Creative Writing

On this Creative Writing programme offered at the University of Surrey you will meet Surrey’s vibrant and imaginative community with a diverse mix of subject specialities and much opportunity for intellectual exchange, across both literary-critical and creative work.

Surrey’s research in modern and contemporary writing explores themes including the work of living writers, the tradition and future of innovative writing, environment and climate change, the nature of publishing as an innovative and radical political enterprise, and literature and the body.

Career opportunities

Surrey belongs to the interdisciplinary School of Literature and Languages, which has research-active staff in English literature, film studies, translation studies, theoretical and applied linguistics, and literary and cultural studies as well as creative writing. The Creative Writing Creative Writing PhD programme offered at the University of Surrey University of Surrey will train you in critical and analytical skills, research methods, and knowledge that will equip you for your future career. It normally takes between three to four years to complete our full-time PhD. You’ll be assigned two supervisors who will meet with you regularly to read and discuss your work and make sure you’re on track. For us, writing is essential for understanding and developing new perspectives, so you’ll be submitting written work right from the start of your course. In your first year, you’ll refine your research proposal and plan the structure of your work with the support of your supervisors. As you go into your second and third year, you’ll work more independently, and your supervisors will guide you on how to present at conferences and get your work published. As a doctoral student in the School of Literatures and Languages, you’ll receive a structured training programme covering the practical aspects of being a researcher, including grant-writing, how to publish in journals, and how to apply for academic jobs. Your final assessment will be based on the presentation of your research in a written thesis, which will be discussed in a viva examination with at least two examiners. You have the option of preparing your thesis as a monograph (one large volume in chapter form) or in publication format (including chapters written for publication), subject to the approval of your supervisors.

Research themes

• Experimental poetry

• Historical prose fiction

• Literary prose fiction

• Contemporary commercial fiction

• Genre prose fiction.