St Mary’s Launches Creative Writing Masters Programme

St Mary’s University College, Twickenham has launched a new masters course created to help budding authors on their journey to writing and publishing their first novel. The postgraduate course called Creative Writing: First Novel, is dedicated solely to the drafting and discussion of a writer’s first novel and will welcome its first cohort of students in September 2014. St Mary’s School of Arts and Humanities already offers a successful undergraduate Creative and Professional Writing programme, and this postgraduate course extends the University College’s expertise in the field to those who may not have formally studied writing before, but who want to write a novel either as a hobby or a profession. The course will be delivered by Programme Director David Savill, who is editing his first novel and has published short stories with Tindal Street Press, Dr Scott Bradfield, author of five published novels and several collections of short stories, and Dr Russell Schechter, author of seven published novels and over 20 short stories. David said, “Our undergraduate Creative and Professional Writing course is very popular and offers an avenue for those students who want to work with the written word, be it in journalism, publishing or other fields such as advertising. “Our new MA programme expands on this success, but offers a more specific route for those who are currently working on their first novel. We are lucky enough to have three novelists currently working in the School of Arts and Humanities, and this expertise will drive the teaching and learning on the programme.” In addition to St Mary’s highly experienced teaching staff, students on the programme will also benefit from guest talks with working authors and industry figures, who will give insight about their working practice and experiences in publishing. Already students on the undergraduate course have been able to meet Christie Dickinson, author of nine internationally published novels, Booker Prize nominee Hisham Matar, and Ben Aaronovitch, author of the international bestselling Rivers of London series. David continued, “There is a high demand for professional qualifications in creative writing both from existing students and members of the public, such as those who have attended one of our story workshops that we run with the Richmond Literary Festival throughout November. “The idea of gathering a group of students solely dedicated towards writing their first novel, is a unique and focused approach to a Masters. I am really looking forward to embarking on this journey with a new cohort of first time novelists.” The course, which is available to study either part- or full-time, will explore a variety of writing strategies and help students develop a working practice that will enable them to complete a novel. Through the use of workshops, lectures and seminars, students will learn how to cultivate the architecture of their novel, maintain tension and suspense, defining their novelist ‘voice’ and what makes a novel marketable. St Mary’s is currently accepting applications for MA Creative Writing: First Novel to begin in September 2014. For more information please contact David Savill on david.savill@stmarys.ac.uk