Creative Writing

Creative writing is the practice of producing imaginative and literary texts, spanning fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, screenwriting, drama and hybrid forms. As an academic discipline, it combines the workshop-based development of craft with critical engagement with the broader literary tradition, asking not just how to write well but what writing does, how it works and what makes it resonate with readers. It is a discipline that demands both personal creative courage and the capacity to receive and apply critical feedback rigorously.

At the University of Brighton, this three-year full-time programme includes a sandwich year and work placement, giving you the opportunity to gain professional experience in a relevant environment, whether in publishing, arts organisations, education, media or a writing-related role. You will develop your craft through regular workshop practice, guided by experienced writers, while also studying the critical and theoretical contexts of your work, reading widely across different genres and periods, and engaging with questions about how literature is made, published and received. Brighton's creative culture and its connections to the arts and media sectors in the South East provide a stimulating context for developing your practice.

Graduates from creative writing programmes enter careers in writing, publishing, journalism, education, arts administration, content creation, marketing, public relations and the creative industries more broadly. Many graduates continue to write independently while building portfolio careers that combine writing with other work, and some go on to publish novels, collections and other works of their own. Postgraduate study in creative writing, often in the form of a masters programme, is a well-established route for those who wish to develop their writing practice further, build a thesis-length creative project and develop connections within the literary world.