Creative Writing BA (Hons)*
 Creative Writing (Major).jpg)
UCAS Code: CW01|Duration: 3 years|Full Time|Hope Park
UCAS Campus Code: L46
Work placement opportunities|International students can apply|Study Abroad opportunities
About the course
*Single Honours Creative Writing is Subject to Approval for 2027
On our BA (Hons) Creative Writing, you will learn how to create contemporary writing for today's audiences and tomorrow’s society. You will join a community of other committed writers and creatives and be supported by published writers and leading academics in your creative development. Designed for ambitious writers, creators and storytellers, this innovative Creative Writing degree combines the practice of writing contemporary fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction with digital storytelling, scriptwriting, podcasting, and cross-platform writing. Literary writing is the bedrock for all contemporary publishing platforms. To write well you need to know what has been written before you, and what is being written now, so you become part of a community of contemporary communicators. Therefore, you will also study literary writing alongside a diverse range of contemporary publications.
At Liverpool Hope University, you will develop your unique voice while gaining the practical skills employers and creative industries value alongside a rigorous engagement with literary writing, language studies, and cultural theory. You will write across multiple formats, collaborate with students from different disciplines, and explore how stories and words can inspire communities, challenge ideas, and create positive change. Hope’s values and ethics are interwoven into the curriculum. All voices are heard and valued on this inclusive course.
Alongside literary craft, you will study ethical storytelling and representation, publishing, editing, and creative entrepreneurship, preparing you to be a creatively- critical writer. Through live projects, industry input, community opportunities and writer-led writing workshops alongside one-to-one feedback, you will graduate with an understanding of how to create publishable new writing, gain professional experience and a body of work of the quality needed to share with the world.
Whether you dream of becoming a published novelist, screenwriter, poet, or to work as an editor, copywriter, digital creative entrepreneur, or work in community writing, arts in health or community cultural engagement this degree will help you turn your passion for creative writing into a rewarding career.
Hear a warm welcome from Senior Lecturer Dr Lisa Nahajec.
Course structure
Teaching on this degree is delivered in creative workshops, during which you carry out interactive writing exercises, facilitated by tutors, discussion with fellow writers and receive verbal feedback. You will also attend tutorials, which in your first year typically have no more than 10 students.
For the Creative Writing part of your degree, there will be approximately 6 teaching hours in your first year, approximately 5 teaching hours in your second year, and approximately 5 in your third year. On top of teaching hours, you are also expected to spend a minimum of 9 hours studying independently each week, writing new creative work for the workshops, tutorials and assessments and reading as a writer.
Assessment and feedback
Creative writing is the main mode of assessment. You will produce a portfolio of original poetry, script and screenwriting, fiction and creative nonfiction. The word counts increase at different levels of study. You will choose the themes for all your assessments. This core creative writing practice is supported by further assessment using creative-critical approaches such as reflective and research essays, reading as a writer essay, professional writing briefs/commissions and a research project.
There are no written formal exams in creative writing.
Feedback is crucial to developing as a writer. In the first year, you receive weekly verbal constructive feedback on your work-in-progress during seminars and tutorials, plus detailed written feedback on all formal assessments, returned within four weeks of the assessment deadline.
In year two, feedback follows a similar pattern to year one. You are also required to participate in a weekly writing workshop, in which you receive detailed feedback from your peers as well as your tutor.
In year three, you receive regular feedback during the advanced writing workshops and one-to-one supervision on your research project.
Curriculum overview
*Please note the full curriculum for Single Honours Creative Writing will be available soon.
Year One
Your first year lays down the foundation for this practice-based course in creative writing. You are introduced to the nature of creativity, the building blocks of writing practice and to the core writing techniques involved in creating poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction.
Creative Practice and Processes (30 credits)
In this module, you will be introduced to creative writing through practice such as by writing with the senses to improvise new texts in response to a range of stimulus. For example, you will go on a sound walk and practice close listening as a prompt for new ideas and use objects and imagery to explore the nature of your imagination.
We will visit an art gallery and explore writing with visual art. You will also be encouraged to keep a writer's notebook and to develop your observational skills. You will also explore the history of the book through the rare manuscripts in the library and consider how our relationship with nature and the environment impacts on our creative writing.
You will learn how writers develop a project from an initial idea through to the published book. You will also learn the practice of ‘Reading as a Writer’ and how to reflect on your emerging independent writing practice.
Writing Techniques: Poetry, Prose and Creative Non-fiction (30 credits)
This module will provide you with the opportunity to explore and write poetry, prose and creative non-fiction as you develop your portfolio of original creative writing in these modes. You will develop your writing skills by understanding areas such as figurative language, poetic and prose forms, and professional writing.
You will also experience the work and craft of drafting, revising and editing. While you will learn theoretical aspects of these areas, the aim is to enhance your own craft through an exploration of the technicalities of creative writing. You will also explore ‘Contextualising Practice’ to understand real world applications for your writing and how this impacts on writing practices.
Year Two
Your second year encourages you to become an autonomous writer, building on the foundations in writing practice built in the first year. You will also develop professional skills and gain insights into the creative industries.
Creative Writing Workshops in Prose and Poetry (30 credits)
In this module you will create new creative writing under the guidance of widely-published and leading contemporary writers. You will participate in weekly writing workshops each focused on either poetry (performed, written, digital), prose writing (fiction and creative nonfiction). You will have the opportunity to share a work-in-progress draft with the workshop group for detailed feedback and critique. You will also be asked to offer feedback and critique on your fellow students’ writing.
Scriptwriting (15 credits)
In this module you will be introduced to the foundational skills in writing for performance and the digital realm across film, TV, theatre and other popular media (podcast, video essay). You will develop short scripts and confidence in narrative, dialogue, script formats, and adaptation and also study critical theory linked to scriptwriting.
Cultures of the Book (15 credits)
In the first half of the module, you will focus on the material cultures of the book and reading with a view to developing your awareness of the intersections between the lives of books and the lives of readers through a focus on the book as a material object and its paratexts.
In the second half of the module, you will focus on the contemporary book world, from trends and themes in texts and criticism to the ways in which books are marketed, reviewed and read, while also thinking about how writers and critics earn a living.
Year Three
Your third-year studies, like the second year, build on the knowledge, skills and understanding developed across the course. Alongside this, you will examine the theme of ‘Vocational Practice’ as well as progressing your individual writing skills and styles through working on advanced writing techniques.
Advanced Writing Workshops in Poetry, Prose and Creative Non-fiction
Creativity requires continuous growth and development and your final year provides you with the opportunity to work with experts in poetry, prose fiction and creative non-fiction on advanced skills in writing techniques. Here, you will have the chance to explore the theories and complexities of issues such as characterisation, plot structure, free verse, poetic form, biography and autobiography, and writing for articles and podcasts. Under the guidance of our published writers, you will work to find your own voice as a writer and produce writing to a publishable standard.
The Research Project
Your final year also gives you the opportunity to advance your own interests through the Research Project where you take your own creative practice and place it within the wider context of both existing literary texts, theoretical concepts and ideas and the world of publishing.
The Vocational Seminar
By your third year, you will be developing your own voice in your writing practice and producing original work. You will be submitting your work for publication in magazines and for competitions. This is the point at which you will have the opportunity to deepen your understanding of the practicalities of being a writer in the world.
You will explore the world of professional writing from issues of working with editors, collaborating with other writers, feature writing to life as a freelance writer. You will also explore ways in which creative writing can benefit society such as community writing and writing and diversity. Here, you develop the skills, knowledge and understanding to allow you to take your creativity into the world of work
Entry requirements
| A-Levels | BBC |
|---|---|
| UCAS Tariff Points | 112 UCAS Tariff points must come from a minimum of two A Levels (or equivalent). Additional points can be made up from a range of alternative qualifications.
Find out how many UCAS points your qualifications are worth, by using the Tariff calculator. |
| BTEC | DMM |
| Access to HE | 112 Tariff Points |
| IB | 26 points |
| Irish Leaving Certificate | 112 Tariff Points from Higher Level qualifications only |
| Welsh Baccalaureate | This qualification can only be accepted in conjunction with other relevant qualifications |
| T-Levels | Merit |
| Subject Requirements | No specific subject requirements |
International entry requirements
| Specific Country Requirements | Select your country |
|---|---|
| IELTS | 6.0 overall (with reading and writing at 6.0) and no individual score lower than 5.5. We also accept a wide range of International Qualifications. For more information, please visit our English Language Requirements page. |
Careers
A Creative Writing degree opens the door to contemporary publishing, teaching, further study, and roles in the cultural and heritage sector. As businesses, creative industries and digital platforms increasingly depend on compelling content and storytelling, skilled original and creative writers are highly valued across a wide range of sectors. Society also needs creative writers to support cultural inclusion, challenge injustice and support health and wellbeing.
Graduates may pursue careers as Authors, Screenwriters, Editors, Copywriters, Content Creators, Digital Content Producers, Social Media Writers, Publishing Assistants, Communications Officers, Marketing Executives and Community Arts Practitioners. The course also develops the entrepreneurial skills needed to build freelance careers, launch creative projects, or establish independent writing businesses or arts charities.
Through modules in publishing, digital authoring, professional practice, and creative entrepreneurship, you will graduate with a professional portfolio, industry experience, and the intellectual and critical confidence to adapt your writing skills across multiple sectors.
The programme also provides excellent preparation for postgraduate study in Creative Writing, Publishing, Journalism, Marketing, Media and Communication, Education, and the Arts. In a world driven by stories and finding the right words, you will graduate equipped to create, communicate and inspire wherever your career takes you.
Enhancement opportunities
SALA
The Service and Leadership Award (SALA) is offered as an extra-curricular programme involving service-based experiences, development of leadership potential and equipping you for a career in a rapidly changing world. It enhances your degree, it is something which is complimentary but different and which has a distinct ‘value-added’ component. Find out more on our Service and Leadership Award page.
Study Abroad
As part of your degree, you can choose to spend either a semester or a full year of study at one of our partner universities as part of our Study Abroad programme. Find out more on our Study Abroad page.
Tuition fees
The tuition fees for the 2026/27 academic year are £9,790 for full-time undergraduate courses.*
If you are a student from the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, your tuition fees will also be £9,790.
The tuition fees for the 2027/28 academic year will be £10,050 for full-time undergraduate courses.*
If you are a student from the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, your tuition fees will also be £10,050
The University reserves the right to increase Home and EU Undergraduate and PGCE tuition fees in line with any inflationary or other increase authorised by the Secretary of State for future years of study.
Home students (UK)
*Tuition fees are subject to inflation-linked increases in line with government policy. Updated fees will be confirmed in line with the maximum fee cap set by the Government or the Office for Students (OfS) for each academic year. This means your fee may increase for each academic year of study, but only up to the maximum amount permitted for that year.
Eligible UK students can apply to the Government for a tuition loan, which is paid direct to the University. This has a low interest-rate which is charged from the time the first part of the loan is paid to the University until you have repaid it.
Additional costs
As well as paying your tuition fees, you will also need to consider the cost of purchasing core texts, which we estimate to be around £100.
You will also need to consider the cost of your accommodation each year whilst you study at university. Visit our accommodation pages for further details about our Halls of Residence.
Scholarships
We have a range of scholarships to help with the cost of your studies. Visit our scholarships page to find out more.
International tuition fees
The International Tuition fees for 2026/27 are £15,225.
The International Tuition fees for 2027/28 are £16,000
Visit our International fees page for more information.
Course combinations
This course is also available as a Combined Honours degree with the following subjects:
Course Enquiry
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