teaching load throughout the program is one class per semester. Every PhD student has the opportunity to teach creative writing, with many also teaching literature classes. Most students are funded by teaching, with two or three at a time funded by editorial work at  The Cincinnati Review or Acre Books, and others funded in their dissertation year by college- or university-level fellowships. Fifth-year support, while not guaranteed, has generally been available to interested students in the form of student lecturerships, which carry a 2-2 load. The Creative Writing PhD at the University of Cincinnati has maintained over the last decade more than a 75% placement rate into full-time academic jobs for its doctoral graduates. Two-thirds of these positions are tenure-track.

Application Information

• Exam Areas and Committee
• Doctoral Candidacy Form
• Foreign Language
• Exam Procedures
• Dissertations
• Applying for Fifth-Year Funding
• Working for The Cincinnati Review
• Teaching Opportunities
• All Creative Writing Graduate Courses
• Archive of Technique & Form Courses

Creative Writing Programs Online

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15 colleges and schools

350+ degrees on-campus

600+ degrees online

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Online Undergraduate and Graduate Creative Writing Programs

Do you want to learn how to tell stories or create art through your words? If you want to write poetry, script plays, or write novels, Liberty has creative writing programs that can help you learn the skills you need. You can start with the basics and develop your skills under the teaching and mentorship of teachers who know their craft. But what program is right for you?

Associate Degrees

Liberty’s 100% online Associate of Arts (A.A.) in Creative Writing offers you the opportunity to enhance your writing skills as you prepare for a future career or a bachelor’s degree.

Apply Now   Request Info  

Bachelor’s Degrees

Bachelor of science in creative writing – christian literature, bachelor of science in creative writing – english.

Liberty’s 100% online Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Creative Writing – English offers you the chance to develop a deep understanding of the English language.

Bachelor of Science in Creative Writing – Journalism

Liberty’s 100% online Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Creative Writing – Journalism allows you to develop investigative and reporting abilities and build your portfolio. 

Liberty’s 100% online Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in English and Writing offers you advanced training in composition and literature, creative writing, and modern grammar.

Liberty’s 100% online Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in English and Writing – Christian Literature can help you hone your writing and critical thinking skills as you explore the works of some of the greatest Christian writers in history.

Liberty’s 100% online Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in English and Writing – Creative Writing degree offers advanced training in grammar, technical writing, and storytelling.

Liberty’s 100% online Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in English and Writing – Journalism offers you a journalism education that can teach you to write compelling stories and help you pursue exciting writing opportunities.

Liberty’s 100% online Master of Arts (M.A.) in Composition will guide you through the fundamentals of writing and grammar and help prepare you to teach composition at the collegiate level.

Liberty’s 100% online Master of Arts (M.A.) in Professional Writing can help you craft effective communication using digital media, traditional publishing, and cutting-edge technology as you master advanced grammar and composition.

Liberty’s 100% online Master of Arts (M.A.) in Professional Writing – Research Administration and Sponsored Programs blends studies in writing with practical business applications, which can help you become a more marketable job candidate.

Liberty’s 100% online Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Creative Writing is designed to help you build on your writing skills with specific workshops dedicated to the craft of fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, or screenwriting.

Creative Writing

Master’s Degrees

Composition

Professional Writing

Professional Writing – Research Administration and Sponsored Programs

Liberty’s 100% online Master of Arts (M.A.) in Professional Writing – Research Administration and Sponsored Programs blends studies in writing with practical business applications, which can help you become a more marketable job candidate.

Creative Writing – Christian Literature

Liberty’s 100% online Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Creative Writing – Christian Literature allows you to study prominent authors and works of Christian literature of the past and present. 

Creative Writing – English

Liberty’s 100% online Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Creative Writing – English offers you the chance to develop a deep understanding of the English language.

Creative Writing – Journalism

Liberty’s 100% online Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Creative Writing – Journalism allows you to develop investigative and reporting abilities and build your portfolio. 

English and Writing

English and Writing – Christian Literature

Liberty’s 100% online Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in English and Writing – Christian Literature can help you hone your writing and critical thinking skills as you explore the works of some of the greatest Christian writers in history.

English and Writing – Creative Writing

English and Writing – Journalism

Associate of Arts in Creative Writing

Apply Now Request Information  

Apply Now Request Information    

Liberty’s 100% online Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Creative Writing – English offers you the chance to develop a deep understanding of the English language while sharpening your writing skills.

Bachelor of Science in English and Writing – Creative Writing

Liberty’s 100% online Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in English and Writing – Creative Writing  offers you advanced training in composition and literature, creative writing, and modern grammar.

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

Liberty’s 100% online Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Creative Writing can help you learn new concepts, grow your understanding, and hone your writing skills to their highest form.

Which kind of creative writing program fits my needs?

• If you don’t have a degree and aren’t ready to commit to a bachelor’s – Liberty’s online Associate of Arts in Creative Writing gives you an entry point into creative writing. Designed as a halfway step to a bachelor’s degree, our A.A. in Creative Writing will cover foundational courses and training that can help you get started while opening the door to a more in-depth Bachelor of Science in English and Writing – Creative Writing after you graduate. 
• If you want a full bachelor’s degree focused on creative writing and English language – Liberty’s Bachelor of Science in English and Writing – Creative Writing is designed to equip you with a thorough background in English language studies to support your creative writing skills. The skills you learn in this program can also help you pursue teaching or roles in communication and writing for business. 
• If you already have a bachelor’s degree and want a career in writing – Liberty’s online Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing could be the best choice for you. The M.F.A. in Creative Writing is designed to help you refine your craft and gain a mastery in your writing discipline. And because an M.F.A. is considered a terminal degree, earning a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing can open the door to university teaching. 

Karen Kingsbury Center for Creative Writing An exciting part of our creative writing programs is that you will have the opportunity to take courses that were created in partnership with #1 New York Times bestselling author and Christian novelist Karen Kingsbury. Kingsbury has contributed course content to the degrees above, providing firsthand training in all areas of interest. We are proud to partner with her through our Karen Kingsbury Center for Creative Writing .

Potential Career Options with a Creative Writing Degree

• Book and magazine writer
• Business communications specialist
• Creative writing instructor
• Professional blogger
• Public relations
• Publications editor
• Screenwriter
• Social media coordinator
• Website copy editor and writer
• Writing manager

What Are the Benefits of Studying Creative Writing at Liberty University?

• We are recognized by multiple institutions for our academic quality, affordability, and accessibility . Our commitment to excellence also helped us rank in the top 10% of Niche.com’s best online schools in America . Earning your online creative writing degree from a nonprofit university with this kind of recognition can help set you apart from others in your field.
• Liberty University’s state-of-the-art online learning environment offers you a wide variety of learning methods, including simulations, recorded lectures, and digital collaboration tools that will help you engage with your studies and learn practical teaching skills.
• The majority of tuition for undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs has not increased in 9 years. While many other online colleges have raised tuition, Liberty has been able to keep costs low as a nonprofit university.
• You can complete your online creative writing program in less time than you think, due to our 8-week format and 8 start times per year.

Military Benefits

Service is important to us, so whether you’re currently serving in the Armed Forces, have served, or are married to someone who serves, we’re here to serve you. Liberty’s military benefits are available to:

• Active duty service members of the U.S. Armed Forces
• Reserve/National Guard
• Veterans/retirees
• Spouses of service members and veterans/retirees
• Current Department of Defense employees

We are proud to support you in your pursuit of a flexible and affordable online education by offering you the following benefits: 

For undergraduate programs:

• Tuition discounts –  $250 per credit hour for undergraduate courses
• Additional discount for veterans who serve in a civilian capacity as a  First Responder (less than $565 per course)
• 8-week courses, 8 different start dates each year, and no set login times (may exclude certain courses such as practicums, internships, or field experiences)
• Potential college credit for military training

For graduate programs:

• Tuition discounts – $275 per credit hour for graduate courses
• Additional discount for veterans who serve in a civilian capacity as a First Responder (less than $625 per course)

Areas of Interest

Choose your area of Interest:

Training Champions for Christ

Liberty’s promise to you is an education that expertly brings knowledge and faith together. Here, education is designed around you. It connects you to people and opportunities that help you develop the skills and confidence you’re looking for. At Liberty, you’ll find the knowledge, experience, and mentorship you want to make your career — and life — a fulfilling one.

Why Liberty

Liberty University is not just another school. It is the realization of a dream, the product of thousands of prayers. It was built to invite students into a bigger, better story. Discover the Liberty difference for yourself.

Scholarships

When it comes to choosing a college, finances make a difference. That’s why at Liberty, we believe in offering you a top-notch education — that’s also affordable. Discover how Liberty can help you keep your college costs down.

For residential students

Online Discounts

At Liberty University, we believe everyone should have an equal opportunity to pursue higher education, and it's our job to keep private education affordable. Explore the many ways a Liberty education can be an affordable one.

For online students

Academic Excellence

Liberty University is institutionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, and certain programs have earned additional field-specific accreditation as well.

Creative Writing Program Marks Three Decades of Growth, Diversity

By Luisa A. Igloria

2024: a milestone year which marks the 30 th  anniversary of Old Dominion University’s MFA Creative Writing Program. Its origins can be said to go back to April 1978, when the English Department’s (now Professor Emeritus, retired) Phil Raisor organized the first “Poetry Jam,” in collaboration with Pulitzer prize-winning poet W.D. Snodgrass (then a visiting poet at ODU). Raisor describes this period as “ a heady time .” Not many realize that from 1978 to 1994, ODU was also the home of AWP (the Association of Writers and Writing Programs) until it moved to George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

The two-day celebration that was “Poetry Jam” has evolved into the annual ODU Literary Festival, a week-long affair at the beginning of October bringing writers of local, national, and international reputation to campus. The ODU Literary Festival is among the longest continuously running literary festivals nationwide. It has featured Rita Dove, Maxine Hong Kingston, Susan Sontag, Edward Albee, John McPhee, Tim O’Brien, Joy Harjo, Dorothy Allison, Billy Collins, Naomi Shihab Nye, Sabina Murray, Jane Hirshfield, Brian Turner, S.A. Cosby, Nicole Sealey, Franny Choi, Ross Gay, Adrian Matejka, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Ilya Kaminsky, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, Jose Olivarez, and Ocean Vuong, among a roster of other luminaries. MFA alumni who have gone on to publish books have also regularly been invited to read.

From an initial cohort of 12 students and three creative writing professors, ODU’s MFA Creative Writing Program has grown to anywhere between 25 to 33 talented students per year. Currently they work with a five-member core faculty (Kent Wascom, John McManus, and Jane Alberdeston in fiction; and Luisa A. Igloria and Marianne L. Chan in poetry). Award-winning writers who made up part of original teaching faculty along with Raisor (but are now also either retired or relocated) are legends in their own right—Toi Derricotte, Tony Ardizzone, Janet Peery, Scott Cairns, Sheri Reynolds, Tim Seibles, and Michael Pearson. Other faculty that ODU’s MFA Creative Writing Program was privileged to briefly have in its ranks include Molly McCully Brown and Benjamín Naka-Hasebe Kingsley.

"What we’ve also found to be consistently true is how collegial this program is — with a lively and supportive cohort, and friendships that last beyond time spent here." — Luisa A. Igloria, Louis I. Jaffe Endowed Professor & University Professor of English and Creative Writing at Old Dominion University

Our student body is diverse — from all over the country as well as from closer by. Over the last ten years, we’ve also seen an increase in the number of international students who are drawn to what our program has to offer: an exciting three-year curriculum of workshops, literature, literary publishing, and critical studies; as well as opportunities to teach in the classroom, tutor in the University’s Writing Center, coordinate the student reading series and the Writers in Community outreach program, and produce the student-led literary journal  Barely South Review . The third year gives our students more time to immerse themselves in the completion of a book-ready creative thesis. And our students’ successes have been nothing but amazing. They’ve published with some of the best (many while still in the program), won important prizes, moved into tenured academic positions, and been published in global languages. What we’ve also found to be consistently true is how collegial this program is — with a lively and supportive cohort, and friendships that last beyond time spent here.

Our themed studio workshops are now offered as hybrid/cross genre experiences. My colleagues teach workshops in horror, speculative and experimental fiction, poetry of place, poetry and the archive — these give our students so many more options for honing their skills. And we continue to explore ways to collaborate with other programs and units of the university. One of my cornerstone projects during my term as 20 th  Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth was the creation of a Virginia Poets Database, which is not only supported by the University through the Perry Library’s Digital Commons, but also by the MFA Program in the form of an assistantship for one of our students. With the awareness of ODU’s new integration with Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) and its impact on other programs, I was inspired to design and pilot a new 700-level seminar on “Writing the Body Fantastic: Exploring Metaphors of Human Corporeality.” In the fall of 2024, I look forward to a themed graduate workshop on “Writing (in) the Anthropocene,” where my students and I will explore the subject of climate precarity and how we can respond in our own work.

Even as the University and wider community go through shifts and change through time, the MFA program has grown with resilience and grace. Once, during the six years (2009-15) that I directed the MFA Program, a State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) university-wide review amended the guidelines for what kind of graduate student would be allowed to teach classes (only those who had  already  earned 18 or more graduate credits). Thus, two of our first-year MFA students at that time had to be given another assignment for their Teaching Assistantships. I thought of  AWP’s hallmarks of an effective MFA program , which lists the provision of editorial and publishing experience to its students through an affiliated magazine or press — and immediately sought department and upper administration support for creating a literary journal. This is what led to the creation of our biannual  Barely South Review  in 2009.

In 2010,  HuffPost  and  Poets & Writers  listed us among “ The Top 25 Underrated Creative Writing MFA Programs ” (better underrated than overrated, right?) — and while our MFA Creative Writing Program might be smaller than others, we do grow good writers here. When I joined the faculty in 1998, I was excited by the high caliber of both faculty and students. Twenty-five years later, I remain just as if not more excited, and look forward to all the that awaits us in our continued growth.

This essay was originally published in the Spring 2024 edition of Barely South Review , ODU’s student-led literary journal. The University’s growing MFA in Creative Writing program connects students with a seven-member creative writing faculty in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.

Enhance your college career by gaining relevant experience with the skills and knowledge needed for your future career. Discover our experiential learning opportunities.

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The Practical Value of Studying Philosophy

Posted in: Why Study Philosophy?

Transferable Skills

By studying philosophy, students develop cognitive transferable skills that pay off in a variety of professions—transferable skills such as Logical Reasoning • Analysis • Abstract Conceptualization • Problem-Solving • Creative Thinking • Clear and Persuasive Writing • Mental Dexterity • An Ability to Assess Different Perspectives and Frameworks • Information Management.

Earning Potential

The national median salary of Philosophy graduates is higher than nearly every other major in the social sciences, humanities, and higher than many other majors—higher than Psychology, Criminology, Communication, Special Education, Early Childhood Education, Business Management, Political Science, History, English, and so on (data source:  payscale.com ).

Which professions do philosophy graduates pursue? • Technology • Business • Law • Publishing • Government • Advertising • Journalism • Teaching • Sales • Human Resources • Public Relations • Activism • Public Policy, and so on.

Read about the practical value of studying philosophy

• Forbes  (2017) – “ A Case For Majoring In Philosophy ”

“Every year, college students choose their majors with an eye toward the return on investment. Among the usual lucrative suspects like finance and engineering, one liberal arts field stands out: philosophy. It turns out that philosophy majors earn significantly more than most majors, especially over the long term.”

“The surprisingly robust ROI [return on investment] for philosophy majors can be traced to its intellectual rigor. Philosophers are taught to seek out the pressure points in arguments and to reason for themselves. They dive into highly technical conversations, construct their own positions and arguments, and analyze relevant problems from multiple perspectives.”

“Beyond finances, the study of philosophy can also help students learn for themselves how they define the good life and how to go about living it.”

• U.S. News & World Report  (2020) – “ What You Can Do With a Philosophy Degree ”

“Philosophy students learn how to question conventional thinking, which is a marketable skill.”

“A Wall Street Journal analysis of the long-term earning potential of people with various college majors revealed that philosophy majors tend to get raises and promotions more quickly than individuals with other majors, and a result of this rapid career progression is that philosophy majors’ mid-career earnings are usually double the size of their starting salaries.”

• CNBC  (2018) – “ Mark Cuban says studying philosophy may soon be worth more than computer science—here’s why ”

“’I’m going to make a prediction’, Cuban told AOL in 2017. ‘In 10 years, a liberal arts degree in philosophy will be worth more than a traditional programming degree’…He views previously lucrative jobs in industries like accounting and computer programming as subject to the powers of automation. To remain competitive, Cuban advises ditching degrees that teach specific skills or professions and opting for degrees that teach you to think in a big picture way, like philosophy.”

• Times Higher Education  (2019) – “ What Can You Do with a Philosophy Degree? ”

“Philosophy graduates have highly transferable skills that are valuable to employers.”

“Graduates secure work in a variety of disciplines after their degree, such as teaching, PR or politics. Communications, publishing, HR and advertising can be attractive options for philosophy graduates, as well as law, banking, the civil service, business and science. Others go on to further study, research, academia and/or lecturing in philosophy or a related field.”

• Entrepreneur Magazine  (2017) – “ 5 Reasons Why Philosophy Majors Make Great Entrepreneurs ”

“When accomplished entrepreneurs like Reid Hoffman, Peter Thiel and Carly Fiorina credit their philosophy backgrounds for their success, you have to wonder if they’re on to something.”

• New York Times  (2018) – “ A Wall Street Giant Makes a $75 Million Bet on Academic Philosophy ”

“Philosophy, he [Bill Miller] added, ‘has made a huge difference both to my life outside business, in terms of adding a great degree of richness and knowledge, and to the actual decisions I’ve made in investing’.”

“Mr. Miller, 67, is not the only old-guard Wall Street figure with a background in philosophy. George Soros was heavily influenced by the Austrian philosopher Karl Popper. Carl Icahn was a philosophy major at Princeton . . . (On the watchdog side of the street, Sheila Bair, the former chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, was also a philosophy major.)”

• Harvard Business Review  (2014) – “ How Philosophy Makes You a Better Leader ”

“A CEO client . . . found that contemplating the teachings of an ancient philosopher (Socrates) and a 20th century philosopher (Habermas) empowered him to implement an enhanced process of dialogue, consensus building, and ‘communicative rationality’ with his leadership team.”

• National Bureau Of Economic Research  (2017) – “ The Costs Of And Net Returns To College Major ”

“Health and Engineering majors, where earnings returns are large on a per graduate basis, have per-dollar returns similar to those observed in education, math, philosophy , and language degrees. .  .”

Graduate Study

Some philosophy majors go on to graduate studies in philosophy in order to pursue an academic career. The philosophy major is also exceptional training for many other post-graduate paths, such as law school. In fact, statistics indicate that philosophy majors perform very well on standardized tests for post-graduate and professional study.

• The GRE (“the SAT for graduate school”) – Philosophy majors come out on top.

“When students are compared by major on how far above average they do on the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), a standardized test used in many disciplines to assess applicants to graduate programs, philosophy majors come out on top , according to a new look at test score data over the past few years.” (Daily Nous)

• Our philosophy department and Montclair State’s Feliciano School of Business have partnered for a “4 + 1” Philosophy BA/MBA program .
• The LSAT (the entrance exam for law school admissions) – Philosophy majors tie for first place with Economics majors.
• Medical School – The Philosophy major is a solid path to medical school. Consider the data and facts as explained by Paul Jung, M.D: “ If you think biochemistry is your ticket into medical school, think again. “

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Board of Trustees Recognizes Faculty Members

Congratulations to the 23 members of the faculty who were awarded promotions and/or tenure by the Ithaca College Board of Trustees at its May meetings.

The biographies of the faculty members were provided by their respective schools.

AWARDED PROMOTION FROM ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR TO PROFESSOR Department of Theatre and Dance Paula Murray Cole (M.F.A. Southern Methodist University) teaches acting, voice, and movement. Her professional work is centered on the development and dissemination of Rasaboxes, a suite of exercises originally devised by Richard Schechner. She co-authored and edited the first book dedicated to the exercises, “Inside the Performance Workshop: A Sourcebook for Rasaboxes and Other Exercises” (Routledge 2023), and co-authored “The Actor As Athlete of the Emotions: The Rasaboxes Exercise” for the book “Movement For Actors (2nd Edition, 2017), edited by Nicole Potter, Barabara Adrian, and Mary Fleischer. She has taught performance workshops at New York University, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, the Dell’ Arte International School of Physical Theatre, Brown University, and Rose Bruford College and has presented Rasaboxes at conferences and workshops in Israel, Montreal, Turkey, Singapore, China, and Poland.

Department of Occupational Therapy Melinda Cozzolino (P.P.O.T.D. Creighton University) teaches courses in neuroscience, mental health, and research. She received the founding grant for the Center for Life Skills, an interdisciplinary program at Longview for adults with chronic neurological conditions. This program has operated for over 20 years and has provided experiential learning for thousands of students and therapeutic services for hundreds of community members. She is a prolific scholar in the areas of interprofessional education and supporting mental health and is an advocate for mental health at the local, regional, and national levels.

Department of Theatre Studies Chrystyna Dail (Ph.D. University of Maryland) serves as director of the Integrative Core Curriculum. Her area of specialization is theatre history, with research interests in U.S. social activist performance, labor theatre, 20th-century Ukrainian-American performance, and the representation of witches in performance. Her book, “Stage for Action: U.S. Social Activist Theatre in the 1940s,” is part of the Theater in the Americas series published through Southern Illinois University Press, and her chapter, “Driving Race Work: The UAW, Detroit, and Discrimination for Everybody!” is included in the edited collection “Working in the Wings: New Perspectives on Theatre History and Labor.” Additionally, her chapter on Margo Jones is included in the eight-volume book series The Great North American Stage Directors published through Methuen Drama. She is currently writing a book about theatrical stagings of the Salem witchcraft crisis by female-identifying artists, and is the book review editor of Theatre Survey, which is published through Cambridge University Press.

Department of Philosophy and Religion Serge Grigoriev (Ph.D. Temple University) imbues the array of courses that he teaches with his ready sense of humor and his gift for oratory. In his classes, laughter is a regular feature, allowing students to enjoy themselves intellectually as they grapple with complex material. His research focuses on pragmatism and the philosophy of history, and he has published prodigiously, producing original, philosophically significant, and refreshingly readable scholarly work. He has been a generous citizen of the college, bringing thoughtful insights to the H&S Faculty Senate, the C.P. Snow Lecture Series Committee, and the Faculty Grievance Committee, to name just three of his service endeavors.

Department of Management Narges Kasiri (Ph.D. Oklahoma State University) bridges theory and practice in her courses in operations management and business analytics. She has integrated cutting-edge technology, including generative AI, into the curriculum. Her collaborative projects with local businesses allow students to apply their skills in real-world settings, enhancing both their learning experience and IC’s engagement in the community. As a scholar, she has earned prestigious honors such as the Fulbright Innovation Award and a grant from HSBC’s Sustainability Office.

Department of Exercise and Athletic Training Patrick McKeon (Ph.D. University of Virginia) is best described as a teacher/servant/scholar. He teaches both graduate and undergraduate students to better understand research and its application to their clinical practice. He serves the department as the Athletic Training Clinical Education Coordinator, the college as chair of the Institutional Review Board and his profession as an editor of two prestigious professional journals. He is also a well-respected scholar, serving as an Executive Council member of the International Ankle Consortium and mentoring numerous students each year to present their own research at local, regional, and national conferences.

Department of Music Education James Mick (Ph.D. Florida State University) teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in string pedagogy, orchestral rehearsal techniques, instrumental conducting, and the psychology of music teaching and learning. In 2020 he was honored with Ithaca College’s Faculty Excellence Award. Recent all-state orchestra appearances include Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, and Wyoming. Internationally, he has worked with student ensembles in the United Kingdom and Belgium. He served as music director and conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra from 2015 to 2023. During his tenure the RPYO held annual side-by-side performances with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra at Eastman Theatre’s Kodak Hall and performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. A popular clinician, he has presented at numerous state, regional, and national conferences including the American String Teachers Association National Conference and the Midwest Clinic: An International Band & Orchestra Conference.

Department of Music Theory, History, and Composition Alexander Reed (Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh) is the author of the books “Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music (2013 Oxford University Press) and “Laurie Anderson’s Big Science” (2021 Oxford University Press). He also co-wrote the volume on the They Might Be Giants album “Flood” (2014 Bloomsbury) for the 33 1/3 book series. He has published in the Journal of Popular Music Studies, Popular Music and Society, Perspectives of New Music, the Journal of Popular Music Education, ImageTexT, Music Theory Spectrum, Music Theory Online, and the Journal of Musicological Research. He is founder and former chair of the Popular Music Study Group of the American Musicological Society and has served on the board of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music’s U.S. branch. He has received awards, fellowships, and residencies at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Mellon Foundation, Contemporary Arts International, and the Association for Recorded Sound Collections. Active as a musician, he has toured internationally and released seven albums with his bands Seeming and ThouShaltNot. He has also produced dozens of records for others, and his work has aired on MTV and in popular television on series such as “Gossip Girl.”

Department of Music Performance Michael Titlebaum (M.M. Eastman School of Music) is a saxophonist/composer/arranger who serves as Director of Jazz Studies at Ithaca College, where he directs the Ithaca College Jazz Ensemble; coaches combos; and teaches jazz saxophone and courses in jazz standards, arranging, repertoire, and pedagogy. In 2010 he founded the Ithaca College Jazz Ensemble Composition Contest. He also teaches and coordinates the jazz area in the IC Summer Music Academy. He is the author of the book “Jazz Improvisation Using Simple Melodic Embellishment,” published by Routledge/Taylor and Francis in 2021. He has performed and given workshops and lectures at numerous state and national conferences, including the Jazz Education Network, the International Society for Improvised Music, the New York State School Music Association, the New York State Band Directors Association, and the Texas Music Educators Association.

Department of Computer Science Doug Turnbull (Ph.D. University of California) teaches across the computer science curriculum, exhibiting a persistent dedication to making his classes accessible and to providing research opportunities to the largest possible number of students. Students appreciate that he involves them in his research as genuine partners and grants them foundations for future careers. His scholarship has earned wide recognition in the form of NSF and NEA grants that have brought more than $600,000 to IC. He has published widely in the area of music information retrieval, and he recently delivered a keynote lecture at a conference in Singapore. In his service, he has continued his efforts to promote undergraduate research, and he serves on the H&S Faculty Senate. He also engages in service to the music information retrieval research community, nationally and internationally.

Department of Media Arts, Sciences, and Studies Andrew Utterson (Ph.D. Birkbeck College) has expertly taught courses across the Screen Studies curriculum including Film Aesthetics and Analysis, Hollywood and American History, and Fiction Film Theory as well as ICC courses and mini-courses for the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival, of which he is now co-director. The focus of his scholarship in film history, theory, and criticism is the intersection between film and new media as well as the changing nature of cinema from production to exhibition.

Department of Exercise and Athletic Training Justine Vosloo (Ph.D. West Virginia University) is a model for faculty within helping professions. She has spearheaded significant improvements to the department’s graduate Sport Psychology and Mental Performance programs. She is an outstanding mentor to students as they present their own research within professional journals and at national conferences and when they consult with student-athletes to improve their mental performance. Finally, she has grown to be a well-respected scholar within her profession as evidenced by her recent keynote lecture, “Reflections on cultural humility, inclusion, and belonging: Current trends and future challenges for the practice of sport psychology when considering the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Department of Music Education Baruch Whitehead (Ph.D. Capella University) is the founding director of the Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers, which is dedicated to the preservation of the Negro Spiritual. He also founded the Orff-Schulwerk certification program, a music education that views music as a basic system like language, at Ithaca College and Marshall University, and is the past director of the annual Orff Certification Training Course at Boston University. His other areas of expertise include diversity in music education, gospel music and its preservation within mainstream musical settings, African American music, and the music of the Civil Rights movement. He has been a featured speaker/workshop presenter at many state, national, and international conferences, including the International Arts and Humanities conference in Honolulu and MENC, NYSSMA, NJMEA, and the American Orff-Schulwerk Association national conference. He has taught at the World Music Village in Helsinki, Finland, and continues to present workshops on diversity in music education for state, national, and international conferences.

Department of Strategic Communication Cory Young (Ph.D. Bowling Green State University) regularly teaches Crisis Communication, and this topic is the focus of most of her research. She is an organizational communication scholar whose work also explores risk communication and projects on diversity and inclusion. She has served in many capacities, including administrative roles for her department and for the school’s graduate program as well as for the college as a whole, as director of the Honors Program, a member of All-College Tenure and Promotion Committee, and chair of the Faculty Handbook Committee.

AWARDED TENURE AND PROMOTION FROM ASSISTANT TO ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR Department of Music Performance Mike Truesdell (D.M.A. The Juilliard School) is a percussionist who has performed with numerous ensembles, including the New York City Ballet, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Lucerne Festival Ensemble conducted by Pierre Boulez, and with members of the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, Chamber Music Society (New York), and Alarm Will Sound, among others. As an educator, he has previously been on the faculties of the University of Northern Colorado, Rutgers University, and Columbia University. Also engaged with mentoring the next generation, he has taught in the acclaimed Music Advancement Program at The Juilliard School, and founded Wildcat Percussion Camp, a summer percussion program to introduce aspiring percussionists to the spectrum of percussive sounds and techniques.

AWARDED TENURE AT RANK OF PROFESSOR Department of Media Arts, Sciences, and Studies James Rada (Ph.D. University of Georgia) expertly teaches budding journalists how to tell important stories in inventive ways in courses such as Documentary Journalism Workshop and Investigative Journalism. His creative activity includes producing and directing “With Infinite Hope: MLK and the Civil Rights Movement,” among other films he contributed to that tell the history of the movement and the Underground Railroad. He was awarded IC’s Faculty Excellence Award in 2020. He is an active reviewer and judge for several industry professional publications and organizations.

AWARDED TENURE AT RANK OF ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR Department of Media Arts, Sciences, and Studies Andy Watts (M.F.A. Columbia University) is an outstanding teacher who can successfully teach across the various film and television programs in the Roy H. Park School of Communications. His creative work as a screenwriter, director, and producer, combined with a 20-year career as a set lighting technician, directly contribute to his efficacy as an educator, mentor, and colleague. He has demonstrated an exemplary level of service to the department, the school, and the college, while maintaining ties to the industry.

AWARDED PROMOTION FROM ASSISTANT TO ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR Department of Biology Rebecca Brady (Ph.D. University of Texas at Austin) is renowned for her creative teaching of such classes as Human Genetics and Fundamentals of Biology, enlivening them with innovative techniques and placing a firm emphasis on students’ intellectual growth. Her scholarship is integrally connected to her teaching—she has contributed to the biology education literature through her published work in American Biology Teacher and is at work on a study of the flipped classroom. She has mentored student research projects that have resulted in public presentations, and her service contributions have students at their core. As examples, she has judged sessions for the Whalen Symposium and she was a member of the Innovation Scholars Program steering committee, helping to give birth to that vital new program in H&S.

Department of Music Performance Daniel Coakwell (D.M.A. Texas Tech University) teaches in the Voice area of the department, and students and peers alike commend his commitment to promoting a learning environment that prioritizes the mental health and well-being of his students. He also enjoys guest teaching artist residencies at institutions such as El Teatro Teresa Carreño in Venezuela, Yale University, and Dartmouth College. He specializes in the Evangelist and tenor roles of J.S. Bach, and he frequently performs the composer’s major oratorios—St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, Christmas Oratorio, and Mass in B-Minor—as well as many of Bach’s cantatas. Recent performances as a tenor soloist include G.T. Handel’s Messiah at the Myerson Symphony Center in Dallas, TX, and at the Steinmetz Hall in Orlando, FL, and as tenor soloist of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor at the Judson Memorial Church in New York City and at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Salem, OR.

Department of the Environment Paula Turkon (Ph.D. Binghamton University) teaches generously not just in her own department but for programs across the college, including Anthropology and Innovation Scholars. She is known as an exuberant and imaginative instructor, and her students express gratitude for the lifelong impact she leaves on them, often helping them to forge careers in science. Her research in the areas of dendrochronology and aquaponics has resulted in three NSF grants as well as published scholarship. She has left an indelible imprint on H&S by leading a discussion that resulted in a new Innovation Scholars Program with sustainability at its core. Colleagues characterize her as an embodiment of the scholar-teacher ideal in the liberal arts.

Department of Writing Jaime Warburton (M.F.A. Sarah Lawrence College) offers courses at every level of the Writing curriculum, with a focus on first-year writing, poetics, creative writing, and gender. Faculty and students point to her welcoming and passionate approach to instruction, noting that she teaches with humor and vivacity, and she empowers students to interrogate their biases and preconceptions. She is a prolific author of creative nonfiction, poetry, and scholarship on the craft of writing. Reviewers call her work “gorgeous,” “self-aware,” and “self-deprecating.” She has been a generous citizen of IC, directing the Writing Center and the Ithaca Young Writers Institute, and chairing the Faculty Handbook Amendment Committee, among numerous activities.

AWARDED PROMOTION FROM CLINICAL ASSISTANT TO CLINICAL ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR Department of Physical Therapy Kayleigh Plumeau (D.P.T. Ithaca College) is a highly effective teacher and has exceptional clinical skills. She launched a novel mentoring program that directly addresses diversity, equity, and inclusion in clinical settings. She has had multiple presentations at national conferences including about the mentoring program, representation in clinical education, and growth mindset, with presentations and publications in interprofessional education and home exercise program for cancer survivors. She is the chair of the awards committee for the NY State Physical Therapy Association.

Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Jana Waller (M.S. Ithaca College) has been a clinical faculty member since 2011, serving as fieldwork coordinator, graduate co-chair, and interim chair. Since 2021 she has served as associate dean for the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance. She was selected for a prestigious HERS leadership development fellowship based on her leadership experience. She has conducted clinical research in autism, developing an innovative program for autistic adolescents and adults. More recently, her scholarly work has focused on interprofessional education in the health sciences.

Sacrifice Zone: A Wild, Wonderful, and Honest Zine of West Virginia

Zines are making a comeback in the creative writing world. 

If you open Etsy on your web browser and simply type “zine” in the search bar, you’ll discover a wonderland of beautifully crafted, pocket-sized art/writing made by genuine artists and creatives. A zine exists for any niche interest now: ranging from fanzines about the 90s TV show Frasier, to literary analyses on the cross-cultural implications of fan fiction in the literary world, to carefully curated handbooks for thrift shopping, among so many others. Chances are, if you’ve ever browsed an indie bookstore or explored a local art fair, you’ve probably come across a zine in the wild! 

And if you’ve never heard of a “zine” before, you might be wondering what exactly this art form is. As defined by Purdue University, “A zine (pronounced ZEEN) is short for ‘fanzine’ and is usually a small-batch, independently published work that circulates less than 1,000 copies. Anyone can be a zinester (aka ‘someone who creates a zine’), and most people make zines for the love of creating rather than for seeking a profit. In general, a zine is a pamphlet-like publication that can include text, images, artwork, found objects, or any other creative material that helps to express the author's message” ( Purdue ).

Matt Powney, a recent graduate of West Virginia University’s MFA program in the Poetry track, has spent the last year designing and creating a zine of his own making with his partner, Kay, aptly titled Sacrifice Zone . As a creative with a deep respect for the honest nature of writing, and the importance of producing work that deconstructs the extractive nature of corporate, economical culture in West Virginia society today, producing a zine tailored to Matt’s own interests seemed like the natural way to share his work with others.

After purchasing a copy of the first issue of Sacrifice Zone in fall 2023, I knew that Matt had found a metaphorical creative goldmine for himself. The collage artwork within the first issue of Sacrifice Zone features a fractured urban/rural landscape of our West Virginia that has been literally and metaphorically gutted by Big Pharma, corporate greed, incarceration, and predatory coal companies. The kaleidoscope-esque imagery is haunting and powerful, and pairs beautifully with the crisp poetry and painfully tender creative nonfiction on the page. I had the pleasure of learning more about Sacrifice Zone from Matt in the following Q&A:

You talk a lot about your intention for creating Sacrifice Zone in the first installment, and what it means to you and your readers – would you care to share any more insight about your intention for creating this zine, and what you hope to get out of it with each installment?

Mostly, I just hope to create some level of community and discussion about prison in Appalachia, and making art in Appalachia. I just want to give people a voice and platform for their art. Both Appalachians in general and people in prison are a silenced group of people, so the more amplification they can get, the better in my eyes. My main goal for this zine is to undo stereotypes, and sharing stories is a great way to do that.

Sacrifice Zone seems like a really collaborative project! How did you go about choosing pieces for the zine, arranging them in the order they’re in, as well as the art/images that were used in the zine? Did you and Kay work together in the making of Sacrifice Zone?

Sacrifice Zone is a collaborative project. I relied on a lot of friends and mentors to have this project come together. For this first installment, I just asked a bunch of my friends for submissions - people from all over Appalachia, with different relationships to the prison system. I got the inspiration for the art and for the general vibe of the zine from Thomas Martin’s zine , Martha Stewart Mixtapes, which Kay contributes to regularly. Their zine feels alive. It is what I wanted for Sacrifice Zone, so naturally, it became a model of what I wanted the zine to look like. Knowing that Thomas uses collage art from Martha Stewart Magazine to make Martha Stewart’s Mixtapes, I started thinking about what I could use for our magazine and realized I’d thrifted stacks of the perfect magazine already -  old copies of Wonderful West Virginia.

As for selection of the specific art we used, Kay and I spent an evening going through all of the magazines and matching them to our submissions. We had a lot of fun doing it, and found images we loved that weren’t right for this issue that we are excited to use for future volumes.

You mentioned that Thomas Martin, a previous MFA student, was an influence for Sacrifice Zone . Are there any other zines or forms of media that inspired you to create your zine?

• Yes! I read Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration around the time I began working on this project. It is a book of art made by people in prison. It was also a huge inspiration. One of the poems I included in the zine, also called “Marking Time,” was inspired by this book.

Do you have an idea of what themes you want to cover in future installments for the zine?

Right now, we are open to any art that fits the project. Maybe in the future, we will think about themed volumes, but right now, we’d like to make as many connections as we can.

Do you have a current submission window for the next installment of Sacrifice Zone ? Or a future pub date?

• I have already received some submissions for the next installment and am still open to receiving more. We are hoping to put another one out in May, but with Kay and my first child due in early May, there could be some delay. [As of this blog post, Matt and Kay are officially parents!]

How can people purchase this zine and future zines in the series, and for how much?

Right now, I am personally selling copies. The easiest way would be to contact the instagram page, @sacrifice.zone , and a copy can be mailed to you. In the future, we hope to have an online store and to sell them through local vendors.

If you want to support Matt Powney and Sacrifice Zone , you can stay up to date by following the zine’s official Instagram page: @sacrifice.zone 

Stay tuned for more news, events, and happenings among WVU’s Creative Writing program!

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• Postgraduate study
• Taught degree programmes A‑Z
• Creative Writing (online distance learning)

Postgraduate taught  

Creative Writing (online) MLitt: Online distance learning

Note: This programme is also delivered on campus. To find out more about this programme or the research opportunities available, visit our Creative Writing subject page

If you're a talented and ambitious writer looking to develop your craft and take your writing to the next level, Glasgow's renowned Creative Writing MLitt is ideal. Develop your writing practice wherever you are in the world by gaining creative and critical skills on this exciting and supportive online course.

• Online distance learning
• Academic contact: Dr Colin Herd  [email protected]
• Teaching start: September
• MLitt: 12 months full-time; 24 months part‑time

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Why this programme

• Our MLitt in Creative Writing is delivered within a clear three-part structure, focused on creative, critical and editorial skills.
• Our Creative Writing programme has gained an excellent reputation with writers, agents and publishers. The University's writing courses are among the most challenging and popular in the UK.
• These courses have helped launch the careers of an impressive list of acclaimed authors including, but not limited to: Anne Donovan, Helen Sedgwick, Kirsty Logan, Jen Hadfield, JL Williams, Louise Welsh, Zoe Strachan, Elizabeth Reeder and many others.
• You'll be taught by successful and well-regarded writers who specialise across diverse genres. We are happy to supervise students working in established genres but just as keen to see students mix genres or create new forms. In addition, you'll be able to tap into the University's strong network of literary agents and publishers, as well as an impressive list of published alumni. 
• This online programme is 1 year full time. If you are already working full time or have family commitments, the course can also be completed on a part-time flexible study basis over 2 years.
• Listen to our podcast: Stories from Glasgow – Writing Space with Dr Oliver K. Langmead .
• Read From Glasgow to Saturn, our literary journal .

Programme structure

The full-time programme consists of the following courses. The part-time programme consists of the same courses split over two years.

• CREATIVE WRITING: CRAFT AND EXPERIMENTATION 1 (DL)
• CREATIVE WRITING: EDITING AND PUBLICATION 1 (DL)
• CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP (DLEARNING)
• CREATIVE WRITING: CRAFT AND EXPERIMENTATION 2 (DL)
• CREATIVE WRITING: EDITING AND PUBLICATION 2 (DL)

Summer Semester

• CREATIVE WRITING PORTFOLIO (PGT) (DLEARNING)

Programme outcomes

• Experiment with a range of voices, techniques and genres and consider major creative and editorial engagements
• Develop a critical understanding of a diverse creative, theoretic and critical texts
• Develop editorial skills
• Gain an understanding of literary techniques and ideas
• Access the work and thought of a wide range of literary artists
• Produce extended portfolios of creative and editorial work
• Understand the writing context (audience, publishing in all its forms, the legal framework, modes of transmission)
• Become disciplined in writing regularly in a stimulating workshop and tutorial environment in which writing skills can be acquired, discussed and honed
• Be part of a stimulating and critical peer group that reads, engages with, and appraises one others work
• Understand the means of literary transmission and how these means affect your own work
• Meet, hear and talk to professional writers and individuals from publishing and other transmission industries
• Display an understanding of the mechanisms (historical and contemporary) of literary textual transmission and other forms of transmission (including performance) in their various technological, commercial and artistic aspects

"I can honestly say that the programme was the best thing that has ever happened for my writing." Nichola Deadman, Creative Writing student

Programme alteration or discontinuation The University of Glasgow endeavours to run all programmes as advertised. In exceptional circumstances, however, the University may withdraw or alter a programme. For more information, please see: Student contract .

Career prospects

Skills gained in the study of our Creative Writing MLitt may lead to career opportunities in literary and cultural fields such as editing, publishing and arts development. Many of our alumni are successful authors. Our graduates have also gone into journalism, publishing, and a range of other professions. Positions held by recent graduates include managing director, freelance writer, author, copywriter and community arts worker.

Fees & funding

Tuition fees for 2024-25

• Full-time fee: £10650
• Part-time fee: £1184 per 20 credits

International & EU

• Full-time fee: £22140

Part-time fees:

• UK :  £1,184 per 20 credits (180 credits in total)
• International & EU : £2,460 per 20 credits (180 credits in total)

The credits are split: 

• Year 1 : 80 credits (4 x £1,184 / £2,460) for Craft & Experimentation 1 and 2, and Workshops
• Year 2 : 100 credits (5 x £1,184 / £2,460) for Editing & Publication 1 and 2, and Portfolio

Additional fees

• Fee for re-assessment of a dissertation (PGT programme): £370
• Submission of thesis after deadline lapsed: £350
• Registration/exam only fee: £170

Funding opportunities

• UK Study Online Scholarship

The UK Study Online scholarship is open to UK, EU and international students taking online undergraduate and postgraduate courses. 

Please see  UK Study Online for more details.

• Alumni Discount

In response to the current unprecedented economic climate, the University is offering a 20% discount on all Postgraduate Research and full Postgraduate Taught Masters programmes to its alumni, commencing study in Academic session 2024/25. This includes University of Glasgow graduates and those who have completed a Study Abroad programme, International Summer School programme or the Erasmus Programme at the University of Glasgow. The discount applies to all full-time, part-time and online programmes. This discount can be awarded alongside most University scholarships.

• Postgraduate Loans for Welsh Students

If you are a Welsh student looking to study a postgraduate programme* in Glasgow then you can apply for a student loan in exactly the same way as you would for a Welsh University.

* does not apply to Erasmus Mundus programmes

Postgraduate Master's Finance

If you’re starting a full-time or part-time Postgraduate Master’s course (taught or research based) from 1 August 2019, you can apply for Postgraduate Master's Finance and receive up to £17,000 as a combination of grant and loan:

• a maximum grant of £6,885 and loan of £10,115 if your household income is £18,370 and below
• a grant of £1,000 and loan of £16,000 if your household income is not taken into account or is above £59,200.

For more information visit  Student Finance Wales

Postgraduate Doctoral Loan

If you’re starting a full-time or part-time postgraduate Doctoral course (such as a PhD) from 1 August 2019 you can apply for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan of up to £25,700.

• Postgraduate Student Loan (NI)

If you are a Northern Irish student looking to study a taught Masters programme* in Glasgow then you can apply for a student loan in exactly the same way as you would for a University in Northern Ireland.

Northern Irish students are able to apply for non-means-tested tuition fee loans of up to £5,500, to help with the costs of funding.

For more information visit  www.studentfinanceni.co.uk/types-of-finance/postgraduate  .

The scholarships above are specific to this programme. For more funding opportunities search the scholarships database

Entry requirements

• You will normally have a 2:1 Honours degree (or equivalent), though this is not a pre-requisite.
• The primary basis for admission is the appraisal of a portfolio of your creative work.
• You submit a portfolio of original work (poetry, fiction, life-writing or other prose, drama, and in some instances a portfolio of translation work). A maximum of 20 pages (one side only, double spaced throughout) per submission will be considered, and the portfolio can contain prose, verse, script, or a combination of these.
• We also require a letter of reference. Your referee should be an academic or a creative referee where possible. Where this is not possible, you can provide a referee who can vouch that you are who you say you are and that your work and achievements are your own. It is particularly helpful if your referee is familiar with your writing and can provide references on that basis.

English language requirements

For applicants whose first language is not English, the University sets a minimum English Language proficiency level.

International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic module (not General Training)

• 7.0 with no subtests under 7.0
• Tests must have been taken within 2 years 5 months of start date. Applicants must meet the overall and subtest requirements using a single test
• IELTS One Skill Retake accepted.

Common equivalent English language qualifications

Toefl (ibt, my best or athome).

• 94; with Reading 24; Listening 24; Speaking 23; Writing 27
• Tests must have been taken within 2 years 5 months of start date. Applicants must meet the overall and subtest requirements , this includes TOEFL mybest.

Pearsons PTE Academic

• 66 with no subtest less than: Listening 66;Reading 68; Speaking 65; Writing 82
• Tests must have been taken within 2 years 5 months of start date. Applicants must meet the overall and subtest requirements using a single test.

Cambridge Proficiency in English (CPE) and Cambridge Advanced English (CAE)

• 185 overall, no subtest less than 185

Oxford English Test

• Oxford ELLT 8
• R&L: OIDI level no less than 8 with Reading: 27-28 and Listening: 20
• W&S: OIDI level no less than 8.

Trinity College Tests

Integrated Skills in English II & III & IV: ISEII Pass with Pass in all sub-tests.

University of Glasgow Pre-sessional courses

Tests are accepted for 2 years following date of successful completion.

Alternatives to English Language qualification

• students must have studied for a minimum of 2 years at Undergraduate level, or 9 months at Master's level, and must have complete their degree in that majority-English speaking country and within the last 6 years
• students must have completed their final two years study in that majority-English speaking country and within the last 6 years

For international students, the Home Office has confirmed that the University can choose to use these tests to make its own assessment of English language ability for visa applications to degree level programmes. The University is also able to accept UKVI approved Secure English Language Tests (SELT) but we do not require a specific UKVI SELT for degree level programmes. We therefore still accept any of the English tests listed for admission to this programme.

For further information about English language requirements, please contact the Recruitment and International Office using our  enquiry form

How to apply

To apply for a postgraduate taught degree you must apply online. We cannot accept applications any other way.

Please check you meet the Entry requirements for this programme before you begin your application.

As part of your online application, you also need to submit the following supporting documents:

• A copy (or copies) of your official degree certificate(s) (if you have already completed your degree)
• A copy (or copies) of your official academic transcript(s), showing full details of subjects studied and grades/marks obtained
• Official English translations of the certificate(s) and transcript(s)
• One reference letter on headed paper
• Evidence of your English language ability (if your first language is not English)
• Any additional documents required for this programme (see Entry requirements for this programme)
• A copy of the photo page of your passport (Non-EU students only)

You have 42 days to submit your application once you begin the process.

You may save and return to your application as many times as you wish to update information, complete sections or upload supporting documents such as your final transcript or your language test.

For more information about submitting documents or other topics related to applying to a postgraduate taught programme, see  how to apply for a postgraduate taught degree

Guidance notes for using the online application

These notes are intended to help you complete the online application form accurately; they are also available within the help section of the online application form. 

If you experience any difficulties accessing the online application, see  Application System Help .

• Name and Date of birth:  must appear exactly as they do on your passport. Please take time to check the spelling and lay-out.
• Contact Details : Correspondence address. All contact relevant to your application will be sent to this address including the offer letter(s). If your address changes, please contact us as soon as possible.
• Choice of course : Please select carefully the course you want to study. As your application will be sent to the admissions committee for each course you select it is important to consider at this stage why you are interested in the course and that it is reflected in your application.
• Proposed date of entry:  Please state your preferred start date including the month and the year. Taught masters degrees tend to begin in September. Research degrees may start in any month.
• Education and Qualifications : Please complete this section as fully as possible indicating any relevant Higher Education qualifications starting with the most recent. Complete the name of the Institution (s) as it appears on the degree certificate or transcript.
• English Language Proficiency : Please state the date of any English language test taken (or to be taken) and the award date (or expected award date if known).
• Employment and Experience : Please complete this section as fully as possible with all employments relevant to your course. Additional details may be attached in your personal statement/proposal where appropriate.

Reference : Please provide one reference. This should typically be an academic reference but in cases where this is not possible then a reference from a current employer may be accepted instead. Certain programmes, such as the MBA programme, may also accept an employer reference. If you already have a copy of a reference on letter headed paper then please upload this to your application. If you do not already have a reference to upload then please enter your referee’s name and contact details on the online application and we will contact your referee directly.

Application deadlines

September 2024, all applicants.

As there is extremely high demand for places on this degree programme, the University has established an application process with application rounds. This process aims to ensure fairness and equity to applicants and should support applications being open for the full admission cycle.

Round 1 application dates

1 October 2023 to 19 November 2023 . You will receive our decision on your application by 3 February 2024 .

Round 2 application dates

20 November 2023 to 18 February . You will receive our decision on your application by 24 March 2024 .

Round 3 application dates

19 February 2024 to 27 May . You will receive our decision on your application by 8 July 2024.

Round 4 application dates

28 May 2024 to 1 July . You will receive our decision on your application by 11 August 2024 .  

As we receive a great number of applications, prospective students are only allowed to apply once per year.

More information about this programme

• Core and optional courses
• Creative Writing at Glasgow

Related programmes

Online postgraduate.

• See the range of online postgraduate taught programmes available

Creative Writing

• Creative Writing [MLitt]

English Literature

• English Literature [MLitt]
• English Literature: American Modern Literature [MLitt]
• English Literature: Fantasy [MLitt]

more related English Literature programmes

Related links

• About postgraduate study
• How to apply for a postgraduate taught degree
• Postgraduate research opportunities A-Z
• How to apply for a postgraduate research degree
• Fees and funding

Postgraduate events

Open Days, information sessions, campus tours, events near you

Postgraduate prospectus

New Scholarship Supports Western’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing

The Mari Sandoz Emerging Writer Scholarship will be awarded every year.

Students with a passion for writing about the people and landscapes of the West will have a new scholarship opportunity when they enter Western Colorado University’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing (GPCW), thanks to the generosity of the Mari Sandoz Heritage Society.

The Mari Sandoz Emerging Writer Scholarship will be available to one qualified first-year graduate student in the GPCW’s Nature Writing concentration starting in the summer of 2024. The scholarship will be granted each academic year, awarding the winner $3,000 each semester for a total of $6,000.

According to Mari Sandoz Heritage Society board member and director of the GPCW Nature Writing Concentration, Laura Pritchett, the scholarship aims to memorialize Mari Sandoz’s legacy as someone who had a passion for writing and loved the landscapes and peoples of the West. Through the scholarship, the board hopes to support significant writing about the West in the contemporary literary landscape.

“Sandoz’s writing emphasized the environmental and human landscape of the West and was recognized for her no-nonsense yet deeply evocative style,” Pritchett said. “She was passionate about sharing her hard-earned and well-honed writing skills. We’re fortunate to have the Mari Sandoz Heritage Society support this scholarship.”

Applying to the GPCW’s Nature Writing program will also serve as an application for the scholarship.

Author credit: Seth Mensing

Photo credit: Courtesy

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