Creative Writing at Leeds

Harness your creativity

From poetry to prose and scripts to songwriting, we offer a range of courses to help advance your career in the professional writing industries.

Events and readings

Our busy programme of events and engagements allows you to collaborate and build connections across industry and academia.

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Our expertise

Our courses are led by renowned writers of poetry, fiction, non-fiction and expertise from the stage, screen and radio.

Explore our staff

Explore our staff

Creative Writing at Leeds
Join a creative community
Work with acclaimed writers

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Creative Writing at Leeds

Creative Writing at Leeds is rooted in a critical engagement of the wider world. The subject encompasses the study and practice of new writing, led by notable authors and researchers from the School of English and the School of Performance and Cultural Industries.

Our creative writing community benefits from partnerships with lkley Literature Festival, Leeds Playhouse, Leeds Grand Theatre, University of Leeds Poetry Centre and the School of Night (led by national Poet Laureate Professor Simon Armitage). We also support a thriving range of events and workshops with visiting writers.

Courses

Develop the skills and experience to enhance your career opportunities as a creative writer. Our undergraduate and masters degrees allow you to explore the theory and practice of writing, through research-led teaching from internationally-recognised writers:

Student reading a book, leaning against shelves of books

BA English Literature with Creative Writing

Blend creative and critical approaches to literature as you explore writing from Old English to the contemporary period, including American, postcolonial literature and world theatre. You’ll produce creative work across genres, including fiction, poetry, plays, life writing, screenplays, short fiction and more.

More on BA English Literature with Creative Writing

MA Creative Writing

Combine creative and critical writing at Masters level to develop your skills and knowledge in the context of the study of English. You'll engage with a wide variety of literary genres as a critical reader and a creative practitioner, with expert guidance from published creative writers and academic researchers.

Research degrees

The interdisciplinary nature of Creative Writing at Leeds means your research will benefit from expertise in a wide range of specialisms across the fields of prose, poetry, scriptwriting and performance:

PhD (practice-led) in the School of English

PhD (practice-led) in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries

Our expertise

Creative Writing at Leeds has a great history of alumni and former staff, including Wole Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Geoffrey Hill, JRR Tolkien, and our recent Douglas Caster Poetry Fellows Helen Mort, Vahni Capildeo, Malika Booker and Zaffar Kunial.

Our current staff includes Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, Kimberly Campanello, Campbell Edinborough, Zaffar Kunial, Karina Lickorish Quinn, Alison Peirse, Jay Prosser, Adam Strickson and John Whale.

Explore our expertise.

Broadening with Creative Writing

All undergraduates at Leeds benefit from the opportunity to take modules to help to pursue writing as a profession. You can take a creative writing module at any point throughout your course, or choose to follow a progression pathway from Year 1 to Year 3.

Find out more about Creative Writing discovery modules.