BA (Hons) Creative Writing

Charles Dickens was born here, Sherlock Holmes was created here, H.G. Wells travelled in his ‘time machine', and many tourists wander our timeless shores inked with seaside tales. If there could be an ideal birthplace for your creative writing career, let it be Portsmouth.

Every lecture, seminar, and event on our Creative Writing degree course will inspire you to develop your writing voice across various media, from stories and poetry to plays and screenplays. Learn about the theory behind the art of writing and discover the history of storytelling and narrative, guided by a team of industry and research experts spanning writing, media and performance. You can also broaden your writing experience by studying abroad and attending an optional professional placement.

By the end of the course, you’ll have the versatile writing skills to take you to any career destination within the creative and communication fields.

Course highlights

• Take part in Portsmouth’s annual Comic Con for the latest developments in creative writing and literature, popular culture, fan communities, and technology – course lecturers and students are panellists
• Build your writing portfolio by contributing to our course blog, The Eldon Review, local news zine Star & Crescent, and our Student Union newspaper, The Galleon
• Collaborate with staff on innovative research projects to enhance your practice, such as Ink: Well, Lifewriting for Well-Being, and Pens of the Earth.
• Get insight into the current writing scene by attending guest lectures from industry professionals – past ones include Andy McNab, Francesca Beard, and Suzi Feay.
• Gain valuable professional experience by taking an optional placement
• Spend a year or a semester studying abroad to discover another culture and way of learning
• Learn a new language with our extra-curricular Institute-Wide Language Programme to improve your abilities and earn credits

We’re proud to be a breath of fresh air in the academic world – a place where everyone gets the support they need to achieve their best. We’re always discovering. We don’t fit the mould, we break it. Just as the world keeps moving, so do we.

We’re closely involved with our local community, and we take our ideas into the global marketplace. We partner with businesses, industry, and government to set the course for a better future. And we educate and transform the lives of our students to help them achieve their potential. We stand out, not just in the UK but in the world. We excel in research areas from cosmology and astrophysics to cybersecurity, forensics, and sport science. Since the first day we opened our doors, we've looked towards the future. And we're here to help you shape it.