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Creative Writing

Our creative writing program gives talented students of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction the opportunity to learn the art together in a supportive community with highly accomplished faculty.

Emphasizing the importance of craft and grounding the practice of artistic writing in knowledge of the literary tradition and its active presence in contemporary culture, we offer individualized attention to students in small classes (maximum enrollment is 12 at the graduate level and 18 or fewer for undergraduates), opportunities to take workshops across genres, and eligibility for competitive scholarships specifically designated for creative writers. Currently there are about 50 students enrolled in our graduate program specializing in poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction.

Our program also publishes one of the oldest quarterlies in the nation,   Cimarron Review . Since 1967, the   Cimarron   has showcased poetry, fiction, and nonfiction with a wide-ranging aesthetic. Graduate students at both the MFA and PhD levels work as assistant editors for the   Cimarron , screening and recommending submissions, and associate editors whose work on the magazine involves corresponding with contributors, selecting cover images, participating in magazine layout, and working with production. Associate editors are also released from some teaching responsibilities.

Our award-winning faculty have mentored and advised hundreds of emerging writers who have gone on to publish in their fields and to acquire jobs teaching writing. Creative Writing students and alumni have placed their work in such venues as   The New Yorker , the   New York Times , the annual   Best New Poets   anthology, and published books with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, BOA, Sibling Rivalry Press, and other distinguished presses. Their accomplishments include the AWP Award Series Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction, the Gwendolyn Brooks Centennial Poetry Prize, the Gold Line Press Poetry Chapbook Competition, the Pushcart Prize, the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, the Oklahoma Book Award, and selection as National Book Award finalist.

The program offers teaching assistantships (including full tuition waivers) and fellowships, with opportunities to teach freshman composition and creative writing as well as to tutor in the Writing Center. Current students are also eligible for annual creative writing scholarship competitions and other competitive opportunities. Accepted applicants receive full funding if they meet the priority placement application deadline and complete a teaching assistantship application.

Degrees and Requirements

Undergraduate.

BA:   Our undergraduate students consistently go on to publish well, take advanced degrees at some of the most highly respected graduate programs in the nation, and succeed as mature professionals.  Our BA in English with creative writing option consists of 53 hours, including 15 hours of workshop, 24 hours of literature surveys, literary criticism, and upper-division literature courses. Upper-division electives account for 17 hours.  Undergraduates have the opportunity to be editors and staff interns in OSU’s undergraduate digital literary magazine,   Frontier Mosaic.

Past undergraduate students have gone on to study at the University of Iowa, Cornell University, New York University, University of Montana, Sarah Lawrence College, Emerson College, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Western Michigan University, University of Virginia, Colorado State University, University of Maryland, University of Pittsburgh, Indiana University, and the University of Southern California.

Graduate students have gone on to study or teach at Drake University, Texas A&M, Texas Tech University, Kansas State University, Columbus State University, Ohio University, SUNY-Binghamton, Auburn University, University of South Carolina, Baylor University, Mesa State College, University of Cincinnati, Roger Williams University, University of Nebraska, University of Oklahoma, University of Central Oklahoma, Southeast Missouri State University, Millikin University, and West Chester University. 

MFA:   The MFA in Creative Writing is a three-year artistic experience that consists of 42 hours, including 12 in workshop, 3 in Craft and Forms, 6 in literature, and 9 of other appropriate departmental course offerings. The 12 remaining hours are for thesis preparation.

More Information about the MFA Degree Requirements

PhD:   The PhD program requires 60 hours beyond the master’s degree for completion, including at least 31 hours of coursework and 15 to 20 dissertation hours. Graduate students in creative writing submit original creative works prefaced by a critical introduction rather than a scholarly thesis or dissertation. Doctoral students are required to pass two qualifying exams and may choose to test in two creative writing genres, either Practical Poetics, Theory and Practice of Creative Nonfiction, or Fictional Rhetoric; or they may choose to focus on an area outside creative writing for their second exam, such as literature, screen studies, or other departmental offerings. Creative writing exams are designed to assess knowledge of close reading and craft. Our creative writing PhD program is unique in including this focus on literary technique at the qualifying examination level, allowing our graduate students to integrate their work as writers into their overall academic approach.

More Information about the PhD Degree Requirements

Sarah Beth Childers   has an MFA from West Virginia University. Her memoir-in-essays,   Shake Terribly the Earth: Stories from an Appalachian Family , was published by Ohio University Press in 2013. Her work appears in   Brevity ,   Colorado   Review ,   Wigleaf: (Very) Short Fiction ,   Pank ,   Guernica   Daily , and   Superstition   Review , as well as the anthologies   Love and Profanity: A Collection of True, Tortured, Wild, Hilarious, Concise, and Intense Tales of Teenage Life   and   Mountains Piled Upon Mountains: Appalachian Nature Writing in the Anthropocene . Sarah Beth was a recipient of the Olive B. O'Connor Fellowship at Colgate University in 2009. She serves as nonfiction editor for the   Cimarron Review .

Dinah Cox earned both an MA and a PhD at Oklahoma State University. Her first book of stories, Remarkable , won the fourth annual BOA Short Fiction Prize and appeared in 2016. A second collection, The Canary Keeper , appeared from PANK Books in 2019. Her stories have appeared or are forthcoming in StoryQuarterly , Prairie Schooner , Copper Nickel , Cream City Review , Beloit Fiction Journal , The Laurel Review , Gulf Coast online, and others. In addition, her work has won prizes from The Atlantic Monthly , Hayden's Ferry Review , The Texas Observer , and Jabberwock Review . She has served as Associate Editor of Cimarron Review since 2005.

Gene Kwak holds an MFA from Umass-Boston and has published in  The Los Angeles Review of Books ,  The Rumpus ,  Lit Hub, Wigleaf , and Electric Literature among others. His debut novel, Go Home, Ricky! ( The Overlook Press/ABRAMS, 2021) was a  Rumpus  October Book Club Selection, was featured in  Vanity Fair  magazine and  Electric Literature 's Recommended Reading, and has garnered rave reviews from  Publisher's Weekly  and  Booklist  among others. He is also the winner of the 2022 Poets & Writers Maureen Egen WEX Prize, has attended workshops at Tin House and Yale, and will attend residencies through Ragdale and the Jentel Artist Residency in 2024. He is co-founder of Tiger Balm, a Korean American writer’s collective, with Joseph Han.

Lisa Lewis  (program director) was educated at the Iowa Writers Workshop (MFA) and   the University of Houston (PhD). She has received an NEA Individual Fellowship, awards from the   American   Poetry   Review ,  Crazyhorse , and the  Missouri   Review , as well as a Pushcart Prize, and her poems appear in two editions of  Best   American   Poetry .  Her books are  The   Unbeliever  (Brittingham Prize),  Silent   Treatment  (National Poetry Series),  Story   Box  (Poetry West Chapbook Contest),  Vivisect  (New Issues Press),  Burned   House   with   Swimming   Pool  (Dream Horse Press), winner of the  American Poetry Journal  prize,  The Body Double   ( Georgetown Review  Poetry Manuscript Contest), and most recently,  Taxonomy of the Missing  (The Word Works, Tenth Gate Prize). Recent work appears or is forthcoming in  Crazyhorse ,   Gulf Coast ,   South Dakota Review ,   American Journal of Poetry ,   Florida Review ,   Four   Way Review ,   New England Review ,   and elsewhere. She serves as editor-in-chief of the  Cimarron Review .        

Aimee Parkison  holds an MFA from Cornell University and is the author of five books of fiction.  Her most recent book,  Girl Zoo  (FC2/University of Alabama 2019), is a collaborative experimental story collection co-authored with Carol Guess.  Parkison’s fourth book , Refrigerated Music for a Gleaming Woman  (FC2/University of Alabama Press 2017), won the FC2 Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize and was named one of Brooklyn Rails’ Best Books of 2017.  Parkison writes to explore voices and characters, opening doors to unusual journeys through language.  Parkison is widely published and known for revisionist approaches to narrative.  Her fiction has won numerous awards, including a Christopher Isherwood Fellowship, the Kurt Vonnegut Prize from  North American Review , the Starcherone Prize for Innovative Fiction, the Jack Dyer Prize from  Crab Orchard Review , a North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship, a Writers at Work Fellowship, a Puffin Foundation Fellowship, and an American Antiquarian Society William Randolph Hearst Creative Artists Fellowship.

Find out about course offerings at the  Course Offerings Page .

Our graduate students have developed the Creative Writers Association,  a university-sanctioned organization which sponsors a lively Writings on the Wall student reading series and an annual reading series that features visiting writers. Our undergraduates have developed   Frontier Mosaic , an official university student organization and online literary magazine which sponsors undergraduate readings and a launch party for each new issue. The new Creative Writers Club offers undergraduates their own social opportunity for gathering with like-minded students for informal workshopping and other events.

You can find out more about the graduate students, their publications, and current research on the graduate student profile page . 

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The Purpose of this Guide

This is a guide to resources available to the OU community and beyond for those who write fiction, poetry, personal narrative, and other forms categorized as Creative Writing. It points to interviews with writers, blogs and books on the creative process, organizations for writers, and helps you browse the shelves of OU's collection.

The guide was created and is maintained by Liorah Golomb , Humanities Librarian at the University of Oklahoma. I welcome your suggestions and comments! Happy writing!

  Pieter Claesz - Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill (1628).  Image from  ARTstor  database.

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Fully Funded PhD Programs in Creative Writing

Last updated February 1, 2022

As part of my series on  How to Fully Fund Your PhD , I provide a list of universities that offer full funding for a PhD in Creative Writing. PhDs in Creative Writing can lead to a career as a university teacher, professional writer, and more.

Fully funded PhD programs in Creative Writing are those that offer a financial aid package for full-time students that provides full-tuition remission in addition to an annual stipend or salary for the duration of the program, which is usually 3-6 years. Full funding usually comes in the form of an assistantship, with the expectation that students will teach or complete research in their field of study. Not all Creative Writing PhD programs offer full funding to their doctoral students, which is why I recommend researching the financial aid offerings of all the potential PhD programs in your academic field, including small and lesser-known schools both in the U.S. and abroad.

In addition to listing fully funded PhD and Fully Funded Master’s programs, the ProFellow database also spotlights external funding opportunities for graduate school, including fellowships for dissertation research, fieldwork, language study, and summer work experiences.

Would you like to receive our list of more than 1000+ fully funded PhD and Master’s programs in 60 disciplines? Download the FREE Directory of Fully Funded PhD and Master’s Programs and Full Funding Awards !

University of Cincinnati, PhD in Creative Writing (Cincinnati, OH): Every Ph.D. 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, and others funded in their dissertation year by college- or university-level fellowships. 

Florida State University, PhD in Creative Writing (Tallahassee, FL): The majority of students in the Graduate English Program receive support in the form of a teaching assistantship. Ph.D. students receive a four-year assistantship but are eligible to apply for a fifth year contingent on satisfactory progress. Teaching assistants are provided with a stipend, a tuition waiver, and a health insurance subsidy. For 2020-21, the stipend amounts were $16,200 for PhDs. The FSU Graduate School offers several fellowships and awards.

University of Houston, PhD in Creative Writing and Literature (Houston, Texas): Through the Department of English the Creative Writing Program offers teaching assistantships to Ph.D. students. Ph.D. students can receive a teaching assistantship for 5 years. Starting salary for a PhDs is $20,104/9 months. As part of the assistantship, students are awarded either a Graduate Tuition Fellowship, which remits tuition, or a Creative Writing Program Fellowship, which covers the cost of tuition and the University will pay up to 50% of the costs of medical insurance.

University of Illinois, PhD in Creative Writing (Chicago, IL): Accepted doctoral students are normally awarded six years of departmental funding via a teaching assistantship. The Graduate College and the Department both offer a number of fellowships and awards in varying amounts for graduate students. Limited amounts of travel funding are available through the Department and the Graduate College.

University of Nebraska, PhD in Creative Writing (Lincoln, NE): Students who enter the Ph.D. program with an M.A. or M.F.A. are eligible for up to 5 years of funding as Teaching Assistants. The TA stipend was $17,640.00 plus tuition remission and health insurance. The stipend for Research Assistants is $13.155.00 plus tuition remission. Each year the English Department awards several fellowships to graduate students.

University of New Brunswick, PhD in Creative Writing (Fredericton, Saint John): PhD students at UNB are eligible to compete for $19,420 of assistantship funding per year for four years (2019-2020), providing academic progress is satisfactory.

University of Southern California, PhD in Creative Writing and Literature (Los Angeles, CA): Students admitted to the Ph.D. program in Creative Writing and Literature receive financial support and assistance in the form of fellowships and teaching assistantships, which include full tuition remission, year-round health and dental benefits, and a stipend at the current rate.

Texas Tech University, PhD in Creative Writing (Lubbock, TX): When students apply to the onsite PhD program, they are automatically considered for funding. The funding for incoming students consists of a teaching position with a competitive stipend—guaranteed $20K/year for four years with opportunities to apply for a fifth year of funding—and significant tuition and fee waivers.

Ulster University, PhD in Creative Writing (Northern Ireland): The University is proud to be able to regularly offer scholarship awards to support PhD study for applicants from across the globe.  These scholarships generally pay full tuition fees and provide a tax-free maintenance grant of over £15,000 per year.

Looking for more graduate funding awards? Sign up to discover and bookmark more than 1,400 professional and academic fellowships in the ProFellow database .

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English: Creative Writing

Master's in creative writing.

• Thesis: 12 credit hours max
• Workshops in fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction: 12 credit hours
• Electives in creative writing, literature, teaching methodology, languages and cultural studies: nine credit hours

4 FIELD-LEADING JOURNALS

are edited by our faculty and advanced graduate students—Milton Quarterly, American Indian Quarterly, Journal of Linguistic Geography, and The Cimarron Review.

Research and Faculty

Our award-winning faculty have mentored and advised hundreds of emerging writers who have gone on to publish in their fields and to acquire jobs teaching writing. Creative writing students and alumni have placed their work in such venues as   The New Yorker , the   New York Times  and the annual   Best New Poets   anthology and published books with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, BOA, Sibling Rivalry Press and other distinguished presses.

Their accomplishments include the AWP Award Series Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction, the Gwendolyn Brooks Centennial Poetry Prize, the Gold Line Press Poetry Chapbook Competition, the Pushcart Prize, the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, the Oklahoma Book Award and selection as National Book Award finalist.

Admissions Requirements

• Transcripts
• B.A. or B.S. degree from an accredited institution of higher learning, typically in English with an option in creative writing and at least twelve hours of upper-division English courses (minimum GPA of 3.0)
• Other undergraduate majors may be eligible for admission depending on quality of writing sample
• Two letters of recommendation
• Written statement identifying specific program, reasons for undertaking graduate studies, relevant experience and future publication and/or work plans (approximately 250 words)
• Writing sample: fiction or creative nonfiction (approximately 25 pages) or 10 poems (maximum 20 pages in total length)

Test Scores:

• GRE not required
• TOEFL iBT minimum scores of 26 for reading, 26 for writing, and 100 for total
• IELTS minimum scores of 7.0 on reading, writing, and total

* Please note that the Department of English's requirements for demonstration of English language proficiency are more stringent than those of the Graduate College.

* The Department of English requires standardized Academic English proficiency test scores for all graduate program applicants who are non-native speakers of English, regardless of whether they have received previous degrees from U.S. institutions or any other English-speaking country’s institutions.

Application Deadlines:

• January 1 (Priority for fall admission)
• March 1 (fall admission)
• October 15 (spring admission)

Learn more about our program requirements at:

English Program Guidelines

Cost & Assistance

The Department of English employs a large number of graduate teaching assistants each year. They instruct their own courses, work in the OSU Writing Center, and receive mentoring and pedagogical training.  Click here for more information. Assistantships and tuition waivers are available to the majority of our graduate students. Travel funding opportunities are available on a competitive basis to support conference presentations and archival research. Scholarships are also available to recognize outstanding work.

Applications received prior to the fall admission priority placement deadline of Jan. 1 are given first consideration for assistantships and financial incentives. Students admitted in spring are typically not eligible for departmental funding, including assistantships, until the following fall semester.

Assistantships and Scholarships

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Postgraduate Research in Creative Writing

Creative writing research at phd level.

Creative writing research has been a growing strand within the wider research culture of the English and Creative Writing since 2008. The Contemporary Cultures of Writing Research Group engages in a number of activities including running seminar series in collaboration with The Institute of English Studies in London, on topics such as the rise of creative writing study, life writing and creativity’s relationship with translation.

The PhD focused on Creative Writing presents particular challenges and opportunities because its core requirement is the creation of a book-length work of literature, written specifically for the degree and perfected to a publishable standard. In tandem, it requires an accompanying critical/reflective thesis which elucidates the research and creative strategies involved in the making of the work.

The two parts of the thesis are not separately conceived and realised – they must cohere and illuminate each other. The essence of the Creative Writing PhD is research through creative practice. The final creative piece emerges from and embodies the research questions, decisions and discoveries made in the course of producing the work.

Creative Writing Research at MA level

The MA in Creative Writing gives writers an opportunity to develop their skills by undertaking practical activities and exchanging work with peers. Students choose a ‘primary’ genre from fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and script. They also write in a second genre, gaining an immersive insight into different forms and methods. The study of contemporary published works is a central feature of the course, and students complete creative and critical tasks. The MA culminates in the submission of a substantial piece of creative writing.

Key Information:

The deadline for completed applications for the year commencing in October 2024 will be in early January 2024 .

How to apply

• Research Degree Prospectus

Discover the sorts of projects our researchers are involved in and get a sense of their PhD experience. Many of our researchers are working on novels and life writing but we welcome proposals involving other genres.

• Current and recent research students

What constitutes research in Creative Writing?

‘Research questions’ in relation to creative works are the underlying reference points, speculations and questions that writers have in mind when approaching new work. For example, when planning a historical fiction, a writer might be interested in the legitimacy of inventing or embellishing ‘facts’ about real people or about how research and imagination might fuse. Or a writer might want to portray the subjectivity of a marginalised individual, for example, a character with severe learning difficulties. Here, the research question might be about how to render or imaginatively inhabit an unarticulated consciousness. For a PhD application, such driving research questions must be made manifest at an early stage.

The PhD focused on Creative Writing includes several kinds of research:

Acts of writing, in their stages of spontaneous drafting, considered revision and redrafting, are recognised in the PhD as a form of exploratory research that emerges from and refers to the creative process. PhD researchers keep notebooks and a record of source materials. They supply accompanying commentaries with drafts of creative work. After supervisions, they write an account of the discussion including insights, agreements, and plans for future work. Through this process they devise and analyse their own system of ‘poetics’, which forms the groundwork for the eventual critical/reflective thesis part of the PhD.

Research into craft and technique is performed through readings of comparable literature in the same genre or from studying the work of creative writers who have written about creative strategies from a practitioner’s point of view. Experimentation and adaptation of studied methods and evaluation of the effects are recognised as forms of research.

Most creative writing projects also require formal research to facilitate and authenticate acts of invention. Such research may involve field visits to explore locations; exploration of historical archives; interviews with experts; readings of relevant fictional accounts; the study of customs, beliefs, or work practice.

Who should study for a PhD focused on Creative Writing?

Applicants should have a strong academic and creative record, usually with an MA in the subject and some relevant publications. They should be highly experienced writers of proven talent. This degree does not teach the basics of how to write a novel, for example. It is more of a place to test and enlarge existing capacities. It is suitable for writers who are prepared to have their ideas and pre-conceptions challenged and to move beyond their comfort zones. It requires stamina and commitment to work on a project for several years. It should only be considered by writers who are deeply interested in the critical/reflective aspect of the PhD as well as the creative work.

All PhDs are required to ‘contribute to new knowledge’ and the creative work in particular must contain elements of originality and create new insights and understanding in order to fulfil this criterion. 'Originality' in this context does not simply mean 'of the writer’s own making': the literary text must be a significant contribution to the art of fiction/life writing/poetry/scriptwriting for the degree to be awarded. The writing of the literary text is a project which demands the full exercise of the technical skills of the craft and a critical awareness of both the tradition and the current issues, practices and debates within the selected genre and form.

The PhD usually takes the form of the creation of a book-length work of 80,000 words in the student’s chosen literary form and a critical/reflective thesis of 20,000 words. 20,000 words is the required minimum for the critical/reflective thesis but it may, in certain cases, go up to 50,000 words. Variations on the 80/20 division may be negotiated but are more suitable for writers of poetry, scripts, or shorter fiction such as a novella or story collection. Because the creative element has to be a fully realised work of literature, novelists need to adhere to the basic 80/20 split. In fact, some novels may be permitted to exceed 80,000 words if the word limit would result in an aesthetically impaired work with obvious structural or plot gaps. Such cases have to be negotiated and approved.

For those who think their proposal might be more connected to Literature study, see the information about postgraduate research on the English site.

The application deadline for the PhD Programme is in January every year. However, if you want your proposal to be successful, you’re advised to start working on your application well in advance.

Details of the application procedure are available from the Research Degrees website, and we recommend that you contact our postgraduate convenor in advance if you are considering making an application via [email protected] .

Fiction is the most common focus for the PhD but we are open to interesting and viable proposals regarding other genres. Detailed advice on how to produce a research proposal is also available online. Key issues to bear in mind from the start include the fact that a PhD should be 'an original contribution to knowledge' - so you need to check existing scholarship in your field. Second of all, as how to produce a research proposal indicates, it is always useful to have research questions guiding your enquiry. The  English & Creative Writing PhD proposal form  offers specific guidance on what should be included in your proposal. Please be sure to include this form with your application. 

Project proposals should be for a novel or collection of stories or poetry or for a book-length piece of life writing (biography, autobiography or memoir) or for dramatic script- or screen-writing as the core of the research. The critical/ reflective thesis may be an essay contextualising the work with others in its genre or in relation to critical theory. It may be more of a personal exploration of the processes involved in its creation.

A crucial part of the application is a substantial sample of your previous creative writing, at least 10,000 words of prose for a fiction or life writing proposal, or 20-25 poems for a poetry proposal, 60 pages of script for a drama proposal.

(N.B. Journalism or academic writing or writing for children/young adults should not be sent.)

Studentships

Suitable applicants will be encouraged to apply for funding. Follow these links to find out about funding through the Faculty , financial support for research degrees and applications to The Arts and Humanities Research Council.

The support structure for the PhD

Students who are accepted on to the programme are provided with two supervisors who are published writers and recognised experts in the teaching of creative writing. They both read and give feedback on regular submissions of your work. The supervisors work together to help your development through written feedback, regular face to face meetings or video conferencing. The Research School provides a programme of training sessions in aspects of doctorate research and the English discipline runs occasional postgraduate research days that provide opportunities for networking and gaining practice in public speaking. Your progress is carefully monitored with detailed reports prepared by both the student and supervisors at six monthly intervals. There is a probation process near the end of the first year (second year for part-time students). Successful passing of this enables students to transfer from MPhil registration to PhD.

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Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature

Get a ph.d. in creative writing and literature.

Admission to the creative writing program is extremely competitive, with up to 20 new students across the two genres selected each year from the hundreds of applications received from around the world. The curriculum for Ph.D. students emphasizes creative writing and literary study. The city of Houston offers a vibrant, multi-cultural backdrop for studying creative writing at the University of Houston. With a dynamic visual and performing arts scene, the Houston metropolitan area supplies a wealth of aesthetic materials.

Overview of Admissions Requirements

Minimum requirements for admission.

• M.A. in English or M.F.A. in Creative Writing  
• 3.5 GPA in graduate studies 

Application Deadline

The admissions deadline for our Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature is January 15.

For more admissions information, visit the How to Apply web page for our Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature.  

History of the Creative Writing Program

Over the years many more internationally acclaimed writers have made the Program their home, including Mary Gaitskill, Richard Howard, Howard Moss, Linda Gregg, Adam Zagajewski, Daniel Stern, David Wojahn, Edward Hirsch, Alan Hollinghurst, Mark Strand, David Wagoner, Philip Levine, Charles Wright, Claudia Rankine, Kimiko Hahn, Mark Doty and Ruben Martinez.

Current faculty includes Erin Belieu, Robert Boswell, Audrey Colombe, Chitra Divakaruni, Nick Flynn, francine j. harris, Antonya Nelson, Alex Parsons, Kevin Prufer, Brenda Peynado, Martha Serpas, Roberto Tejada, and Peter Turchi.

Quick Links

Program Breakdown & Degree Requirements

Graduate Curricular Specializations

Financial Aid

How to Apply

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English and Creative Writing

Research in this area embraces a diverse range of periods, topics and approaches. Our research extends from the early modern to the contemporary, includes all the main literary genres, and is characterised by a strongly interdisciplinary approach and ethos.

Current PhD students are working on a wide range of topics, which include: close analysis of specific books and authors in their contexts; literature in relation to themes like gender and sexuality, ethnicity, war and conflict and the way literary works are produced and received. Creative writing candidates are working on collections of poetry, or novels with wide ranging themes and  concerns.

We welcome applications from prospective research students and offer full-time and part-time places. Please contact us, using the email address below, if you are interested in exploring PhD study with us.

• 100 per cent of our English research was assessed as 4* or 3* for impact in the Research Assessment Framework (REF) 2021.
• PhD students are supported by two internal supervisors and a strong programme of training in research skills; they participate in a lively research culture, with regular seminar programmes, conferences and workshops in Milton Keynes, London and other Open University national/regional centres.
• Each year in November, we run an annual English & Creative Writing subject specific PhD student conference, which allows students to present and share their work in progress in a supportive environment.
• The discipline has an excellent track record in winning external research funding and has led large-scale collaborative projects like The Postcolonial History of the Book, the Reading Experience Database, 1450–1945, Making Britain: South Asian Visions of Home and Abroad, 1870–1950, Beyond the Frame: Indian-British Connections 1858–1950, Reading Communities: Connecting the Past and the Present, Reading Europe: Advanced Data Investigation Tool (READ-IT), Dreaming Europe, Romantic Europe: The Virtual Exhibition (RÊVE) as well as supporting many individual research projects.
• Colleagues are centrally involved in several international literary journals, including Wasafiri, The Katherine Mansfield Journal, The Spenser Review, and The Last Post (journal of the Ford Madox Ford Society). Staff members peer review and serve on the editorial boards of a wide range of other literary and interdisciplinary journals.
• The discipline contributes to interdisciplinary research at national and international levels both through the work of individual researchers, and through its links with The Open University's Ferguson Centre, and externally, with the University of London’s School of Advanced Study’s Institute of English Studies (IES).

The Open University houses publicly accessible digital archives based on the English discipline's research projects:

• The Reading Experience Database (RED)
• Making Britain: South Asian Visions of Home and Abroad, 1870–1950
• The Listening Experience Database (LED).
• English at The Open University
• Research at The Open University

Find your research topic

Explore specific areas of research, current and prospective projects, entry requirements, fees and funding, available supervisors, how to apply and contact details for advice.

Creative writing

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Literature and music

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Consider linked topics from other research areas.

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Academic Catalog

2023-2024 edition.

• Graduate College /
• Master's Degree Programs /

English: Creative Writing, MFA

Requirements for Students Matriculating in or before Academic Year 2023-2024. Learn more about Graduate College Academic Regulation 7.0 .

Total Hours: 42

Other Degree Requirements

• Creative Writing Requirements : As the defining focus of work toward the MFA degree, creative writing coursework makes up the majority of credit hours, in a combination of ENGL 5730: Seminar in Fiction Writing, ENGL 5740: Seminar in Poetry Writing, ENGL 6130: Studies in Fiction Writing, ENGL 6140: Studies in Poetry Writing, ENGL 6160: Studies in Creative Nonfiction, ENGL 5723: Craft and Forms of Poetry Writing or ENGL 5763: Craft and Forms of Fiction Writing, as well as thesis hours.
• Literature Coursework Requirement : MFA students are required to take six hours of literature course work at the 5000- or 6000-level.
• Electives : Students choose the remaining hours of coursework in consultation with their advisory committees. Course selection should take into account the student's thesis genre, artistic interests, and academic and professional goals. For instance, students interested in going on to PhD work at Oklahoma State University upon completion of the MFA would normally include courses to assist in preparing them for the first-year exam for PhD students.
• Required Hours at 5000/6000 Level : All MFA students must complete their coursework at the 5000/6000 level.
• Thesis Hours : Only MFA students may use up to 12 hours of ENGL 5000 on their Plan of Study.

Graduate College Master's Program Requirements

Learn more about Graduate College 2023-2024 Master’s Degree Program Requirements . Check the General Graduate College academic regulations for minimal GPA, language proficiency and other general requirements.

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

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MA in Creative Writing

Open university, different course options.

• Key information

Course Summary

Tuition fees, entry requirements, similar courses at different universities.

Distance without attendance

Key information DATA SOURCE : IDP Connect

Qualification type.

MA - Master of Arts

Subject areas

Creative Writing English Language

Course type

This qualification is an opportunity to develop your skills as a writer in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction and scriptwriting for film, radio and the stage. You'll be able to write in a genre of your choice and experiment with at least one other through practical and inspiring activities. You’ll work towards producing a substantial piece of your own creative writing to a professional standard. You'll also hone your practice through sharing, reading and critiquing the writing of your peers in online forums. You’ll work towards producing a substantial piece of your own creative writing to a professional standard.

UK fees Course fees for UK students

For this course (per year)

International fees Course fees for EU and international students

You must hold a UK honours degree (or equivalent), preferably with at least a 2:1 classification. Although your degree does not need to be in Creative Writing or a closely related subject, you will need some knowledge of the subject to successfully complete this qualification, as the MA in Creative Writing assumes all candidates have the knowledge and skills usually acquired by pursuing the subject at undergraduate level.

MA Novel Writing (Distance Education)

Middlesex university, creative writing: writing the city ma, university of westminster, london, professional writing with extended work placement ma, professional writing ma, ma creative writing prose fiction, university of east anglia uea.

What are you looking for?

Suggested search, phd in creative writing & literature, at home in usc’s department of english,.

the Ph.D. in CREATIVE WRITING & LITERATURE PROGRAM is one of the few dual Ph.D. programs in the country that weaves the disciplines of literature and creative work into a single educational experience. Students complete coursework in both creative writing and literature. The dissertation project is comprised of creative and critical manuscripts, both of which are essential for completion of the degree.

USC CREATIVE WRITING FACULTY include recipients of the Pulitzer Prize, Guggenheim Fellowships, the National Book Award, National Endowment for the Arts grants, Pushcart Prizes and other prestigious recognitions for their exemplary writing and dedication to their creative and scholarly work. As professors, the faculty are committed to developing innovative seminars and guiding students in the cultivation of their abilities as writers and scholars. Each incoming student is assigned a faculty mentor, with whom the student will work closely during their years at USC. While Creative Writing faculty teach critical courses from time to time, most of these literature and theory-based seminars are led by the faculty in the Department of English, all of whom are impressively accomplished scholars who are devoted to the scholarly growth of their graduate students.

Our program prizes INTERDISCIPLINARY SCHOLARSHIP, so students are encouraged to cultivate their diverse interests with courses outside of the English Department. Many students choose to pursue a complimentary graduate certificate concurrent with the Ph.D. degree. The Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences offers graduate certificate programs in Gender Studies, Visual Studies, East Asian Studies and Visual Anthropology, among others.

IN ADDITION TO COURSEWORK, students have the opportunity to participate in Ph.D. student-run projects such as The Loudest Voice, a reading series, and Gold Line Press , a publisher of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry chapbooks.

Though known for its competitive sports teams, USC also organizes an array of stimulating events throughout the year, including the English Department’s Boudreaux Visiting Writers Series and Frank N. Magill Poetry Series, as well as the University-wide Visions & Voices series, which features diverse and dynamic performances, lectures, and discussions that extend the arts and humanities beyond the classroom.

USC also hosts the annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books — one of the largest literary events in the nation. USC itself is located in the heart of beautiful Los Angeles, an international city with a vibrant arts scene, just miles from the beach or hiking trails; students will never be at a loss for something to do.

ADMISSION is extremely competitive: the program accepts 2 or 3 writers per genre every year from hundreds of applicants. All incoming students receive five years of guaranteed funding — three years of fellowship and two of teaching assistantship. Fellowship years are granted during the first, second, and fourth years of study. Funding packages also cover full tuition remission and health insurance.

OUR STUDENTS and ALUMNI have published book-length works and collections with Alice James Books, Anhinga Press, Black Lawrence Press, Copper Canyon Press, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Hogarth, Northwestern University Press, Other Press, Penguin, Red Hen Press, Saturnalia, Siglio Press, Slope Editions, Tebot Bach, Ugly Duckling Presse, University of Iowa Press, and White Pine Press, among others. Their books, poems, stories, and essays have garnered an impressive array of accolades.

For information concerning admission, please visit our Application page.

Many questions concerning the Creative Writing & Literature Program are answered on our FAQ page.

If you do not find the information you are looking for on our website, please feel free to contact us.

Ph.D. in Creative Writing & Literature

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Los Angeles, CA  90089-0354

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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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Writing Track

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Director of Undergraduate Studies

Dr. Kimberly Wieser

Cate 2, Room 328

[email protected]

• Literature and Cultural Studies Track
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Contact Information

Dr. Roxanne Mountford , Chair of the Department of English:  [email protected]

Brenda Mackey , Office Manager:  [email protected]

First-Year Composition :  [email protected] 

In this track, students study theories of written communication, practice them extensively in various writing contexts, and explore issues concerning literacy, language, and the relation of writing to different cultures.

Requirements

All English majors are required to take the following courses:

• English 2273, Literary and Cultural Analysis.
• Either English 2283, Critical Methods, or English 3843, Theory Now.
• Early Survey: 2433 World Literature; 2543 English Literature; 2773 American Literature; 2733 American Indian Literature
• Late Survey: 2443 World Literature; 2653 English Literature; 2883 American Literature; 2743 American Indian Literature; 2713 Black Literature in the U.S.
• English 4853, Senior Capstone.

All students must have a proficiency in a language, satisfied by one intermediate language course or its equivalent.

Students on the writing track elect four writing courses (three of which must be upper division) from the following:

Writing Courses

• ENGL 2113 Intermediate Writing
• ENGL 2123 Creative Writing
• ENGL 3103 Topics in Advanced Composition
• ENGL 3113 Nature/Environment/Science Writing
• ENGL 3123 Fiction Writing Workshop
• ENGL 3133 Poetry Writing Workshop
• ENGL 3143 Studies in Literacy & Rhetoric
• ENGL 3153 Technical Writing
• ENGL 3163 Digital Humanities
• ENGL 3173 History of Writing/Rhetoric/Technology
• ENGL 3183 Digital Composing
• ENGL 3193 Working with Writers
• ENGL 3223 Oklahoma Writers/Writing Oklahoma
• ENGL 4203 Special Topics in Literary & Rhetorical Forms (with Rhetoric/Writing Topic)
• ENGL 4113 Magazine Editing + Publishing
• ENGL 4133 History of the English Language
• ENGL 4303 Special Topics (with Rhetoric/Writing Topic)
• ENGL 4923 Advanced Fiction Writing Workshop
• ENGL 4933 Advanced Poetry Writing Workshop
• ENGL 4943 Advanced Creative Nonfiction Workshop
• ENGL 4970 Special Topics in World Literature Today (if writing/rhetoric focused)
• ENGL 4990 Independent Study (in Rhetoric/Writing)

Students are ordinarily restricted to taking no more than one creative course in any given semester, except with special permission from the Undergraduate Director. Also, English 2123 (Creative Writing) must be taken before upper-division creative writing courses are attempted.

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