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PhD Creative Writing / Programme details

Year of entry: 2024

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Programme description

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Our PhD Creative Writing programme gives you the opportunity to work on a significant piece of creative writing while developing your research skills.

You will benefit from creative supervision by an experienced poet or fiction writer and draw on the range of expertise within the University to find a supervisor for your critical element. 

There are two elements to the programme. The first is a creative element that can be a novel or a collection of short stories of up to 100,000 words, or a book-length collection of poetry of up to 60 poems.

The PhD also has a critical element, which is a piece of literary or cultural criticism of 30,000 to 50,000 words maximum.

Special features

Centre for New Writing

Undertake our PhD Creative Writing programme and you will become part of the University's Centre for New Writing, which has been championing contemporary fiction, poetry and creative writing since 2007 and is home to writers including Jeanette Winterson, Kamila Shamsie, Ian McGuire, Kaye Mitchell, Jason Allen-Paisant, Beth Underdown, Honor Gavin, Frances Leviston, Horatio Clare and John McAuliffe, and Luke Brown.

Graduate School

All of our postgraduate students become members of the Graduate School when you start at Manchester. It has dedicated facilities for students and offers opportunities to collaborate with other postgraduates.

Additional programme information

Equality, diversity and inclusion  is fundamental to the success of The University of Manchester, and is at the heart of all of our activities. 

We know that diversity strengthens our research community, leading to enhanced research creativity, productivity and quality, and societal and economic impact. 

We actively encourage applicants from diverse career paths and backgrounds and from all sections of the community, regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation and transgender status. 

All appointments are made on merit. 

The University of Manchester and our external partners are fully committed to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Teaching and learning

The PhD will require you to develop your research skills and, to this end, you will be able to undertake a research skills audit and attend seminars and workshops on research methods in the first year.

In this way, you will participate in training seminars across the field of arts, languages and cultures, which will develop useful research, teaching and IT skills.

You will also attend seminars in relation to publication, authors' rights etc, which will be particularly useful to students of creative writing.

Specialised research training, and a wider postgraduate research culture within which your work will develop, is given through a programme of writing workshop masterclasses in which students take it in turns to have their writing workshopped by the other Creative Writing PhD students, supervisors and visiting writers from outside the institution.

Coursework and assessment

The PhD will normally consist of an extended and original piece of creative work and a shorter piece of literary or cultural criticism on a related subject.

The creative element could be a novel, a collection of poems, or collection of short stories. For fiction writers, the word length of this section will normally be around 80,000 words (there is a maximum word length of 100,000 words).

The critical component will involve a critical study of a subject related to the creative work, usually 30,000 to 50,000 words in length. This may involve any of the currently debated topics in English and American Studies as they relate to your creative work. For example, you might explore particular thematic or generic preoccupations in the work of other writers, or investigate some of the wider literary, theoretical, or poetic contexts into which your writing fits. Please note that the critical element is not a commentary on your own work or a self-reflective essay on your own creative processes; it is a piece of literary or cultural criticism of the type you would undertake if you were working towards a PhD in English Literature.

See what our current PhD students are working on.

Manchester is home to one of the UK's five National Research Libraries - one of the best-resourced academic libraries in the UK and widely recognised as one of the world's greatest research libraries.

Find out more about libraries and study spaces for postgraduate research students at Manchester.

We also have one of the largest academic IT services in Europe - supporting world-class teaching and research. There are extensive computing facilities across campus, with access to standard office software as well as specialist programmes, all connected to the campus network and internet.

Every student is registered for email, file storage and internet access. If more demanding computer access is required, our specialist computing division can provide high-end and specialist computing services.

The Graduate School offers dedicated state of the art facilities to research students, including common rooms and workstations.

Find out more about facilities for our English Literature and Creative Writing students.

Disability support

English Literature and Creative Writing (Postgraduate research)

Welcome to postgraduate research in English Literature and Creative Writing at The University of Manchester.

PGR Handbook: School of Arts, Languages and Cultures (SALC)

What you need to know about getting started with your postgraduate research programme.

Centre for New Writing

Current PhD students

PhD students at the Centre for New Writing pursue a wide range of topics. Here's what some of our current students are researching.

• Fatema Abdoolcarim – '"Hum": A Film about Loss and the Longing to Return'
• Lucy Burns – 'Twentieth-Century Dream-Poetry'
• Chad Campbell – 'A Contemporary Poetry of Witness'
• Kathryn Dixon – 'A Feminist Study of Barbara Hepworth'
• Imogen Durant – 'The Progressive Verse of ASJ Tessimond and Dawson Jackson'
• Susan Finlay – 'The Director of Interpretation'
• Selina Guinness – 'The Ethics of Countenancing Self and Other in W B Yeats and Elizabeth Bowen'
• Charlotte Haines – 'The Nine Lives of Jeopardy Jones'
• David Hartley – “Fly' and the Fantastic Acoustic: Narrative Constructions of ASD in Speculative Fiction and Film'
• Tessa Harris – 'The Winifred Stories'
• Billy Kahora – 'The Constitutions'
• Rosemary Kay – 'Fictionalising Real People in Creative Media and Literature: How Creating Characters based on Real People Influences the Quality and Validity of a Piece of Imaginative Fiction' 
• Nathaniel Ogle – 'Narrative Parallax: A Novel and Critical Dissertation Exploring Multiple Narrative Perspectives'
• Nell Osborne – 'Towards a Theory of Writing: Gender, Subjectivity and Poetics in the Work of Ann Quin'
• Joseph Reed – 'Ekphrasis and the Economic Order. Wealth, Power and Art in the Work of Don DeLillo, Rachel Kushner, Tom McCarthy and Michel Houellebecq'
• José Saleiro Gomes – 'Loss, Memory and Futurity in AIDS Poetry'
• Eleanor Ward – 'Writing about Disability Through Poetry - Tensions Between Social and Medical Understandings of the Body in Women's Contemporary Poetry'
• Stephanie Warner – 'Anxiety, Melancholy and the Experimental Lyric'
• Mariah Whelan – 'This Continuous Performance'
• Hilary White – 'Accommodating the Mess: New forms for the Novel in Experimental British Women's Fiction in the 1960s and '70s'

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• BA (Hons) Creative Writing

Creative Writing

If you want to get serious about creative writing, the Manchester Writing School – with a proven reputation for developing gifted students into award-winning professional writers – is the ideal place to start.

Course overview

Embark on our creative writing degree and from the very start you’ll study and practise the art and craft of writing in a wide range of established and new forms, from prose fiction, screenwriting and poetry, to digital art, spoken word and writing for computer games. You'll also focus on how writers read texts, how we can learn from them and how to add your own voice into the ongoing conversation of literature.

You’ll learn from award-winning, leading poets, novelists and scriptwriters at the renowned Manchester Writing School – writers who know what it takes to turn a flash of inspiration into brilliant words on the page. The course also has a strong emphasis on professional development, and in our practical 'Beyond the Page' unit you’ll look at professional prac...

What you need to know

• When does the course start? September 2024 September 2025

3 years full-time

4 years with placement year or study abroad

4-9 years part-time

• How many UCAS points do I need? 104-112
• Where will I study this course? Manchester

Features and benefits

"One of the greatest pleasures of my working life continues to be the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University - a department with a real sense of family, achievement and celebration, and an ethos of nurturing and innovation." Professor Carol Ann Duffy DBE (Poet Laureate 2009-19) Creative Director of the Manchester Writing School

Course Information

In creative writing, students study and practise the art and craft of writing in a wide range of established and new forms, from prose fiction and poetry to screenwriting and writing for computer games. A range of award-winning and internationally celebrated writers teach on the BA programme, including Helen Mort, Andrew McMillan, Andrew Hurley, Kim Moore, Susan Barker, Lara Williams, Rachel Genn, Rachel Lichtenstein, Anjum Malik, Nikolai Duffy, Catherine Fox, Livi Michael, Gregory Norminton, Adam O’Riordan, Joe Stretch, Malika Booker, Antony Rowland and Jean Sprackland.

Accreditations, Awards and Endorsements

National Student Survey 2023 (NSS) 93.8% student satisfaction - In response to: How good are teaching staff at explaining things?

Teaching Excellence Framework 2023-2027 We have received an overall gold status in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), meaning we're rated as an outstanding university for our student experience.

You will explore genres and understand these in terms of formal and thematic properties. You will explore the relationships between poetry, prose and drama by familiarising yourself with some of the major works that define each genre. You will also consider the reasons why writers make generic and formal choices, and in your own creative writing, you will be encouraged to experiment in genres and forms, engaging critically with issues raised by each.

You’ll also work on how to read texts as a writer, thinking about what we can learn from existing texts and how we can take those lessons forward in our own work and into professional practice. You’ll be asked to write critically about these texts too, in order to bring greater understanding and depth to your own writing.

Language and Technique

An introduction to writing techniques focussing primarily on the crafting processes of poetry and prose. 

This unit introduces key skills for university study, progressing to research, writing and project development. You will learn skills of close reading and textual analysis, practice on a range of cultural forms and focussed on representations of Manchester as a diverse, international city. You will then develop your own independent project and put into practice the analytical skills developed. 

Story and Structure

An introduction to the conventions of storytelling focussing on forms such as flash fiction, short stories, screenwriting and writing for theatre.

The Writing Life

This unit will introduce students to professional opportunities in Creative Writing and the skills needed to access them. 

Study and assessment breakdown

• Year 1 30% lectures, seminars or similar; 70% independent study
• Year 2 30% lectures, seminars or similar; 70% independent study
• Year 3 100% placement (optional)
• Year 4 10% lectures, seminars or similar; 90% independent study
• Year 1 100% coursework
• Year 2 100% coursework
• Year 4 100% coursework

Placement options

Placement opportunities may be available both in the UK and abroad, in a wide variety of roles and sectors.

Our dedicated placement team have developed excellent links with various industries. You will be offered support through a preparation programme of activities that includes guidance on selection procedures, working overseas, CV preparation, interview and selection techniques.

In your second year, you will begin to specialise by selecting writing workshop modules in poetry, prose, scriptwriting and digital taught by practising writers. You’ll experiment and engage with issues raised by formal choices, such as point of view and diction, and develop your workshop and editorial skills. Distinguished writers from our Manchester Writing School will provide masterclasses on specialist forms of writing to help you shape your own creative practice, alongside studio sessions on intellectual and technical aspects central to your craft.

You will also learn about the history of the literary transmission of texts, focussing specifically on texts and their relation to technologies of the age, and the nature and resources of the literary artist.

Additionally, you will choose option units from the wider English programme so you can learn from the work of a wide range of writers and filmmakers, and develop your critical skills too. The listed option units are indicative of the type of units that will be available.

Creative Workshop 1

Students focus on two literary forms chosen from a list (for example prose, poetry, scriptwriting) and follow an intensive workshop for one semester. 

Creative Workshop 2

Remake/remodel.

Students explore literary adaptation, analysing how texts survive and evolve - how the meanings of stories, characters, poems, songs and ideas change across time and across forms. Students will be supported to make adaptations of material encountered on the unit. Students then explore the artistic process underpinning literary adaptation, examining a range of strategies by which a text or existing cultural artefact might be re-made. Students will make their own literary adaptation of an existing story, character, painting, videogame, piece of music or film, whilst reflecting critically on the process.  

The Writer's Studio

Students focus on one creative writing form chosen from a list (for example creative non-fiction, life writing) and follow an intensive workshop for one semester. 

Option units

Cultures of resistance.

This unit investigates cultures of resistance and their historical conditions. To do so, it places a range of resistant cultural texts in dialogue with relevant theoretical and critical material. 

Engaging the Humanities 2

An innovative unit that applies interdisciplinary methods, approaches and perspectives of humanities and social science disciplines to contemporary socio-economic challenges, complementing Engaging the Humanities 1. Each year the unit will address a different contemporary issue or theme. The unit will give you the opportunity to develop and apply your academic skills in an applied, practical setting by undertaking an individual engagement project. This can include a work placement, volunteering, social/community enterprise, RAH! Project, awareness-raising campaign, multimedia piece, blog, creative writing, poetry or artwork performance/exhibition. Each project will be supervised and mentored by one of the unit tutors. Finding external partners to work with will be supported by the Engagement and Outreach team.

Fit for the Future

The unit will take students through the various stages of recruitment from identifying strengths and skills, to job searching and CVs, using platforms such as LinkedIn, and interview practice. Students will build up a portfolio of tasks related to employability, for instance, CV, video interview, assessment centre and reflect on their learning across the unit.

Global Challenges: Green Literature, Film and Media

This unit will analyse the current climate crisis applying the methodologies of creative writing, English literature, or film and media studies.

Manchester City of Literature

This unit will explore the organisations and activities that make up Manchester’s UNESCO City of Literature network, and assess ways in which literary activity can help cities address contemporary global challenges.

Writing After The British Empire: Race, Nation And Theory

How can literary and cultural texts write back to the former colonial centre, enact the decolonisation of the mind, and unpick the stereotypes and ideologies central to the establishment of the British empire? How do literary and cultural works represent the lingering effects of imperialism in the present day? What does contemporary inequality, nationalism, Islamophobia and racism have to do with Britain’s colonial past? This unit supports students to address the formal, ideological and ethical questions negotiated in postcolonial literature and cinema. The unit offers an introduction to postcolonial theory as it relates to the texts and contexts we discuss. Areas of investigation might include climate change, migration, war, gender and sexuality, race and religion.

If you choose one of our four-year routes, Year 3 will be spent on placement or studying abroad.

In your final year, you will undertake a creative project and also take your work beyond the page into professional contexts; and alongside this you will be able to choose from a range of option units to suit your interests. Please note that the following list of units is indicative and may be subject to change.

Beyond the Page

This unit explores professional practice and the application of creative skills in the wider world. You will encounter practitioners from a diverse range of writing and creative professions and gain perspective on accessing and working within the cultural industry. You will take a literary text of your own - an original piece or something written within another unit - and conceive a strategy for its dissemination, reinvention, publication or performance, whilst reflecting critically on this process.

Creative Project

On this unit, you will be asked to devise, scope, plan, conduct, report and reflect on a creative project of your own choosing. The project should involve a significant stretch from your core work on the programme and explore a new practice. This can be either working in a writing discipline different to your main route through the course, or by adapting or applying your work in a new context.

Study Abroad Semester

The Study Abroad unit will involve study for one semester at an approved partner University overseas.

Escapade: Writing Creative Non-Fiction

This unit teaches you how to tell true stories in a post-truth world, how to narrate real-life events (escapades) through innovations in essay writing, observational fieldnotes, literary journalism, life writing and narrative scholarship in a range of media and to understand the ethical consequences of doing so. 

Introduction to Book Publishing

This unit will introduce students to all parts of the book publishing process and industry. Through practical exercises and interactive lectures, students will learn how the industry developed, specialist genres such as children's publishing and how publishers commission, edit, design and produce books in all formats. 

Introduction to Teaching

The unit will aim to introduce English as a core curriculum subject in secondary schools and as an A-level subject. It will provide students with insight into the application of their subject specialism to teaching in school and colleges in England, covering aspects of both curriculum content and subject pedagogy.

Popular Fiction: Reading and Writing Genre

This unit explores novels and novellas for adults that can be categorised as belonging to recognisable commercial and popular genres. You will be expected to engage both critically and creatively a range of genres.

Reading Children’s Literature

This unit provides an analytical study of a range of classic and modern texts written for children. It also uses these texts as models for the production of new texts. The unit also covers appropriate techniques for writing for children. It provides you with the skills to analyse a range of children's literature, and to use the resulting knowledge to produce original texts suitable for teenagers and children. 

Reading and Writing Games

This unit provides an analytical study of a range of twenty and twenty-first century games, both analogue and digital. Students will be introduced to the critical and historical field of game studies, and given guidance on the appropriate techniques for writing for gaming and the experience of working with pre-determined project briefs.

Reading and Writing Poetry

This unit focuses on reading and analysing a representative range of work by contemporary poets, and introduces students to relevant critical work. It equips students with critical, analytical and writing skills to read and write poetry effectively. Assessment will give students the opportunity to produce written work in critical and creative modes, and to reflect analytically on their own work. The unit will provide students with the opportunity to attend a major poetry event (e.g. the Forward Prize or the T. S. Eliot prize awards) and to visit poetry readings. 

Renegade: Writing Literary Fiction

Students will read and research a range of texts and map the terrain of contemporary literary fiction. Students will engage in current debates around the meaning and vitality of literary fiction and the way it intersects with various political movements. Students will engage and experiment with the formal innovation that defines contemporary literary fiction. Students will ultimately offer their own creative responses to the formal and political concerns of the moment through their own creative writing. 

Writing Series Drama

A creative advanced Scriptwriting course which develops skills in team storylining and individual scriptwriting skills in the context of the study of contemporary professional practice.

Whether you’ve already made your decision about what you want to study, or you’re just considering your options, there are lots of ways you can meet us and find out more about student life at Manchester Met.

• a virtual experience campus tour
• chats with current students

Taught by Experts

Your studies are supported by a department of committed and enthusiastic teachers and researchers, experts in their chosen field.

We often link up with external professionals too, helping to enhance your learning and build valuable connections to the working world.

Entry Requirements

Ucas tariff points.

GCE A levels - grades BCC or equivalent

Pearson BTEC National Extended Diploma - grade DMM

Access to HE Diploma - Pass overall with a minimum 106 UCAS Tariff points

UAL Level 3 Extended Diploma - grade of Merit overall

OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma - grade DMM

T level - We welcome applications from students undertaking T level qualifications. Eligible applicants will be asked to achieve a minimum overall grade of Merit as a condition of offer

IB Diploma - Pass overall with a minimum overall score of 26 or minimum 104 UCAS Tariff points from three Higher Level subjects

Other Level 3 qualifications equivalent to GCE A level are also considered. 

A maximum of three A level-equivalent qualifications will be accepted towards meeting the UCAS tariff requirement. 

AS levels, or qualifications equivalent to AS level, are not accepted. The Extended Project qualification (EPQ) may be accepted towards entry, in conjunction with two A-level equivalent qualifications.

Please contact the University directly if you are unsure whether you meet the minimum entry requirements for the course.

Specific GCSE Requirements

GCSE grade C/4 in English Language or equivalent, e.g. Pass in Level 2 Functional Skills English

International Baccalaureate points

Ielts score required for international students.

There’s further information for international students on our international website if you’re applying with non-UK qualifications.

Fees and Funding

Uk and channel island students.

Full-time fee: £9,250 per year. This tuition fee is agreed subject to UK government policy and parliamentary regulation and may increase each academic year in line with inflation or UK government policy for both new and continuing students.

Part-time fee: £2312.50 per 30 credits studied per year. This tuition fee is agreed subject to UK government policy and parliamentary regulation and may increase each academic year in line with inflation or UK government policy for both new and continuing students.

EU and Non-EU International Students

Full-time fee: £18,500 per year. Tuition fees will remain the same for each year of your course providing you complete it in the normal timeframe (no repeat years or breaks in study).

Part-time fee: £4625 per 30 credits studied per year. Tuition fees will remain the same for each year of your course providing you complete it in the normal timeframe (no repeat years or breaks in study).

Additional Information

A degree typically comprises 360 credits, a DipHE 240 credits, a CertHE 120 credits, and an integrated masters 480 credits. The tuition fee for the placement year for those courses that offer this option is £1,850, subject to inflationary increases based on government policy and providing you progress through the course in the normal timeframe (no repeat years or breaks in study). The tuition fee for the study year abroad for those courses that offer this option is £1,385, subject to inflationary increases based on government policy and providing you progress through the course in the normal timeframe (no repeat years or breaks in study).

Part-time students may take a maximum of 90 credits each academic year.

Additional Costs

Specialist costs.

Compulsory estimate : £300

Optional estimate : £300

On our creative writing course, students must have access to a copy of all set texts. Primary texts are held in the University library but students often prefer to have their own copy. Prices vary but many are cheaply available and set texts are often available online for no cost. Students often buy texts second hand, and there is a book exchange in the atrium of the Geoffrey Manton building. Students often choose to buy their own laptops but computers are available on campus, and laptops and iPads are available for students to borrow (estimated costs are £300 for a laptop). Students may also need to print their assignments and other documents - campus printing costs start from 5p per page.

Some option units include trips to relevant events or venues, theatres, exhibitions and libraries, which are all optional activities.

Find out more about financing your studies and whether you may qualify for one of our bursaries and scholarships

First Generation

Dedicated funding and support for first generation students

Career Prospects

Graduates enter a wide range of careers, especially media work and teaching, where their transferable skills are particularly relevant. Recent graduates have become school and college teachers, and some have gained employment in fields as diverse as banking, finance, manufacturing and retail.

There is also the opportunity to engage in further study and professional training, for example some of our graduates go on to study MA/MFA Creative Writing at postgraduate level at our Manchester Writing School under the creative direction of Professor Carol Ann Duffy DBE (Poet Laureate 2009-2019). More than 100 former students of the Manchester Writing School have embarked upon careers as published writers.

Want to know more

Got a question.

You can apply for the full-time option of this course through UCAS.

Institution code: M40

Apply for other study options:

Please contact our course enquiries team.

Get advice and support on making a successful application.

You can review our current Terms and Conditions before you make your application. If you are successful with your application, we will send you up to date information alongside your offer letter.

Manchester is your city, be part of it

Your new home, your new city, why university, related courses, film and media studies, english and multimedia journalism, english and creative writing.

Programme Review Our programmes undergo an annual review and major review (normally at 6 year intervals) to ensure an up-to-date curriculum supported by the latest online learning technology. For further information on when we may make changes to our programmes, please see the changes section of our Terms and Conditions .

Important Notice This online prospectus provides an overview of our programmes of study and the University. We regularly update our online prospectus so that our published course information is accurate. Please check back to the online prospectus before making an application to us to access the most up to date information for your chosen course of study.

Confirmation of Regulator The Manchester Metropolitan University is regulated by the Office for Students (OfS). The OfS is the independent regulator of higher education in England. More information on the role of the OfS and its regulatory framework can be found at officeforstudents.org.uk .

All higher education providers registered with the OfS must have a student protection plan in place. The student protection plan sets out what students can expect to happen should a course, campus, or institution close. Access our current Student Protection Plan .

Creative Manchester

Music in Mind

A webinar on the impact of training care home staff in improvised music-making for people living with dementia

Creative Industries and Innovation

Our research theme exploring innovative research that can benefit local areas, create new jobs, and advance the industries as a whole.

Creative and Civic Futures

Our research theme focusing on questions of climate change, community, and civil issues including minority groups and migrant experiences.

Creativity, Health and Wellbeing

Our research theme exploring the tangible health benefits of the arts and creative practice.

Creative Manchester's journey to research platform and beyond.

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Bridging The University of Manchester, the cultural sector and the community.

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Keep up to date with our latest announcements.

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Discover the latest research, work, and achievements of Creative Manchester and our partners.

Stay up-to-date with information about upcoming events, lectures and exhibitions.

Opportunities

Creative Manchester welcomes new partners that wish to support the arts and culture industry.

Chang proud to be part of Iowa’s writing legacy

Iowa Writers’ Workshop Director Lan Samantha Chang will have a lot to celebrate next month. 

Chang, who also is a Writers’ Workshop alumna, is one of eight individuals who received an Arts and Letters Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an achievement that will be celebrated at a ceremony in New York City in late May. But before the ceremony, she will head to New Hampshire to begin a residency as one of the most recent MacDowell Fellows. 

“I’m really proud to be part of the Workshop,” she says. “I’m proud to be among the many Workshop graduates who have been honored this year by so many institutions.” 

In addition to Chang, two Writers’ Workshop alumnae, Michelle Huneven and Elizabeth McCracken, also received Arts and Letters Awards. Awardees are given $10,000 to honor and encourage their creative work.

“For me, it’s a tremendous honor to be granted one of those prizes, because it’s a sign of confidence from the American writing establishment,” Chang says. “I spend a lot of my job trying to encourage people’s creative work, and there’s something kind of wonderful being on the receiving end of encouragement at this point. I feel lucky at this time in my life to have that encouragement to produce more work.”

Chang also is among the 155 artists—including writers, composers, architects, and filmmakers—selected from a pool of 2,417 applications for the spring-summer 2024 fellowship at MacDowell, one of the nation’s leading contemporary arts organizations. Fellows will have residencies at the MacDowell campus in Peterborough, New Hampshire, where they will have time and space to create in more than 30 artists’ studios.

“Because my job at Iowa is time-consuming and absorbing, it has been essential for me to go to residencies in order to get writing done,” Chang says. “I can say I’ve always done a lot of strong work at MacDowell. They make it possible for people to focus in a way that is unusual, even for a residency. For example, in the studios, Wi-Fi is not available. The story everyone says is, ‘Being there for a month, you get six months’ worth of work done.’ So, I’m extremely grateful to MacDowell. I’ll be starting something brand new, which is exciting.”

Chang’s previous work includes a collection of short stories, Hunger , and three novels: Inheritance ; All Is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost ; and The Family Chao . She has received creative writing fellowships from Stanford University, Princeton University, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Chang has directed the Iowa Writers’ Workshop since January 2006, and says she came to Iowa because the workshop changed her life. 

“I felt that I could be a part of it in a meaningful way,” Chang says. “I’ve been very lucky that my job has been at a place that means a lot to me. I think it’s very rare and lucky when a person can spend so much of their adult life doing work that they find meaningful.”

Chang also finds inspiration in the students who come to Iowa for the workshop, which is known worldwide as the premier program of its kind.

“They are the best students in the world,” she says. “To have such a high concentration of gifted emerging writers is a very rare thing. I don’t know of anywhere else where it exists, the size and talent of the Workshop student body.”

Chang says she also thinks the university and Iowa City communities are unique in the value placed on writing. 

“This is one of the few places in the country where writing is at the center of the conversation,” she says. “There’s something affirming to be able to walk into a restaurant and be in a room with poets and essayists and novelists, all those people living the lives of writers.”

2 UI faculty receive prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship

CLAS doctoral candidate receives prestigious Mellon/ACLS Fellowship

Spanish and Portuguese

Mariana mazer, phd candidate in spanish, 1 of 15 clas graduate students awarded prestigious fellowships to support their research and creative work, marcus bach fellowship .

The Marcus Bach Fellowship , named for the 1942 University of Iowa graduate of the same name, is awarded to graduate students in the humanities to support the completion of an MFA project or doctoral dissertation. The fellowship’s goal is to foster intercultural communication and the understanding of diverse philosophies and religious perspectives.  

Each fellow receives a semester of support including a $10,700 salary, a tuition scholarship for 2 semester hours credit, and more. 

The five recipients for the 2024-25 school year are: 

• Caelainn Barr , Department of English (Nonfiction Writing Program), "Written in the Land"  Barr’s project is a memoir grounded in archival research and interviews that explores the intersection of religion, spirituality in nature and family history. The work is set against the backdrop of conflict in in Northern Ireland. 
• Nathan Chaplin , Department of History, "Surveying the Tropics, Constructing the Heartland: Identify Formation in Nicaragua and the Midwest"  Chaplin’s project investigates the alliances formed between Nicaraguan and Midwestern elites as they attempted to manage public health crises, state policy, and capital investment during the 19th and 20th centuries. 
• Spencer Jones , Department of English (Nonfiction Writing Program), “All Skillful in the Wars”  Jones’s thesis explores political and theological tensions in the lives of radical-revolutionary schoolteachers Harriet Wheeldon and Simone Weil. 
• Xiaoyan Kang , Department of Theatre Arts, “The Words of Ants"  Kang’s thesis takes the form of a play drawing inspiration from the 1983 script Nüshu, or the script of women. Through it, the playwright intends to explore how individual experiences are interpreted to serve a particular narrative. 
• Mariana Mazer , Department of Spanish and Portuguese, “The book as an object and container of multiple stories"  Mazer’s dissertation explores the relationship between the book as a physical object and the narratives it contains, ultimately printing and binding eight copies of the finished thesis. 

NOTICE: The University of Iowa Center for Advancement is an operational name for the State University of Iowa Foundation, an independent, Iowa nonprofit corporation organized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, publicly supported charitable entity working to advance the University of Iowa. Please review its full disclosure statement.

Apr. 22, 2024

Empowering voices: the future of creative writing at rice university.

Creative writing transcends conventional academic boundaries, serving as both a discipline and a practice that invites diverse perspectives and influences. According to Ian Schimmel, associate teaching professor of English at Rice University, creative writing is characterized by its openness to exploration and expression.

“It does not define the scope of what a thought project should be,” Schimmel said, adding that creative writing encompasses a wide range of forms and styles, from traditional genres like fiction, poetry, nonfiction and drama to emerging mediums that shape contemporary discourse. “It’s very permeable to other parts of the university that want to participate in it.”

Extending beyond mere poetic imagery or storytelling, creative writing delves into the depths of human experience, capturing the rhythm, themes and pauses that define individual narratives.

“We’re all an amalgamation of stories,” said Kiese Laymon, the Libbie Shearn Moody Professor of English. “The rigor of having to explore your imagination and memory with these tools we have is hard work. We try to make it enjoyable work, but it’s definitely hard work.”

Creative writing plays a pivotal role in understanding and interpreting societal narratives, Schimmel pointed out, highlighting the significance of studying hybrid forms that blend elements of journalism, memoir and personal reflection, reflecting the multifaceted nature of contemporary storytelling.

“I prefer the term ‘imaginative writing’ or ‘public writing,’” said Justin Cronin, writer-in-residence in English. “‘Creative writing’ pays less attention to the idea that this is a discipline. It really is a very particular kind of discipline that you need to learn to do.”

At its core, creative writing is about having something to say — a point of view or an urgency that compels expression.

“We are equipping students with the tools to say what they feel is most important and urgent,” Schimmel said. “That’s where the fulfillment comes from.”

For Cronin, teaching creative writing is a dynamic process of self-discovery and exploration.

“Anyone who teaches creative writing is teaching themselves, full stop,” Cronin said. “We are doing both all the time.”

He emphasized the interdisciplinary nature of the discipline, drawing connections between literature, film and societal trends. Cronin’s spring 2024 course titled “The End of the World as We Know It: Writing (and Reading) Apocalypse” exemplifies this interdisciplinary approach, blending literary analysis with creative expression to explore existential themes.

“There is a lot to learn about craft, about how to make a good sentence, how essays really work, how stories or novels work,” Cronin said. “But then there are also the broader questions: Why do we do this? Where does it come from, and where does it go?”

‘It feels like home’

It’s worth reflecting on the latter question in relation to Rice’s creative writing program. Of the current faculty, Cronin has the longest institutional knowledge. He came to Rice in 2003, effectively doubling the program’s full-time faculty.

“It was just me teaching fiction and one poetry professor,” Cronin said. “That was creative writing in 2003.”

A couple of years later when he sold a partial manuscript of what evolved into his trilogy “The Passage,” Cronin stepped down from his full-time teaching role to focus on the series.

Schimmel later joined Rice during a two-year fellowship starting in 2011. After his first year, the two other creative writing faculty members retired.

“I was one of only one or two other people teaching creative writing at Rice in 2012,” Schimmel said.

Associate professor Amber Dermont joined the faculty followed by assistant professor Paul Otremba then Lacy Johnson in 2016, which is when Cronin returned to teach at Rice.

“We made a strategic plan that involved investing in creative writing, trying to make Rice the best undergraduate creative writing program in the country,” said Lacy Johnson, associate professor of creative writing and director of undergraduate studies in English. “We proposed hiring a few more writers so that we could continue to grow.”

And they did, adding Laymon, professor in the practice Andrea Bajani, assistant professor Bryan Washington and associate professor Tomás Q. Morín.

“When I saw the job posting at Rice, every writer I knew was applying for the job,” Morín said. “Every writer I knew wanted to work at Rice because it was a dream job.”

Morin said his desire to join the faculty only grew after visiting the campus during the interview process when he got to meet the people he’d be working with and the students he’d be teaching.

“I felt like this job could be my last stop in terms of my academic career,” Morín said. “This is a place where I could retire. Once I actually did start teaching here, all of that was affirmed. I don’t want to ever teach anywhere else again. This doesn’t feel like a job. It feels like home.”

“With Lacy Johnson, Ian Schimmel, Kiese Laymon, Bryan Washington, Tomás Morín, Amber Dermont, Andrea Bajani and Justin Cronin, Rice boasts some of the most significant writers in the United States,” said Kathleen Canning, dean of the School of Humanities, in sharing her assessment of the creative writing faculty she calls “amazing.”

“Spectacular” is the word Cronin choses to describe his colleagues.

“The amount of raw achievement in so many areas is unparalleled,” Cronin said, pointing to Laymon’s selection as a MacArthur Fellow and Johnson’s creation of the Houston Flood Museum. “We have short story writers, essayists, novelists, poets, screenwriters. We have it all.”

Laymon, who started teaching at Rice in January 2022, expressed that he’s been impressed by how dynamic and thoughtful his colleagues are.

“Our ability to work together is one of the reasons why the creative writing program is growing at such an incredible rate,” Laymon said.

"The learning and the doing"

The program’s not growing just in terms of faculty; the academic powerhouse has captured the imagination and enthusiasm of students, sparking a surge of interest that far exceeds available capacity. Most creative writing classes have waitlists at least 20 students deep, while the waitlists for intro workshops are closer to 75.

“I’ve never worked anywhere where there was such a tremendous curiosity, passion and interest in creative writing at the undergraduate level,” Morín said.

“The desire on the part of these students to use creativity to explore critically and intellectually, I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” Laymon said, adding that he believes the interest is connected to the strength of the faculty. “You don’t find creative writing programs with any sort of growth unless the students are being taught well.”

Laymon suggested the program’s success also lies in its ability to attract students from diverse disciplines, including computer science, biology and engineering.

“There is such a hunger on our campus to make things and to take what you learned in the classroom and apply it,” Schimmel said. “There’s often a gulf between the theoretical and the practical in an education setting. What’s powerful about creative writing, and the arts in general, is the connectivity between the learning and the doing.”

Faculty members say they appreciate the diverse perspectives and interdisciplinary collaborations that emerge from such a dynamic student body.

“There are so many different kinds of expertise for students to use Rice and Houston as a laboratory to think about the issues that are facing us today,” Johnson said. “Thinking about climate, about science, about community, about culture, where better than Houston to come to learn to write about those things?”

"Experimenting with words"

The creative writing program is a catalyst for that exploration and discovery, empowering students to engage with a myriad of topics and formats while honing their skills as storytellers.

For example, on the nonfiction side, Laymon’s spring 2024 course titled "Verses/Versus: Miseducation of Lauryn Hill v. good kid m.A.A.d. city (or 1998 vs. 2012)” allows students to reflect on how music influences their lives, whether through personal experiences or the albums discussed in class. “Nonfiction Nature Writing,” taught by Johnson, merges writing and environmental philosophy.

“We’re giving consideration to the ways that we think about and talk about the environment as well as practicing writing about our relationship to the environment,” Johnson said. “Students often come to that class from the sciences. I have a lot of students from environmental sciences, geology, physics, ecology and evolutionary biology.”

The class is a different application of science, Johnson added, explaining that it provides students an opportunity to apply and translate what they’ve learned in their other classes in creative ways.

Schimmel, meanwhile, teaches podcasting courses, challenging students to report on stories beyond the hedges of Rice. By interviewing real-life characters and crafting compelling narratives, students gain valuable storytelling skills while exploring the power of audio storytelling.

“We deconstruct the narrative structures of radio storytelling to understand how a large amount of material can be condensed into something that is manageable, enjoyable and informative for an audience,” Schimmel said.

Central to the creative writing experience at Rice is the workshop. Through peer critique and experimentation, students refine their writing and gain insights into audience engagement and narrative structure.

“A workshop environment helps you compare your intentions with the realities of your audience,” Schimmel said. “It pulls you out of yourself. It makes you conscious of how form and technique affect your reader’s desire to interact with your work.”

Laymon underscored the importance of experimentation in creative writing. By encouraging students to explore literary traditions and experiment with language, the program fosters a culture of innovation and self-expression.

“We all have these 26 letters. How do we create a story with them?” Laymon said. “We need young people out there experimenting with words and to be encouraged to do that.”

"A unique opportunity"

As Rice’s creative writing program has evolved, its faculty have remained dedicated to fostering a culture of creativity, expression and intellectual inquiry, shaping the next generation of writers and thinkers.

“One of our goals is to broaden the public’s understanding of what creative writing is and how it can serve as a public utility for all,” Schimmel said.

The next step for the program, according to Cronin, is to elevate from a strong program to a national leader in undergraduate creative writing education.

“We want to be the best undergraduate creative writing program in the country, which means students come to Rice specifically for that,” Cronin said. “We want to build the kind of program that people deliberately seek out. Students apply to a university for a thing, and we want to be that thing.”

Faculty members are exploring the possibility of establishing a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in creative writing, which reflects the program’s commitment to furthering its impact and engaging with a broader community of writers.

“There’s a lot of interest,” Johnson said. “We have a really unique opportunity at Rice to build something from scratch.”

“That feels incredibly exciting to me,” Morín said, explaining that the goal is to create a program that addresses the shortcomings of the traditional MFA model while offering a fresh and dynamic approach. “It gives me a lot of energy, because as a group, we can offer the kind of experience that a graduate student in creative writing can’t find anywhere else.”

For more information about Rice’s creative writing program, click here .