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Ph.D. Creative Writing

Ph.d. in creative writing.

A rigorous program that combines creative writing and literary studies, the Ph.D. in Creative Writing prepares graduates for both scholarly and creative publication and teaching. With faculty guidance, students admitted to the Ph.D. program may tailor their programs to their goals and interests.

The creative writing faculty at KU has been widely published and anthologized, winning both critical and popular acclaim. Faculty awards include such distinctions as the Nebula Award, Hugo Award, Osborn Award, Shelley Memorial Award, Gertrude Stein Award, the Kenyon Review Prize, the Kentucky Center Gold Medallion, and the Pushcart Prize.

Regarding admission to both our doctoral and MFA creative writing programs, we will prioritize applicants who are interested in engaging with multiple faculty members to practice writing across genres and forms, from speculative fiction and realism to poetry and playwriting/screenwriting, etc.

The University of Kansas' Graduate Program in Creative Writing also offers an  M.F.A degree .

Opportunities

A GTA appointment includes a tuition waiver for ten semesters plus a competitive stipend. In the first year, GTA appointees teach English 101 (first year composition) and English 102 (a required reading and writing course). Creative Writing Ph.D. students may have the opportunity to teach an introductory course in creative writing after passing the doctoral examination, and opportunities are available for a limited number of advanced GTAs to teach in the summer.

Department Resources

  • Graduate Admissions
  • Graduate Contacts
  • Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)

Affiliated Programs

  • LandLocked Literary Magazine
  • The Project on the History of Black Writing
  • Center for the Study of Science Fiction
  • Ad-Hoc African/Americanists and Affiliates

Degree Requirements

  • At least 24 hours of credit in appropriate formal graduate courses beyond the M.A. or M.F.A. At least 15 hours (in addition to ENGL 800 if not taken for the M.A.) of this course work must be taken from among courses offered by the Department of English at the 700-level and above. English 997 and 999 credits cannot be included among the 24 hours. Students may petition to take up to 6 hours outside the Department.
  • ENGL 800: Methods, Theory, and Professionalism (counts toward the 24 required credit hours).
  • The ENGL 801/ENGL 802 pedagogy sequence (counts toward the 24 required credit hours).
  • Two seminars (courses numbered 900 or above) offered by the Department of English at the University of Kansas, beyond the M.A. or M.F.A. ENGL 998 does not fulfill this requirement.
  • ENGL 999, Dissertation (at least 12 hours).

If the M.A. or M.F.A. was completed in KU’s Department of English, a doctoral student may petition the DGS to have up to 12 hours of the coursework taken in the English Department reduced toward the Ph.D.

For Doctoral students,  the university requires completion of a course in responsible scholarship . For the English department, this would be ENGL 800, 780, or the equivalent). In addition, the Department requires reading knowledge of one approved foreign language: Old English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Greek, Latin, or Hebrew. Upon successful petition, a candidate may substitute reading knowledge of another language or research skill that is studied at the University or is demonstrably appropriate to the candidate’s program of study.

Doctoral students must fulfill the requirement  before  they take their doctoral examination, or be enrolled in a reading course the same semester as the exam. Students are permitted three attempts at passing each foreign language or research skill. Three methods of demonstrating reading knowledge for all approved languages except Old English are acceptable:

  • Presenting 16 hours, four semesters, or the equivalent of undergraduate credit, earned with an average of C or better.
  • Passing a graduate reading course at the University of Kansas or peer institution (e.g., French 100, German 100, etc.) with a grade of C or higher. In the past, some of these reading courses have been given by correspondence; check with the Division of Continuing Education for availability.
  • Passing a translation examination given by a designated member of the English Department faculty or by the appropriate foreign language department at KU. The exam is graded pass/fail and requires the student to translate as much as possible of a representative text in the foreign language in a one-hour period, using a bilingual dictionary.
  • Passing a translation examination given by the appropriate foreign language department at the M.A.-granting institution. Successful completion must be reflected either on the M.A. transcript or by a letter from the degree-granting department.

To fulfill the language requirement using Old English, students must successfully complete ENGL 710 (Introduction to Old English) and ENGL 712 (Beowulf).

Post-Coursework Ph.D. students must submit, with their committee chair(s), an annual review form to the DGS and Graduate Committee.

Doctoral students must take their doctoral examination within three semesters (excluding summers) of the end of the semester in which they took their final required course. If a student has an Incomplete, the timeline is not postponed until the Incomplete is resolved. For example, a student completing doctoral course work in Spring 2018 will need to schedule their doctoral exam no later than the end of Fall semester 2019. Delays may be granted by petition to the Graduate Director in highly unusual circumstances. Failure to take the exam within this time limit without an approved delay will result in the student’s falling out of good standing. For details on the consequences of falling out of good standing, see “Falling Out of Good Standing,” in General Department Policies and Best Practices.

A student may not take their doctoral exam until the university’s Research Skills and Responsible Scholarship requirement is fulfilled (ENGL 800 or equivalent and reading knowledge of one foreign language or equivalent).

Requirements for Doctoral Exams

Reading Lists: 

All students are required to submit three reading lists, based on the requirements below, to their committee for approval. The doctoral exam will be held on a date at least twelve weeks after the approval from the whole committee is received. To facilitate quick committee approval, students may copy the graduate program coordinator on the email to the committee that contains the final version of the lists. Committee members may then respond to the email in lieu of signing a printed copy. Students should work with their committee chair and graduate program coordinator to schedule the exam at the same time as they finalize the lists.

During the two-hour oral examination (plus an additional 15-30 minutes for a break and committee deliberation), a student will be tested on their comprehension of a literary period or movement, including multiple genres and groups of authors within that period or movement. In addition, the student will be tested on two of the following six areas of study:

  • An adjacent or parallel literary period or movement,
  • An author or group of related authors,
  • Criticism and literary theory,
  • Composition theory, and
  • English language.

No title from any field list may appear on either of the other two lists. See Best Practices section for more details on these six areas. See below for a description of the Review of the Dissertation Proposal (RDP), which the candidate takes the semester after passing the doctoral exam. 

While many students confer with the DGS as they begin the process of developing their lists, they are also required to submit a copy of their final exam list to the DGS. Most lists will be left intact, but the DGS might request that overly long lists be condensed, or extremely short lists be expanded.

Review of Literature

The purpose of the Review of Literature is to develop and demonstrate an advanced awareness of the critical landscape for each list. The student will write an overview of the defining attributes of the field, identifying two or three broad questions that animate scholarly discussion, while using specific noteworthy texts from their list ( but not all texts on the list ) as examples.

The review also must accomplish the following:

  • consider the historical context of major issues, debates, and trends that factor into the emergence of the field
  • offer a historical overview of scholarship in the field that connects the present to the past
  • note recent trends and emergent lines of inquiry
  • propose questions about (develop critiques of, and/or identify gaps in) the field and how they might be pursued in future study (but not actually proposing or referencing a dissertation project)

For example, for a literary period, the student might include an overview of primary formal and thematic elements, of the relationship between literary and social/historical developments, of prominent movements, (etc.), as well as of recent critical debates and topics.

For a genre list, the Review of Literature might include major theories of its constitution and significance, while outlining the evolution of these theories over time.

For a Rhetoric and Composition list, the review would give an overview of major historical developments, research, theories, methods, debates, and trends of scholarship in the field.

For an English Language Studies (ELS) list, the review would give an overview of the subfields that make up ELS, the various methodological approaches to language study, the type of sources used, and major aims and goals of ELS. The review also usually involves a focus on one subfield of particular interest to the student (such as stylistics, sociolinguistics, or World/Postcolonial Englishes).

Students are encouraged to divide reviews into smaller sections that enhance clarity and organization. Students are not expected to interact with every text on their lists.

The review of literature might be used to prepare students for identifying the most important texts in the field, along with why those texts are important to the field, for the oral exam. It is recommended for students to have completed reading the bulk of (if not all) texts on their lists before writing the ROL.

The Reviews of Literature will not be produced in an exam context, but in the manner of papers that are researched and developed in consultation with all advisors/committee members,  with final drafts being distributed within a reasonable time for all members to review and approve in advance of the 3-week deadline . While the Review of Literature generally is not the focus of the oral examination, it is frequently used as a point of departure for questions and discussion during the oral examination.

Doctoral Exam Committee

Exam committees typically consist of 3 faculty members from the department—one of whom serves as the Committee Chair—plus a Graduate Studies Representative.  University policy dictates the composition of exam committees . Students may petition for an exception for several committee member situations, with the exception of  the Graduate Studies Representative .

If a student wants to have as a committee member a person outside the university, or a person who is not in a full-time tenure-track professorship at KU, the student must contact the Graduate Secretary as early as possible. Applications for special graduate faculty status must be reviewed by the College and Graduate Studies. Requests for exam/defense approval will not be approved unless all committee members currently hold either regular or special graduate faculty status

Remote participation of committee members via technology

Students with committee members who plan to attend the defense via remote technology must be aware of  college policy on teleconferencing/remote participation of committee members .

A majority of committee members must be physically present for an examination to commence; for doctoral oral examinations this requirement is 2 of the 4 members, for master’s oral examinations the requirement is 2 of the 3 members. In addition, it is required that the student being examined, the chair of the committee, and the Graduate Studies Representative all be physically present at the examination or defense. Mediated attendance by the student, chair and Grad Studies Rep is prohibited.

The recommended time between completion of coursework and the doctoral examination is two semesters.

Final exam lists need to be approved and signed by the committee at least 12 weeks prior to the prospective exam date. This includes summers/summer semesters. The lists should then be submitted to the Graduate Program Coordinator. Reviews of Literature need to be approved and signed by the committee at least 3 weeks prior to the exam date. Failure to meet this deadline will result in rescheduling the exam. No further changes to lists or Reviews of Literature will be allowed after official approval. The three-week deadline is the faculty deadline--the last date for them to confirm receipt of the ROLs and confer approval--not necessarily the student deadline for submitting the documents to the faculty. Please keep that timing in mind and allow your committee adequate time to review the materials and provide feedback.

Students taking the Doctoral Exam are allowed to bring their text lists, the approved Reviews of Literature, scratch paper, a writing utensil, and notes/writing for an approximately 5-minute introductory statement to the exam. (This statement does not need to lay out ideas or any aspect of the dissertation project.)

Each portion of the oral examination must be deemed passing before the student can proceed to the Review of the Dissertation Proposal. If a majority of the committee judges that the student has not answered adequately on one of the three areas of the exam, the student must repeat that portion in a separate oral exam of one hour, to be taken as expeditiously as possible.  Failure in two areas constitutes failure of the exam and requires a retake of the whole.  The doctoral examining committee will render a judgment of Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory on the entire examination. A student who fails the exam twice may, upon successful petition to the Graduate Committee, take it a third and final time.

Students cannot bring snacks, drinks, treats, or gifts for committee members to the exam. Professors should avoid the appearance of favoritism that may occur if they bring treats to some student exams but not others.

The doctoral oral examination has the following purposes:

  • To establish goals, tone, and direction for the pursuit of the Ph.D. in English for the Department and for individual programs of study;
  • To make clear the kinds of knowledge and skills that, in the opinion of the Department, all well-prepared holders of the degree should have attained;
  • To provide a means for the Department to assess each candidate’s control of such knowledge and skills in order to certify that the candidate is prepared to write a significant dissertation and enter the profession; and
  • To enable the Department to recommend to the candidate areas of strength or weakness that should be addressed.

In consultation with the Graduate Director, a student will ask a member of the Department’s graduate faculty (preferably their advisor) to be the chairperson of the examining committee. The choice of examination committee chair is very important, for that person’s role is to assist the candidate in designing the examination structure, preparing the Review of Literature (see below), negotiating reading lists and clarifying their purposes, and generally following procedures here outlined. The other three English Department members of the committee will be chosen in consultation with the committee chair. (At some point an additional examiner from outside the Department, who serves as the Graduate School representative, will be invited to join the committee). Any unresolved problems in negotiation between a candidate and their committee should be brought to the attention of the Graduate Director, who may choose to involve the Graduate Committee. A student may request a substitution in, or a faculty member may ask to be dismissed from, the membership of the examining committee. Such requests must be approved, in writing, by the faculty member leaving the committee and by the Graduate Director.

Reading Lists

Copies of some approved reading lists and Reviews of Literature are available from the Graduate Secretary and can be found on the U: drive if you are using a computer on campus. Despite the goal of fairness and equity, some unavoidable unevenness and disparity will appear in the length of these lists. It remains, however, the responsibility of the examining committee, and especially the student’s chair, to aim toward consonance with the most rigorous standards and expectations and to insure that areas of study are not unduly narrow.

To facilitate quick committee approval, students may copy the graduate secretary on the email to the committee that contains the final version of the lists and reviews of literature. Committee members may then respond to the email in lieu of signing a printed copy.

Comprehension of a literary period (e.g., British literature of the 18th century; Romanticism; US literature of the 19th century; Modernism) entails sufficient intellectual grasp of both the important primary works of and secondary works on the period or movement to indicate a student’s ability to teach the period or movement and undertake respectable scholarship on it.

Comprehension of an author or group of related authors (e.g., Donne, the Brontës, the Bloomsbury Group, the Black Mountain Poets) entails knowledge, both primary and secondary, of a figure or figures whose writing has generated a significant body of interrelated biographical, historical, and critical scholarship.

Comprehension of one of several genres (the short story, the lyric poem, the epistolary novel). To demonstrate comprehension of a genre, a student should possess sufficient depth and breadth of knowledge, both primary and secondary, of the genre to explain its formal characteristics and account for its historical development.

Comprehension of criticism and literary theory entails a grasp of fundamental conceptual problems inherent in a major school of literary study (e.g., historicist, psychoanalytic, feminist, poststructuralist, etc.). To demonstrate comprehension of that school of criticism and literary theory, a student should be able to discuss changes in its conventions and standards of interpretation and evaluation of literature from its beginning to the present. Students will be expected to possess sufficient depth and breadth of theoretical knowledge to bring appropriate texts and issues to bear on questions of literary study.

Comprehension of composition theory entails an intellectual grasp of fundamental concepts, issues, and theories pertaining to the study of writing. To demonstrate comprehension of composition theory, students should be able to discuss traditional and current issues from a variety of perspectives, as well as the field’s historical development from classical rhetoric to the present.

Comprehension of the broad field of English language studies entails a grasp of the field’s theoretical concepts and current issues, as well as a familiarity with significant works within given subareas. Such subareas will normally involve formal structures (syntax, etc.) and history of the English language, along with other subareas such as social linguistics, discourse analysis, lexicography, etc. Areas of emphasis and specific sets of topics will be arranged through consultation with relevant faculty.

Ph.D. candidates must be continuously enrolled in Dissertation hours each Fall and Spring semester from the time they pass the doctoral examination until successful completion of the final oral examination (defense of dissertation).

  • Students enroll for a minimum of 6 hours each Fall and Spring semester until the total of post-doctoral exam Dissertation hours is 18. One hour each semester must be ENGL 999. In order to more quickly reach the 18-hour minimum, and to be sooner eligible for GRAships, it is highly recommended that students enroll in 9 hours of Dissertation in the Spring and Fall semesters. 
  • Once a student has accumulated 18 post-doctoral exam  hours, each subsequent enrollment will be for a number of hours agreed upon as appropriate between the student and their advisor, the minimal enrollment each semester being 1 hour of ENGL 999.
  • A student must be enrolled in at least one hour of credit at KU during the semester they graduate. Although doctoral students must be enrolled in ENGL 999 while working on their dissertations, per current CLAS regulations, there is no absolute minimum number of ENGL 999 hours required for graduation.
  • Students who live and work outside the Lawrence area may, under current University regulations, have their fees assessed at the Field Work rate, which is somewhat lower than the on-campus rate. Students must petition the College Office of Graduate Affairs before campus fees will be waived.

Please also refer to  the COGA policy on post-exam enrollment  or the  Graduate School’s policy .

As soon as possible following successful completion of the doctoral exam, the candidate should establish their three-person core dissertation committee, and then expeditiously proceed to the preparation of a dissertation proposal.  Within the semester following completion of the doctoral exam , the student will present to their core dissertation committee a written narrative of approximately  10-15 pages , not including bibliography, of the dissertation proposal. While the exam schedule is always contingent on student progress, in the first two weeks of the semester in which they intend to take the review , students will work with their committee chair and the graduate program coordinator to schedule the 90-minute RDP. Copies of this proposal must be submitted to the members of the dissertation committee and Graduate Program Coordinator no later than  three weeks prior  to the scheduled examination date.

In the proposal, students will be expected to define: the guiding question or set of questions; a basic thesis (or hypothesis); how the works to be studied or the creative writing produced relate to that (hypo)thesis; the theoretical/methodological model to be followed; the overall formal divisions of the dissertation; and how the study will be situated in the context of prior scholarship (i.e., its importance to the field). The narrative section should be followed by a bibliography demonstrating that the candidate is conversant with the basic theoretical and critical works pertinent to the study. For creative writing students, the proposal may serve as a draft of the critical introduction to the creative dissertation. Students are expected to consult with their projected dissertation committee concerning the preparation of the proposal.

The review will focus on the proposal, although it could also entail determining whether or not the candidate’s knowledge of the field is adequate to begin the composition process. The examination will be graded pass/fail. If it is failed, the committee will suggest areas of weakness to be addressed by the candidate, who will rewrite the proposal and retake the review  by the end of the following semester . If the candidate abandons the entire dissertation project for another, a new RDP will be taken. (For such a step to be taken, the change would need to be drastic, such as a move to a new field or topic. A change in thesis or the addition or subtraction of one or even several works to be examined would not necessitate a new proposal and defense.)  If the student fails to complete the Review of the Dissertation Proposal within a year of the completion of the doctoral exams, they will have fallen out of departmental good standing.  For details on the consequences of falling out of good standing, see “Falling Out of Good Standing,” in General Department Policies and Best Practices.

After passing the Review of the Dissertation Proposal, the student should forward one signed copy of the proposal to the Graduate Program Coordinator. The RDP may last no longer than 90 minutes.

Students cannot bring snacks, drinks, treats, or gifts for committee members to the review. Professors should avoid the appearance of favoritism that may occur if they bring treats to some student exams but not others.

The Graduate Catalog states that the doctoral candidate “must present a dissertation showing the planning, conduct and results of original research, and scholarly creativity.” While most Ph.D. candidates in the Department of English write dissertations of a traditional, research-oriented nature, a creative writing candidate may elect to do a creative-writing dissertation involving fiction, poetry, drama or nonfiction prose.  Such a dissertation must also contain a substantial section of scholarly research related to the creative writing.  The precise nature of the scholarly research component should be determined by the candidate in consultation with the dissertation committee and the Graduate Director. Candidates wishing to undertake such a dissertation must complete all Departmental requirements demanded for the research-oriented Ph.D. degree.

Scholarly Research Component (SRC)

The Scholarly Research Component (SRC) of the creative-writing dissertation is a separate section of the dissertation than the creative work. It involves substantial research and is written in the style of academic prose. It should be 15-20 pages and should cite at least 20 sources, some of which should be primary texts, and many of which should be from the peer-reviewed secondary literature. The topic must relate, in some way, to the topic, themes, ideas, or style of the creative portion of the dissertation; this relation should be stated in the Dissertation Proposal, which should include a section describing the student’s plans for the SRC. The SRC may be based on a seminar paper or other work the student has completed prior to the dissertation; but the research should be augmented, and the writing revised, per these guidelines. The SRC is a part of the dissertation, and as such will be included in the dissertation defense.

The SRC may take two general forms:

1.) An article, publishable in a peer-reviewed journal or collection, on a specific topic related to an author, movement, theoretical issue, taxonomic issue, etc. that has bearing on the creative portion. The quality of this article should be high enough that the manuscript could be submitted to a peer-reviewed publication, with a plausible chance of acceptance.

2.) A survey . This survey may take several different forms:

  • A survey of a particular aspect of the genre of the creative portion of the dissertation (stylistic, national, historical, etc.)
  • An introduction to the creative portion of the dissertation that explores the influences on, and the theoretical or philosophical foundations or implications of the creative work
  • An exploration of a particular technical problem or craft issue that is salient in the creative portion of the dissertation
  • If the creative portion of the dissertation includes the results of research (e.g., historical novel, documentary poetry, research-based creative nonfiction), a descriptive overview of the research undertaken already for the dissertation itself
  • A combination of the above, with the prior approval of the student’s dissertation director.

The dissertation committee will consist of at least four members—two “core” English faculty members, a third faculty member (usually from English), and one faculty member from a different department who serves as the Graduate Studies representative. The committee may include (with the Graduate Director’s approval) members from other departments and, with the approval of the University’s Graduate Council, members from outside the University. If a student wants to have a committee member from outside the university, or a person who is not in a full-time tenure-track professorship at KU, the student must contact the Graduate Secretary as early as possible. Applications for special graduate faculty status must be reviewed by the College and the Office of Graduate Studies. Requests for defense approval will not be approved unless all committee members currently hold either regular or special graduate faculty status.

The candidate’s preferences as to the membership of the dissertation committee will be carefully considered; the final decision, however, rests with the Department and with the Office of Graduate Studies. All dissertation committees must get approval from the Director of Graduate Studies before scheduling the final oral exam (defense). Furthermore, any changes in the make-up of the dissertation committee from the Review of the Dissertation Proposal committee must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies.

Once the dissertation proposal has passed and the writing of the dissertation begins, membership of the dissertation committee should remain constant. However, under extraordinary circumstances, a student may request a substitution in, or a faculty member may ask to be dismissed from, the membership of the dissertation committee. Such requests must be approved, in writing, by the faculty member leaving the committee and by the Graduate Director.

If a student does not make progress during the dissertation-writing stage, and accumulates more than one “Limited Progress” and/or “No Progress” grade on their transcript, they will fall out of good standing in the department. For details on the consequences of falling out of good standing, see “Falling Out of Good Standing,” in General Department Policies and Best Practices

Final Oral Exam (Dissertation Defense)

When the dissertation has been tentatively accepted by the dissertation committee (not including the Graduate Studies Representative), the final oral examination will be held, on the recommendation of the Department. While the exam schedule is always contingent on student progress, in the first two weeks of the semester in which they intend to defend the dissertation, students should work with their committee chair and graduate program coordinator to schedule it.

Although the dissertation committee is responsible for certification of the candidate, any member of the graduate faculty may be present at the examination and participate in the questioning, and one examiner—the Graduate Studies Representative—must be from outside the Department. The Graduate Secretary can help students locate an appropriate Grad Studies Rep. The examination normally lasts no more than two hours. It is the obligation of the candidate to advise the Graduate Director that they plan to take the oral examination; this must be done at least one month before the date proposed for the examination.

At least three calendar weeks prior to the defense date, the student will submit the final draft of the dissertation to all the committee members (including the GSR) and inform the Graduate Program Coordinator. Failure to meet this deadline will necessitate rescheduling the defense.  The final oral examination for the Ph.D. in English is, essentially, a defense of the dissertation. When it is passed, the dissertation itself is graded by the dissertation director, in consultation with the student’s committee; the student’s performance in the final examination (defense) is graded by the entire five-person committee

Students cannot bring snacks, drinks, treats, or gifts for committee members to the defense. Professors should avoid the appearance of favoritism that may occur if they bring treats to some student defenses but not others

These sets of attributes are adapted from the Graduate Learner Outcomes that are a part of our Assessment portfolio. “Honors” should only be given to dissertations that are rated “Outstanding” in all or most of the following categories:

  • Significant and innovative plot/structure/idea/focus. The writer clearly places plot/structure/idea/focus in context.
  • Thorough knowledge of literary traditions. Clear/flexible vision of the creative work produced in relation to those literary traditions.
  • Introduction/Afterword is clear, concise, and insightful. A detailed discussion of the implications of the project and future writing projects exists.
  • The creative dissertation reveals the doctoral candidate’s comprehensive understanding of poetics and/or aesthetic approach. The application of the aesthetic approach is innovative and convincing.
  • The creative dissertation represents original and sophisticated creative work.
  • The creative dissertation demonstrates thematic and/or aesthetic unity.

After much discussion about whether the “honors” designation assigned after the dissertation defense should be for the written product only, for the defense/discussion only, for both together, weighted equally, or eradicated altogether, the department voted to accept the Graduate Committee recommendation that “honors” only apply to the written dissertation. "Honors" will be given to dissertations that are rated "Outstanding" in all or most of the categories on the dissertation rubric.

Normally, the dissertation will present the results of the writer’s own research, carried on under the direction of the dissertation committee. This means that the candidate should be in regular contact with all members of the committee during the dissertation research and writing process, providing multiple drafts of chapters, or sections of chapters, according to the arrangements made between the student and each faculty member. Though accepted primarily for its scholarly merit rather than for its rhetorical qualities, the dissertation must be stylistically competent. The Department has accepted the MLA Handbook as the authority in matters of style. The writer may wish to consult also  the Chicago Manual of Style  and Kate L. Turabian’s  A Manual for Writers of Dissertations, Theses, and Term Papers .

Naturally, both the student and the dissertation committee have responsibilities and obligations to each other concerning the submitting and returning of materials. The student should plan on working steadily on the dissertation; if they do so, they should expect from the dissertation committee a reasonably quick reading and assessment of material submitted.

Students preparing their dissertation should be showing chapters to their committee members as they go along, for feedback and revision suggestions. They should also meet periodically with committee members to assess their progress. Prior to scheduling a defense, the student is encouraged to ask committee members whether they feel that the student is ready to defend the dissertation. Ideally, the student should hold the defense only when they have consulted with committee members sufficiently to feel confident that they have revised the dissertation successfully to meet the expectations of all committee members.

Students should expect that they will need to revise each chapter at least once. This means that all chapters (including introduction and conclusion) are shown to committee members once, revised, then shown to committee members again in revised form to assess whether further revisions are needed, prior to the submitting of the final dissertation as a whole. It is not unusual for further revisions to be required and necessary after the second draft of a chapter; students should not therefore simply assume that a second draft is necessarily “final” and passing work.

If a substantial amount of work still needs to be completed or revised at the point that the dissertation defense is scheduled, such a defense date should be regarded as tentative, pending the successful completion, revision, and receipt of feedback on all work. Several weeks prior to the defense, students should consult closely with their dissertation director and committee members about whether the dissertation as a whole is in a final and defensible stage. A project is ready for defense when it is coherent, cohesive, well researched, engages in sophisticated analysis (in its entirety or in the critical introduction of creative dissertations), and makes a significant contribution to the field. In other words, it passes each of the categories laid out in the Dissertation Rubric.

If the dissertation has not clearly reached a final stage, the student and dissertation director are advised to reschedule the defense.

Prior Publication of the Doctoral Dissertation

Portions of the material written by the doctoral candidate may appear in article form before completion of the dissertation. Prior publication does not ensure the acceptance of the dissertation by the dissertation committee. Final acceptance of the dissertation is subject to the approval of the dissertation committee. Previously published material by other authors included in the dissertation must be properly documented.

Each student beyond the master’s degree should confer regularly with the Graduate Director regarding their progress toward the doctoral examination and the doctorate.

Doctoral students may take graduate courses outside the English Department if, in their opinion and that of the Graduate Director, acting on behalf of the Graduate Committee, those courses will be of value to them. Their taking such courses will not, of course, absolve them of the responsibility for meeting all the normal departmental and Graduate School requirements.

Doctoral students in creative writing are strongly encouraged to take formal literature classes in addition to forms classes. Formal literature classes, by providing training in literary analysis, theory, and/or literary history, will help to prepare students for doctoral exams (and future teaching at the college level).

FALL SEMESTER            

  • GTAs take 2 courses (801 + one), teach 2 courses; GRAs take 3 courses.
  • Visit assigned advisor once a month to update on progress & perceptions. 1st-year advisors can assist with selecting classes for the Spring semester, solidifying and articulating a field of specialization, advice about publishing, conferences, professionalization issues, etc.

SPRING SEMESTER

  • GTAs take 2 courses (780/800/880 + one), teach 2 courses. GTAs also take ENGL 802 for 1 credit hour. GRAs take 3 courses.
  • Visit assigned advisor or DGS once during the semester; discuss best advisor choices for Year 2.

SUMMER SEMESTER

  • Enroll in Summer Institute if topic and/or methodology matches interests.
  • Consider conferences suited to your field and schedule; choose a local one for attendance in Year 2 and draft an Abstract for a conference paper (preferably with ideas/materials/ writing drawn from a seminar paper).  Even if abstract is not accepted, you can attend the conference without the pressure of presenting.
  • Attend at least one conference to familiarize yourself with procedure, network with other grad students and scholars in your field, AND/OR present a paper.

FALL SEMESTER

  • Take 2 courses, teach 2 courses.
  • Visit advisor in person at least once during the semester.

WINTER BREAK

  • Begin revising one of your seminar papers/independent study projects/creative pieces for submission to a journal; research the journals most suited to placement of your piece.
  • Begin thinking about fields and texts for comprehensive examinations.
  • Choose an advisor to supervise you through the doctoral examination process.
  • Visit assigned 1st-year advisor in person at least once during the semester (at least to formally request doctoral exam supervision OR to notify that you are changing advisors).
  • Summer teaching, if eligible.
  • Continue revising paper/creative writing for submission to a journal.
  • Begin reading for comprehensive exams.
  • Attend one conference and present a paper. Apply for one-time funding for out-of-state travel  from Graduate Studies .
  • Teach 2 courses; take 997 (exam prep).
  • Finalize comps list by end of September; begin drafting rationales.
  • Circulate the draft of your article/creative piece to your advisor, other faculty in the field, and/or advanced grad students in the field for suggestions.
  • Revise article/creative piece with feedback from readers.
  • Teach 2 courses; take 997 or 999 (dissertation hours). Enroll in 999 if you plan to take your comps this semester, even if you don’t take them until the last day of classes.
  • Take comps sometime between January and May.
  • Summer teaching, if available.
  • Submit article/creative work for publication.
  • Continuous enrollment after completing doctoral exam (full policy on p. 20)
  • Research deadlines for grant applications—note deadlines come early in the year.
  • Attend one conference and present a paper.
  • Teach 2 courses, take 999.
  • Compose dissertation proposal by November.
  • Schedule Review of Dissertation Proposal (RDP—formerly DPR).
  • Apply for at least one grant or fellowship, such as a departmental-level GRAship or dissertation fellowship. (Winning a full-year, non-teaching fellowship can cut down your years-to-degree to 5 ½, or even 5 years.)
  • Conduct research for and draft at least 1 dissertation chapter.
  • Conduct research and complete a draft of at least 1 dissertation chapter.
  • Revise & resubmit journal article, if necessary.
  • Attend 1st round of job market meetings with Job Placement Advisor (JPA) to start drafting materials and thinking about the process.
  • Research and complete a draft of at least 1 dissertation chapter, if teaching (1-2 chapters if not).
  • Visit dissertation chair  and  committee members in person at least once during the semester.
  • Research and complete a draft of at least 1 dissertation chapter (1-2 chapters if not teaching).
  • Apply for a departmental grant or fellowship, or, if already held, try applying for one from outside the department, such as those offered by KU’s Hall Center for the Humanities or the Office of Graduate Studies. For  a monthly list of funding opportunities , visit the Graduate Studies website.
  • Research and complete a draft of at least 1 dissertation chapter.
  • Attend job market meetings with JPA in earnest.
  • Apply for external grants, research fellowships, postdoctoral positions with fall deadlines (previous fellowship applications, your dissertation proposal, and subsequent writing should provide a frame so that much of the application can be filled out with the “cut & paste” function).
  • Research and complete a draft of at least 1 dissertation chapter (1-2 if not teaching).
  • Visit dissertation chair and committee members in person at least once during the semester.
  • Polish dissertation chapters.
  • Apply for grants and fellowships with spring deadlines.
  • Defend dissertation.

Creative Writing Faculty

Darren Canady

  • Associate Professor

Megan Kaminski

  • Professor of English & Environmental Studies

Laura Moriarty

  • Assistant Professor

Graduate Student Handbook

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English at Leicester

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PhD in Creative Writing

Pursuing a PhD in Creative Writing at Leicester means becoming part of an exciting and dynamic research and creative environment.

The PhD programme helps give structure to your creative project, and invites you to ask searching questions about your practice, to reflect on the process of producing creative work, and so to write a long critical-reflective essay (usually 15-20,000 words) to accompany the creative work. The creative body of work normally makes up 70% of the PhD, and the reflective thesis 30%.

At its broadest, the emphasis is on trying to comprehend the practice of creation itself - surely one of the most fascinating subjects imaginable.

Creative Writing doctorates lead to a variety of potential career paths. These include novelist, poet, playwright or screenwriter, of course, but there are many related industries that Creative Writing research degree graduates nationally have gone on to work in, including (but not limited to):

  • TV storyline writing
  • Video game creation
  • TV and film production
  • Working as a literary agent
  • Teaching or lecturing
  • Working as a professional stand-up comedian
  • Post-doctoral academic research
  • Public relations
  • Advertising & marketing
  • Political research & speech writing
  • Arts management
  • Content provision
  • Tweet writing
  • Web editing
  • Franchise creation
  • Branding consultancy
  • Literary and other arts events management
  • Intellectual property advising

Application information

It is a good idea to make informal enquiries to the lecturer you believe might be interested in supervising your PhD, prior to making a formal application.

  • List of English at Leicester staff  
  • Recent creative publications by students and staff  

You should have a strong creative and academic track record - entry requirements are an MA or similar in Creative Writing and some prior publication history.

Otherwise, you should have compelling evidence of advanced writing experience, and an awareness of the technical and reflective elements of creative writing practice in an academic environment.

Your application should consist of a persuasive outline for a creative project: a body of poetry, a novel, a work of creative non-fiction, a graphic novel or a substantial film script. This should be accompanied by a theoretical and canonical series of questions that you believe will prove relevant as the creative work progresses.

You should be conscious of the fact that the critical element of a creative PhD is not separate literary critical study - although it may involve such. It is involved in the deeper comprehension of the creative process itself through an articulation of creative practice. As such it may involve historical, ethnographic, practice-based philosophical, social scientific and other theoretical models.

Places on the PhD are awarded on the basis of the quality of the creative sample submitted and the originality of the proposal.

Audio clip: Gwynne Harries discusses his Creative PhD

Listen to PhD student Gwynne Harries discuss his Creative PhD in Welsh Poetic Forms in English Verse.

Department of English and Related Literature

PhD in English with Creative Writing

Join a thriving community of researchers to develop a substantial research project alongside an original piece of creative writing.

Apply for this course

Start dates

January April September ( semester dates )

UK fees International fees

Find out more about York and whether it's right for you.

Join a passionate and intellectual research community to explore literature across all periods and genres.

Your research

Our PhD in English with Creative Writing encourages distinctive approaches to practice-based literary research. This route allows you to develop a substantial research project, which incorporates an original work of creative writing (in prose, poetry, or other forms). As part of a thriving community of postgraduate researchers and writers, you'll be supported by world-leading experts with a wide range of global and historical specialisms, and given access to unique resources including our   letterpress printing studio  and   Writer in Residence.

Under the guidance of your supervisor, you will complete a critical research component of 30-40,000 words and a creative component written to its natural length (e.g. a book-length work of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction). A typical semester will involve a great deal of independent research, punctuated by meetings with your supervisor who will be able to suggest direction and address concerns throughout the writing process. You will be encouraged to undertake periods of research at archives and potentially internationally, depending on your research.

Throughout your degree, you will have the opportunity to attend a wide range of research training sessions in order to learn archival and research skills, as well as a range of research and creative seminars organised by the research schools and our distinguished Writers at York series. This brings speakers from around the world for research talks, author conversations, and networking.

Applicants for the PhD in English with Creative Writing should submit a research proposal for their overall research project, along with samples of creative and critical writing, demonstrating a suitable ability in each, as part of the application. Proposals should include plans for a critical research component of 30-40,000 words and a creative component written to its natural length (e.g, a book-length work of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction), while demonstrating a clear relationship between the two. Students embarking on a PhD programme are initially enrolled provisionally for this qualification until they pass their progression review at the end of their first full year of study. 

[email protected] +44 (0) 1904 323366

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  • Research degree funding
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  • Life at York

You also have the option of enrolling in a PhD in English with Creative Writing by distance learning, where you will have the flexibility to work from anywhere in the world. You will attend the Research Training Programme online in your first year and have supervision and progression meetings online.

You must attend a five-day induction programme in York at the beginning of your first year. You will also visit York in your second and third years (every other year for part-time students).

Apply for the PhD in English with Creative Writing (distance learning)

World-leading research

We're a top ten research department according to the Times Higher Education’s ranking of the latest REF results (2021).

35th in the world

for English Language and Literature in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2023.

Committed to equality

We're proud to hold an Athena Swan Bronze award in recognition of the work we do to support gender equality in English.

Writers at York series

We host a series of hugely successful seminars, open to everyone, where a stellar cast of world-famous contemporary writers deliver readings and workshops.

what does a phd in creative writing entail

Explore funding for postgraduate researchers in the Department of English and Related Literature.

what does a phd in creative writing entail

Supervision

Explore the expertise of our staff and identify a potential supervisor.

Research student training

You'll receive training in research methods and skills appropriate to the stage you've reached and the nature of your work. In addition to regular supervisory meetings to discuss planning, researching and writing the thesis, we offer sessions on bibliographic and archival resources (digital, print and manuscript). You'll receive guidance in applying to and presenting at professional conferences, preparing and submitting material for publication and applying for jobs. We meet other training needs in handling research data, various modern languages, palaeography and bibliography. Classical and medieval Latin are also available.

We offer training in teaching skills if you wish to pursue teaching posts following your degree. This includes sessions on the delivery and content of seminars and workshops to undergraduates, a structured shadowing programme, teaching inductions and comprehensive guidance and resources for our graduate teaching assistants. Our teacher training is directed by a dedicated member of staff.

You'll also benefit from the rich array of research and training sessions at the Humanities Research Centre .

what does a phd in creative writing entail

Course location

You'll be based on  Campus West , though your research may take you further afield.

We also have a distance learning option available for this course.

Entry requirements

For doctoral research, you should hold or be predicted to achieve a first-class or high upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours (or equivalent international qualification) and a Masters degree with distinction. 

The undergraduate and Masters degrees should be in literature and/or creative writing, or in a related subject that is related to the proposed research project. 

Other relevant experience and expertise may also be considered:

  • Evidence of training in research techniques may be an advantage.
  • It would be expected that postgraduate applicants would be familiar with the recent published work of their proposed supervisor.
  • Publications are not required and the Department of English and Related Literature does not expect applicants to have been published before they start their research degrees.

Supervisors interview you to ensure a good supervisory match and to help with funding applications.

The core deciding factor for admission is the quality of the research proposal, though your whole academic profile will be taken into account. We are committed to ensuring that no prospective or existing student is treated less favourably. See our  admissions policy  for more information.

Apply for the PhD in English with Creative Writing

Have a look at the supporting documents you may need for your application.

Before applying, we advise you to identify potential supervisors in the department. Preliminary enquiries are welcomed and should be made as early as possible. However, a scattershot approach – emailing all staff members regardless of the relationship between their research interests and yours – is unlikely to produce positive results. 

If it's not clear which member of staff is appropriate, you should email the   Graduate Chair .

Students embarking on a PhD programme are initially enrolled provisionally for that qualification. Confirmation of PhD registration is dependent upon the submission of a satisfactory proposal that meets the standards required for the degree, usually in the second year of study.

Find out more about how to apply .

English language requirements

You'll need to provide evidence of your proficiency in English if it's not your first language.

Check your English language requirements

Research proposal

In order to apply for a PhD, we ask that you submit a research proposal as part of your application.

When making your application, you're advised to make your research proposals as specific and clear as possible. Please indicate the member(s) of staff that you'd wish to work with

You’ll need to provide a summary of between 250 and 350 words in length of your research proposal and a longer version of around 800 words (limit of 1000). The proposal for the MA in English (by research) should be 400–500 words.

Your research proposal should:

  • Identify the precise topic of your topic and communicate the main aim of your research.
  • Provide a rigorous and thorough description of your proposed research, including the contributions you will make to current scholarly conversations and debates. Creative Writing proposals should include plans for a critical research and a creative component.
  • Describe any previous work you have done in this area, with reference to relevant literature you have read so far.
  • Communicate the central sources that the project will address and engage.
  • Offer an outline of the argument’s main claims and contributions. Give a clear indication of the authors and texts that your project will address.
  • Include the academic factors, such as university facilities, libraries resources, centres, other resources, and / or staff, which have specifically led you to apply to York.

What we look for:

  • How you place your topic in conversation with the scholarly landscape: what has been accomplished and what you plan to achieve. This is your chance to show that you have a good understanding of the relevant work on your topic and that you have identified a new way or research question to approach the topic.
  • Your voice as a scholar and critical thinker. In clean, clear prose, show those who will assess your application how your proposal demonstrates your original thinking and the potential of your research.
  • Your fit with York, including the reasons for working with your supervisor and relevant research schools and centres.
  • Above all, remember that there isn’t one uniform way to structure and arrange your research proposal, and that your approach will necessarily reflect your chosen topic.

Careers and skills

  • You'll receive support in applying to and presenting at professional conferences, preparing and submitting material for publication and applying for jobs.
  • You'll benefit from training in handling research data, various modern languages, palaeography and bibliography. Classical and medieval Latin are also available. The   Humanities Research Centre   also offers a rich array of valuable training sessions.
  • We also offer training in teaching skills if you wish to pursue a teaching post following your degree. This includes sessions on the delivery and content of seminars and workshops to undergraduates, a structured shadowing programme, teaching inductions and comprehensive guidance and resources for our graduate teaching assistants.
  • You'll have the opportunity to further your training by taking courses accredited by Advance HE:   York Learning and Teaching Award (YLTA)   and the   York Professional and Academic Development scheme (YPAD) .

Find out more about careers

what does a phd in creative writing entail

Discover York

what does a phd in creative writing entail

We offer a range of campus accommodation to suit you and your budget, from economy to deluxe.

what does a phd in creative writing entail

Discover more about our researchers, facilities and why York is the perfect choice for your research degree.

what does a phd in creative writing entail

Graduate Research School

Connect with researchers across all disciplines to get the most out of your research project.

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Find out all you need to know about applying to York

Find funding to support your studies

Overland literary journal

  • The Journal

what does a phd in creative writing entail

252 Spring 2023

Overland 252 brings together the work of many, including writer Vivian Blaxell, Australian-Palestinian writer and educator Micaela Sahhar, and Greek-Australian anarchist poet π. o., to offer up fictional, poetic and scholarly reflections on place, resistance, memory, desire and activism —inherently political themes that have always concerned Overland writers and its readers. You'll also find new poetry from Eileen Chong, Emma Simington, Niko Chłopicki and Jini Maxwell, as well as new short fiction from Andrew Roff, Pierce Wilcox, Dorell Ben, plus loads more.

Browse by format:

  • Browse by Theme
  • Browse by Author

What I learnt from my PhD (in creative writing)

Last year I was fortunate enough to have the creative component of my PhD published as a novel. Would I say my PhD has taught me how to write novels? I think, rather, it helped me write that one. As Helen Garner has famously said, ‘we have to learn to write again for each new book’. For context, I’d already had one novel published; for further context, that too had been developed through a higher education program – a masters. Clearly I’m in favour of formal learning, but coming to the end of our highest arts degree I’ve been reflecting on what, exactly, it’s taught me.

what does a phd in creative writing entail

Last year I was fortunate enough to have the creative component of my PhD published as a novel. Would I say my PhD has taught me how to write novels? I think, rather, it helped me write that one. As Helen Garner has famously said, ‘ we have to learn to write again for each new book ’. For context, I’d already had one novel published; for further context, that too had been developed through a higher education program – a masters. Clearly I’m in favour of formal learning, but coming to the end of our highest arts degree I’ve been reflecting on what, exactly, it’s taught me.

Perhaps research is what I’ve learnt: what it is, why to do it, how to do it well – in the context of both my creative work and its critical exegesis. But although I’ve been successful at presenting chapters from my dissertation as standalone papers and articles, my full thesis had an intimate audience of just three examiners (besides my supervisor). And while these academic skills will likely have future application, and further development (and possibly a broader audience than my creative work), that’s largely because I’m already employed as a university lecturer.

(Both the creative and critical endeavours – and their interrelationship – have honed my professional research, writing and editing skills, but as Justin Stover argues in ‘ There is no case for the humanities ’ this is ‘a valuable by-product’ rather than the core learning outcome of a humanities degree. Regardless of whether you agree at an undergraduate level, most would concur in the case of a student studying to be a doctor of philosophy. Though perhaps arts courses are not inevitably so productive: David Foster Wallace’s well-known commencement speech neatly articulates how teaching individuals to think also teaches them to recognise and resist certain kinds of ‘Think-Speak’ .  It’s ‘ the kind of thinking that probably does make certain of the young less ideal recruits in their armies of the employed ’, Marilynne Robinson argues.)

Should I then say, as Stover does, that the greatest insight my capstone qualification has given me has been into the particular and idiosyncratic bureaucracy of the university system? Even more specifically, that of the university where I was studying?

Rather, I see the value of my PhD in, above all else, the supervisory relationship. This unique experience, in all its complexity and intensity, is an introduction to – an induction into – how our writing and publishing industry works. I have been awarded professional and personal insight into how I can now further my development alone.

Or, rather, not alone.

In ‘ Why teaching (writing) matters: a full confession ’, Jayne Anne Phillips argues that, more important than teaching writing, an MFA is a way ‘those engaged in the practice of an art can mentor apprentice artists, and apprentice artists, in community, can mentor one another.’ Our industry has long been aware of the value of mentoring: not only have established authors throughout history advised and edited emerging ones, but the trade itself is founded upon that all-important author–editor relationship (or author–publisher, depending on who takes on this developmental role). As our profession and creative practice differs from fine arts’, so the nature of creative writing mentorships also vary – from other sectors, and within our own community.

In the case of my PhD I received: close editing of my work (as one creative to another, but, importantly, from an author who’d had extensive experience working with a seasoned editor); guidance on my writing career; advice on becoming an academic; and even reflections upon becoming a mother – and balancing (or, more actually, juggling) all these things. It may be relevant to confess here that my degree took me a long time to complete – a very long time. The absolute longest time permitted. This was clearly a factor in the life events that occurred over the course of my candidature, and probably also played a role in the relationship with my supervisor that evolved.

I might also add that, anticipating the importance of this student–supervisor relationship (having experienced similar, less successful, iterations during my time as first an honours and then a masters student), I followed my chosen professor from another university and across state lines.

Findings from a 2002 survey of creative writing mentorships concluded that ‘ in no part of Australia does there appear a lack of interest in mentoring activity ’. This is still, if not more than ever, the case. In every state there are mentorships, which are either paid for, or awarded as a prize; editorships, which may be government subsidised but are generally delivered in association with a particular press (either as manuscript development, or a contract to publish); and myriad internship opportunities. While the monetisation of mentoring provides a certain transparency, the user-pays model arguably influences the advice customer–clients receive. It also poses a financial barrier to some. But if the individual working on a prizewinning manuscript is from the commercial sector then their feedback is also unlikely to be neutral, and more likely to be market-driven – which may, of course, be exactly what the applicant–author wants and/or needs.

University supervisors, too, have their own interests and agendas, as Tara Brabazon sets out in ‘ 10 truths a PhD supervisor will never tell you ’. While she has ‘never received any satisfactory, effective or useful supervision’, I’ve been particularly fortunate in that two of my previous less-positive supervisory experiences have led to invaluable publishing and teaching opportunities. One individual in particular has proven to be as generous a guide, both personally and professionally, as any student could ask for.

Which begs the question: what do we students (have the right to) ask for?

Everything costs someone something – whether it’s cash, in kind, personal time or academic workload allocation. To connect Stover and Brabazon’s perspectives, supervisors don’t only help students navigate the university system, they must chart a path themselves that protects both their time and that of their student meetings.

In many institutions the preparatory experience for this one-on-one supervision, honours, is under threat. There are a number of reasons for this: one is the increasing popularity of a ‘3+2’ university pathway (a generalist undergraduate arts degree, followed by a postgraduate masters specialisation), as in the Melbourne Model; another is cost. Direct, individual – and generally face-to-face – attention is expensive. In this age of the ‘massification’ and corporatisation of universities, such an extravagant arrangement can be hard to defend.

The cornerstone of most creative-writing courses is workshopping, where participants receive feedback from their peers, under the guidance of experienced tutors, who offer their own opinions and manifest best practice on how to present that. Regardless of the role the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and the USA’s creative writing MFA programs have played in the ascendance of this model, all of the institutions I’ve studied or taught at in Australia have favoured group workshopping as their preferred pedagogy.

As we are taught, so we teach. ‘[ G]raduates of MFA programs often go on to teach in other MFA programs ,’ KC Trommer points out, prompting me to consider anew my own experience in this context, both in the trade and academy. I may be somewhat of an anomaly among creative writing teachers (though not among publishing lecturers) in not having undertaken such courses at an undergraduate level – I do remember enrolling in some subjects, but was always put off not by the quality of the work but by the positive response that it invariably received. I learnt my craft as a jobbing journalist, speechwriter, editor and publisher. And in every one of these paid positions I was apprenticed to a master (the word mistress will not do) – whether that was my manager, someone higher up, or an outside expert … such as an author whose manuscript I was project managing and collating changes on.

At the same time that universities are increasingly under pressure to work as a business themselves (enrolling more students – who wouldn’t have made the grade thirty or forty years ago, as Tegan Bennet Daylight details in ‘The difficulty is the point’ – in ever-increasing class sizes, taught by sessional and frequently still-studying staff), core but not-cost-effective relationships have also been squeezed in the writing and publishing industries . While publishers continue to manage the author relationship at the commissioning and contracting stage, sometimes still undertaking the initial developmental edit, structural editing – along with copyediting and proofreading – has largely been outsourced.

Publishing’s shift to a freelance workforce marries with the media industry’s transition to a ‘gig’ economy, resulting in an increase reliance on sole-trader writers and editors who have no clear career trajectory, union-protected pay scale, or recourse to in-house professional development. They neither receive the kind of mentoring that might be expected from a line manager or established editor in a traditional press (though this, of course, may not have actually happened), nor are they in a position to offer much mentoring themselves – to emerging authors, or editors. Specialist postgraduate programs have stepped into this gap (many offering internship subjects that explicitly identify industry mentors), as well as editing opportunities such as Seizure ’s Viva la Novella initiative, Varuna’s Residential Editors’ Program and the Beatrice Davis Fellowship.

Much has been made of the negative impact this shift has had, not only on editors’ and authors’ development, but also on that of their collaborative output – the books. The survey conducted by Nigel Krauth (et al) identified that ‘text mentorships, like the use of assessment services, have gained in significance because of the identifiable withdrawal of editors from publishing in recent years’. Has any good come from this change prompted by commercial necessity? Certainly many of the frequently female, part-time, working-from-home freelancers appreciate the flexibility. Could it also encourage objectivity – loyalty to a book, perhaps, over an employer; scrutiny, with experience across publishing houses; an increase in critical as well as practical skills; and familiarity with new technologies and different processes, as taught by universities like mine?

In defence of the individuals that make up our industry, everyone I know personally and professionally is still putting in the same amount of outside and overtime hours. If not more. And this effort ­– as well as the pressure that prompts it – is also, as ever, the case inside academia too.

It is upon stepping into a supervisory role myself that I have been prompted to reflect on the nature and importance of this not-always-easy relationship. Certainly, this was not what I had thought my PhD would be about when I started out. In ‘Where great writers are made: assessing America’s top graduate writing programs,’ Edward Delaney establishes that time (which he equates with money) and ‘something to react to’ are the most important aspects of great writing programs . I received both of these through my PhD, each channelled directly through one particular port-of-call: my supervisor.

To conclude – as that decade-long relationship finally has – Lynn Davidson makes a persuasive case for creative writing PhDs as having a value above and beyond university-recognised research outputs . It is not just students’ engagement in contemporary cultural production that is so essential, so worthwhile, she argues, but the opportunity the higher research degree provides to be part of ‘the big conversation’ that reaches back through time as well as forward into the future.

A conversation which starts between two people.

A conversation which, for me, must start as one between two people.

Rose Michael

Born in England, based in Melbourne, Rose Michael is a writer, editor and academic who has been published in  Griffith REVIEW, Best Australian Stories, Island, Muse, Cultural Studies Review.  Her first novel,  The Asking Game  (Transit Lounge, 2007), was a runner-up for the Allen & Unwin/Vogel award and received an Aurealis Award honourable mention. An early extract of  The Art of Navigation  was published in  Review of Australian Fiction .

Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places.

If you like this piece, or support Overland ’s work in general, please subscribe or donate .

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what does a phd in creative writing entail

garramilla/Darwin

A very thoughtful, insightful and helpful article. Thank you.

Thank you for this, Rose Michael. I am near the end of a PhD in creative writing and concur that I have learned how to research in the true sense of the word, as well as gained a lot from the supervisory relationship. It has also enabled me to meet several other writers and researchers and artists and learn from them; to engage with others at conferences and share our work; to position myself more confidently as a writer now that I have a full length manuscript of reasonable quality. I won’t be working in academia (unless something unexpected happens) but rather taking my work out into the world, and developing other projects out there.

A very thoughtful article indeed! But a question: what should be the title of the thesis? The name of the novel or? Kindly reply…I am interested in PhD in creative writing too…. Can you suggest a thesis on creative writing in poetry? Please reply…

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what does a phd in creative writing entail

What to Know About Creative Writing Degrees

Many creative writing degree recipients pursue careers as authors while others work as copywriters or ghostwriters.

Tips on Creative Writing Degrees

A student sitting beside the bed in bedroom with her coffee cup and writing on the note pad.

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Prospective writing students should think about their goals and figure out if a creative writing degree will help them achieve those goals.

Many people see something magical in a beautiful work of art, and artists of all kinds often take pride in their craftsmanship. Creative writers say they find fulfillment in the writing process.

"I believe that making art is a human need, and so to get to do that is amazing," says Andrea Lawlor, an author who this year received a Whiting Award – a national $50,000 prize that recognizes 10 excellent emerging authors each year – and who is also the Clara Willis Phillips Assistant Professor of English at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.

"We all are seeing more and more of the way that writing can help us understand perspectives we don't share," says Lawlor, whose recent novel "Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl" addresses the issue of gender identity.

"Writing can help us cope with hard situations," Lawlor says. "We can find people who we have something in common with even if there's nobody around us who shares our experience through writing. It's a really powerful tool for connection and social change and understanding."

Creative writing faculty, many of whom are acclaimed published authors, say that people are well-suited toward degrees in creative writing if they are highly verbal and enjoy expressing themselves.

"Creative imaginative types who have stories burning inside them and who gravitate toward stories and language might want to pursue a degree in creative writing," Jessica Bane Robert, who teaches Introduction to Creative Writing at Clark University in Massachusetts, wrote in an email. "Through formal study you will hone your voice, gain confidence, find a support system for what can otherwise be a lonely endeavor."

Read the guide below to gain more insight into what it means to pursue a creative writing education, how writing impacts society and whether it is prudent to invest in a creative writing degree. Learn about the difference between degree-based and non-degree creative writing programs, how to craft a solid application to a top-notch creative writing program and how to figure out which program is the best fit.

Why Creative Writing Matters and Reasons to Study It

Creative writers say a common misconception about their job is that their work is frivolous and impractical, but they emphasize that creative writing is an extremely effective way to convey messages that are hard to share in any other way.

Kelly Caldwell, dean of faculty at Gotham Writers Workshop in New York City, says prospective writing students are often discouraged from taking writing courses because of concerns about whether a writing life is somehow unattainable or "unrealistic."

Although creative writers are sometimes unable to financially support themselves entirely on the basis of their creative projects, Caldwell says, they often juggle that work with other types of jobs and lead successful careers.

She says that many students in her introductory creative writing class were previously forbidden by parents to study creative writing. "You have to give yourself permission for the simple reason that you want to do it," she suggests.

Creative writing faculty acknowledge that a formal academic credential in creative writing is not needed in order to get writing published. However, they suggest, creative writing programs help aspiring authors develop their writing skills and allow space and time to complete long-term writing projects.

Working writers often juggle multiple projects at once and sometimes have more than one gig, which can make it difficult to finish an especially ambitious undertaking such as a novel, a play for the screen or stage, or a well-assembled collection of poems, short stories or essays. Grants and fellowships for authors are often designed to ensure that those authors can afford to concentrate on their writing.

Samuel Ace, a published poet and a visiting lecturer in poetry at Mount Holyoke, says his goal is to show students how to write in an authentic way that conveys real feeling. "It helps students to become more direct, not to bury their thoughts under a cascade of academic language, to be more forthright," he says.

Tips on Choosing Between a Non-Degree or Degree-Based Creative Writing Program

Experts note that someone needs to be ready to get immersed in the writing process and devote significant time to writing projects before pursuing a creative writing degree. Prospective writing students should not sign up for a degree program until they have reached that sense of preparedness, warns Kim Todd, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts and director of its creative writing program.

She says prospective writing students need to think about their personal goals and figure out if a creative writing degree will help them achieve those goals.

Aspiring writers who are not ready to invest in a creative writing degree program may want to sign up for a one-off writing class or begin participating in an informal writing workshop so they can test their level of interest in the field, Todd suggests.

How to Choose and Apply to a Creative Writing Program

In many cases, the most important component of an application to a writing program is the writing portfolio, writing program experts say. Prospective writing students need to think about which pieces of writing they include in their portfolio and need to be especially mindful about which item they put at the beginning of their portfolio. They should have a trusted mentor critique the portfolio before they submit it, experts suggest.

Because creative writing often involves self-expression, it is important for aspiring writing students to find a program where they feel comfortable expressing their true identity.

This is particularly pertinent to aspiring authors who are members of minority groups, including people of color or LGBTQ individuals, says Lawlor, who identifies as queer, transgender and nonbinary.

How to Use a Creative Writing Degree

Creative writing program professors and alumni say creative writing programs cultivate a variety of in-demand skills, including the ability to communicate effectively.

"While yes, many creative writers are idealists and dreamers, these are also typically highly flexible and competent people with a range of personal strengths. And a good creative writing program helps them understand their particular strengths and marketability and translate these for potential employers, alongside the more traditional craft development work," Melissa Ridley Elmes, an assistant professor of English at Lindenwood University in Missouri, wrote in an email.

Elmes – an author who writes poetry, fiction and nonfiction – says creative writing programs force students to develop personal discipline because they have to consistently produce a significant amount of writing. In addition, participating in writing workshops requires writing students "to give and receive constructive feedback," Elmes says.

Cindy Childress, who has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Louisiana—Lafayatte and did a creative writing dissertation where she submitted poetry, says creative writing grads are well-equipped for good-paying positions as advertising and marketing copywriters, speechwriters, grant writers and ghostwriters.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual compensation for writers and authors was $63,200 as of May 2019.

"I think the Internet, and writing communities online and in social media, have been very helpful for debunking the idea that if you publish a New York Times Bestseller you will have 'made it' and can quit your day job and write full time," Elmes explains. "Unless you are independently wealthy, the odds are very much against you in this regard."

Childress emphasizes that creative writing degree recipients have "skills that are absolutely transferable to the real world." For example, the same storytelling techniques that copywriters use to shape public perceptions about a commercial brand are often taught in introductory creative writing courses, she says. The ability to tell a good story does not necessarily come easily to people who haven't been trained on how to do it, she explains.

Childress says she was able to translate her creative writing education into a lucrative career and start her own ghostwriting and book editing company, where she earns a six-figure salary. She says her background in poetry taught her how to be pithy.

"Anything that we want to write nowadays, particularly for social media, is going to have to be immediately understood, so there is a sense of immediacy," she says."The language has to be crisp and direct and exact, and really those are exactly the same kind of ways you would describe a successful poem."

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The University of Edinburgh home

  • Schools & departments

Postgraduate study

Creative Writing PhD

Awards: PhD

Study modes: Full-time, Part-time

Funding opportunities

Programme website: Creative Writing

Postgraduate Discovery Day

Join us online on Wednesday 21 February to learn about student life, how to apply, and more.

See the full schedule and register

Research profile

The PhD in Creative Writing offers committed and talented writers the opportunity to study Creative Writing at the highest level.

Supported by an expert supervisory team you will work independently towards the production of a substantial, publishable piece of creative writing, accompanied by a sustained exercise in critical study.

The academic staff you will be working with are all active researchers or authors, including well-published and prize-winning writers of poetry, prose, fiction and drama. They include:

  • Dr Jane Alexander - Fiction
  • Dr Lynda Clark - Fiction
  • Dr Patrick Errington - Poetry
  • Dr Miriam Gamble - Poetry
  • Dr Alan Gillis - Poetry
  • Nicola McCartney - Drama
  • Dr Jane McKie - Poetry
  • Dr Allyson Stack - Fiction
  • Kim Sherwood - Fiction
  • Alice Thompson - Fiction

Find out more about the programme and our team

Training and support

We encourage you to share your research and learn from the work of others through a programme of seminars and visiting speakers.

We have an in-house Writer-in-Residence, annual writing prizes, and a range of opportunities to learn from experts in the publishing industry.

We also offer access to opportunities provided by the Sottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities.

Our postgraduate journal, Forum, is a valuable conduit for research findings and provides an opportunity to gain editorial experience.

  • Forum: postgraduate journal of culture and the arts

A UNESCO World City of Literature, Edinburgh is a remarkable place to study, write, publish, discuss and perform prose, poetry and drama.

Take a PhD with us and you will be based in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) in the historic centre of this world-leading festival city.

Our buildings are close to:

  • National Library of Scotland (where collections include the Bute Collection of early modern English drama and the John Murray Archive)
  • Edinburgh Central Library
  • Scottish Poetry Library
  • Scottish Storytelling Centre
  • Writers’ Museum
  • Traverse Theatre

We have strong links with the Edinburgh International Book Festival, which annually welcomes around 1,000 authors to our literary city.

There are lots of opportunities to write and share your work, from Forum to The Selkie, which was founded by Creative Writing students in 2018 to showcase work by people who self-identify as underrepresented.

Around the city, you’ll find library readings and bookshop launches, spoken word gigs, cabaret nights and poetry slams, including events run by celebrated publishing outlets, from Canongate and Polygon / Birlinn to Luath Press, 404 Ink, Taproot Press and Mariscat.

You will have access to the University’s many literary treasures, which include:

  • William Drummond library
  • Lewis Grassic Gibbon library
  • Hugh MacDiarmid library
  • Norman MacCaig library
  • W.H. Auden collection
  • Corson collection
  • works by and about Sir Walter Scott
  • Ramage collection of poetry pamphlets

The Centre for Research Collections also holds a truly exceptional collection of early Shakespeare quartos and other early modern printed plays. These have been put together by the 19th century Shakespearean James Halliwell-Phillipps, the correspondence of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle (the focus of one of the major editorial projects in Victorian studies of the last half-century), and the extensive Laing collection of medieval and early modern manuscripts.

You will also have access to letters and papers by - and relating to - authors including:

  • Christopher Isherwood
  • Rudyard Kipling
  • John Middleton Murry
  • Walter de la Mare
  • George Mackay Brown
  • Compton Mackenzie

Many of the University's Special Collections are digitised and available online from our excellent Resource Centre, Computing Labs, and dedicated PhD study space in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC).

Look inside the PhD study space in LLC

Entry requirements

These entry requirements are for the 2024/25 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2025/26 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2024.

A UK masters degree, or its international equivalent, in creative writing, normally with distinction.

We may also consider your application if you have equivalent qualifications or experience. For additional information please refer to the pre-application guidance in the 'How to apply' section.

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

  • Entry requirements by country
  • English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

  • IELTS Academic: total 7.0 with at least 6.5 in each component.
  • TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 100 with at least 23 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
  • C1 Advanced ( CAE ) / C2 Proficiency ( CPE ): total 185 with at least 176 in each component.
  • Trinity ISE : ISE III with passes in all four components.
  • PTE Academic: total 70 with at least 62 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS , TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE , in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

  • UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

  • Approved universities in non-MESC

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than three and a half years old at the beginning of your programme of study.

Find out more about our language requirements:

Fees and costs

Scholarships and funding, featured funding.

There are a number of scholarship schemes available to eligible candidates on this PhD programme, including awards from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Please be advised that many scholarships have more than one application stage, and early deadlines.

  • Find out more about scholarships in literatures, languages and cultures

Other funding opportunities

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

  • Search for funding

Further information

  • Phone: +44 (0)131 650 4086
  • Contact: [email protected]
  • School of Literatures, Languages & Cultures
  • 50 George Square
  • Central Campus
  • Programme: Creative Writing
  • School: Literatures, Languages & Cultures
  • College: Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

Select your programme and preferred start date to begin your application.

PhD Creative Writing - 3 Years (Full-time)

Phd creative writing - 6 years (part-time), application deadlines.

Due to high demand, the school operates a number of selection deadlines. We will make a small number of offers to the most outstanding candidates on an ongoing basis, but hold the majority of applications until the next published selection deadline when we will offer a proportion of the places available to applicants selected through a competitive process.

Deadlines for applicants applying to study in 2024/25:

  • How to apply

You must submit two references with your application.

  • Pre-application guidance

Before you formally apply for this PhD, you should look at the pre-application information and guidance on the programme website.

This will help you decide if this programme is right for you, and help us gain a clearer picture of what you hope to achieve.

The guidance details the writing samples you should send us as part of your application (either fiction or poetry, along with a shorter sample of your academic writing).

It will also give you practical advice for writing your project summary – one of the most important parts of your application.

Find out more about the general application process for postgraduate programmes:

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Creative writing

The Creative Writing discipline supports practice-based and critical research and PhD study focused on creative writing. This research activity is associated with the discipline's Contemporary Cultures of Writing Research Group. The core activity in this type of PhD study is the creation of a book-length work of literature (or script equivalent) and an accompanying critical reflective thesis, which elucidates the research and creative strategies involved in making the work. In this way the essence of the Creative Writing PhD is research through creative practice. The final creative work emerges from and embodies the research questions, and the decisions and discoveries made while producing the work. We welcome applications from candidates suitably qualified and with appropriate writing experience and ability.

We expect well-structured proposals which set out specific research questions and clearly outline creative and critical approaches. A substantial writing sample is also required.

Entry requirements

Minimum 2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent) and a strong academic and creative record, usually evidenced by an MA in Creative Writing and relevant publications. If you are not a UK citizen, you may need to prove your knowledge of English . 

Potential research projects

  • Fiction – novel and short stories
  • Creative Nonfiction – including life writing
  • Script for stage, radio or screen

Current/recent research projects

  • The Longest Fight: a novel and Getting into the Ring: an investigation of archetypes of the boxing hero, the creative influences of boxing reportage, and the role of personal memories in historical fiction.
  • Freethinkers, a novel, and Inventing history: how do research, imagination and memory fuse creatively in the writing of an historical novel?
  • Darkness Is Never Absolute: Ekphrasis of the Formless and Near-Black Paintings.
  • The Other Mothers: Exploring adoption, surrogacy and egg donation through life writing.
  • The Electric: A novel and critical commentary investigating narrative disruption in sign language, cinemagoing, and trauma.
  • Longing to belong: an investigation into the potential for alternative storytelling techniques.
  • A Sudden Light: a practice-led exploration of the significance and potential of the contemporary timeslip novel.

Potential supervisors

  • Dr Emily Bullock
  • Dr Siobhan Campbell
  • Dr Donall Mac Cathmhaoill
  • Dr Fiona Doloughan
  • Dr Edward Hogan
  • Dr Lania Knight
  • Dr Derek Neale
  • Dr Heather Richardson
  • Dr Samuel Sargeant
  • Dr Emma Sweeney
  • Dr Jane Yeh

Some of our research students are funded via the Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership ; others are self-funded.

For detailed information about fees and funding, visit  Fees and studentships .

To see current funded studentship vacancies across all research areas, see  Current studentships .

  • Creative Writing at The Open University
  • Recent and current creative writing PhD students
  • The Contemporary Cultures of Writing Research Group

Book spines

Get in touch

If you have an enquiry specific to this research topic, please contact:

Dr Molly Ziegler / Dr Ed Hogan Email: FASS-EnglishCreativeWriting-Enquiries Phone: +44 (0)1908 652092

If you’re interested in applying for this research topic, please take a look at the application process .

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Get a Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature

Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature

Get a ph.d. in creative writing and literature.

Admission to the creative writing program is extremely competitive, with up to 20 new students across the two genres selected each year from the hundreds of applications received from around the world. The curriculum for Ph.D. students emphasizes creative writing and literary study. The city of Houston offers a vibrant, multi-cultural backdrop for studying creative writing at the University of Houston. With a dynamic visual and performing arts scene, the Houston metropolitan area supplies a wealth of aesthetic materials.

Overview of Admissions Requirements

Minimum requirements for admission.

  • M.A. in English or M.F.A. in Creative Writing  
  • 3.5 GPA in graduate studies 

Application Deadline

The admissions deadline for our Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature is January 15.

For more admissions information, visit the How to Apply web page for our Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature.  

History of the Creative Writing Program

CW Reading Event

Over the years many more internationally acclaimed writers have made the Program their home, including Mary Gaitskill, Richard Howard, Howard Moss, Linda Gregg, Adam Zagajewski, Daniel Stern, David Wojahn, Edward Hirsch, Alan Hollinghurst, Mark Strand, David Wagoner, Philip Levine, Charles Wright, Claudia Rankine, Kimiko Hahn, Mark Doty and Ruben Martinez.

Current faculty includes Erin Belieu, Robert Boswell, Audrey Colombe, Chitra Divakaruni, Nick Flynn, francine j. harris, Antonya Nelson, Alex Parsons, Kevin Prufer, Brenda Peynado, Martha Serpas, Roberto Tejada, and Peter Turchi.

Quick Links

Program Breakdown

Program Breakdown & Degree Requirements

Graduate Curricular Specializations

Graduate Curricular Specializations

Financial Aid

Financial Aid

How to Apply

How to Apply

Inprint Student Writing Awards

Inprint Student Writing Awards

  • College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
  • Department of English
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Graduate Studies

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Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature

The Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature offers innovative, multidisciplinary curriculum; dedicated advising and mentorship from the English department’s dynamic faculty; and solid preparation for expert teaching in the university classroom. The Creative Writing and Literature Ph.D. curriculum is comprised of professional development courses, courses in a curricular area stream, elective courses, and creative writing workshops. As part of their curricular plans, all English department Ph.D. students must enroll in one of five curricular area streams:    

  • Critical Studies of the Americas  
  • Critical Poetics  
  • Empire Studies  
  • Translingual Studies  
  • Rhetoric, Composition, and Pedagogy (For RCP students only; these students will be automatically enrolled in this area stream.)  

Each area stream balances training in foundational disciplinary knowledge with opportunities for specialization that engender creative research and independent thinking. Area stream selections also support Ph.D. students by providing dedicated faculty advising and an intellectual community of faculty mentors and graduate student colleagues. The degree offers preparation for creative and scholarly publication and for success in a variety of arts and humanities professions.  

Minimum Requirements for Admission

  • M.A. in English or M.F.A. in Creative Writing
  • 3.5 GPA in graduate studies
  • One foreign language (may be completed while in residence for the degree)

Application Deadline: January 15

Degree Requirements

6 hours Professional Development  

  • 3 hours Intro to Doctoral Studies  
  • 3 hours Master Workshop  

 12 hours Area Stream  

12 hours Creative Writing Workshops  

  •  3 hours History of Poetry and Poetics OR Narrative and Narrative Theory  
  •  3 hours Writers on Literature  
  •  6 hours Major Genre Workshop**  

1 5 hours Elective Courses, each contributing to the student’s area of expertise. Students should select each of these courses in consultation with his/her faculty mentors.  

  • 3 hours Early Literature  (pre-1900)  
  • 3 hours Later Literature (post-1900)  

If students have taken a course or courses (up to 9 hours) that meet requirements in their M.A. or M.F.A., the requirements will be waived, allowing students to take additional elective courses (but not reducing the total required hours toward the degree).    

  • 2 written exams (one major field; one sub-field)  
  • 1 oral exam   
  • Foreign Language (reading knowledge of two foreign languages or intensive knowledge of one foreign language)
  • Dissertation Prospectus
  • Dissertation

Application Materials

Consult the UH Graduate School for detailed instructions on how to submit your application electronically. The English Department requires the following materials:

  • Online application and application fee.
  • Three letters of recommendation from people who know your creative or academic work well. Letters will be solicited by the UH Admissions Office and submitted electronically.
  • Unofficial transcripts (with degrees posted) may be uploaded with your online application. If you are accepted, you will need to send official academic transcripts (sealed in the issuing envelope) from every university or college you have attended. Official transcripts should be sent directly to the UH Graduate Admissions Office (University of Houston, Graduate Admissions, P.O. Box 3947, Houston, TX 77253-3947).
  • Your Statement of Intent (1000 words, double-spaced). State why you wish to pursue graduate studies in creative writing; which writers in your genre you are reading and their importance to your work; and whether you have taught before and intend to pursue teaching as a career.
  • An original creative writing sample (10 pages for poetry, 20-25 pages for prose). Fiction manuscripts should be double-spaced, on numbered, single-sided pages; poetry may be single-spaced and formatted as desired. Note: submitting more than the recommended amount is strongly discouraged and could adversely affect the evaluation process.
  • A critical manuscript (no more than 20 pages), usually a scholarly paper written for a literature course.

General Policies and Procedures

Program Guidelines are available here. Additional university policies may be found in the Graduate Catalog.

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what does a phd in creative writing entail

English Creative Writing Ph.D.

Want more info.

We're so glad you're interested in UNT! Let us know if you'd like more information and we'll get you everything you need.

Why Earn an English Creative Writing Ph.D.?

The Ph.D. program is designed to give you a broad, solid foundation in the academic profession, while at the same time preparing you to conduct original, in-depth research or to compose original works of literature. You'll benefit from the guidance of a nationally recognized faculty with a strong record of publication in prestigious journals like PMLA, Philological Quarterly, The Paris Review and Granta.

We make every effort to foster our graduate students' success and help them attain their educational and career goals.

While at UNT, our students have published their work in nationally and internationally recognized journals and magazines, including The New Yorker , Shakespeare and SEL: Studies in English Literature . They have placed books with presses like Button Poetry, the University of Georgia Press and the University of Wisconsin Press. And they have won prestigious awards and fellowships, including grants from the Newberry Library and from the National Endowment for the Arts.

  • Reason rigorously, subtly and independently
  • Analyze minutely sources and narratives
  • Identify and address interpretative complexity
  • Develop and contribute new knowledge
  • Convey knowledge in self-designed courses

English Creative Writing Ph.D. Highlights

What can you do with an english creative writing ph.d..

Many recent Ph.D. graduates have gone on to tenure-track positions at other institutions all over the country, including Texas Women's University (Texas), Radford University (Virginia), St. Catherine University (Minnesota), Valparaiso University (Indiana), SUNY-Potsdam (New York) and Brigham Young University (Utah).

English Creative Writing Ph.D. Courses You Could Take

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Creative Writing Master's

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What are you looking for?

Suggested search, frequently asked questions, “curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.” – samuel johnson.

Below find the answers to some common questions regarding the Ph.D. in Creative Writing & Literature program. The dropdown menus below will help you skip to the topic in which you are interested.

What are the requirements for admission to the Ph.D. in Creative Writing & Literature?

The university requires a minimum undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 (on a scale in which A=4.0). Requirements for admission to study in the Ph.D. in Creative Writing & Literature program include the following:

  • Bachelor’s degree in any area of study
  • GPA, undergraduate and graduate (if applicable)
  • GRE General Test score
  • creative writing sample
  • critical writing sample
  • statement of purpose
  • statement of diversity, inclusion and access (optional)
  • unofficial & official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate coursework
  • letters of recommendation from at least three academic referees; students may include additional letters from other sources

Do I need to have an undergraduate degree in English or Creative Writing to be eligible to apply?

We welcome applications from students with all kinds of academic backgrounds.  Your undergraduate (or graduate) degree need not be in Creative Writing or English.

Regardless of educational background, we expect our applicants will be accomplished creative writers, who are actively practicing the craft, and apt scholars, who have a keen interest in literature. To meet the demands of the Ph.D. program in Creative Writing & Literature you should be writing creatively with consistency. You should also be able to conduct scholarly research and write critically about literature, a factor which your critical writing sample should exhibit in order for your application to be competitive, no matter your academic background.

Do I need a Master’s Degree in English or Creative Writing to be eligible to apply to the program?

No. The only educational requirement is that you have a Bachelor’s degree. If you have a Master’s in English, or an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, you may transfer the equivalent of 12 units to the coursework requirement for the Ph.D. in Creative Writing & Literature.

How will I find out if I am admitted? / How long does it take to process my application? Applicants are notified of their admission status via email. Offers of admission usually go out in the month of March.

How many students are admitted each year? The program is small and, therefore, competitive. We usually accept 8-10 students each year, out of approximately 150 applicants.

May I be admitted in spring or summer? Unfortunately, we only offer one application cycle per year. All applications must be submitted by Dec 1.

Where do I send my materials? The application is entirely online.  The only items you need to send in hard copies are your transcripts and GRE scores–your transcripts will be sent directly from your previously attended institutions, and GRE scores will be sent from ETS. Please request that these items be sent to the USC Office of Graduate Admission:

USC Office of Graduate Admission 3601 South Flower Street Room 112 Los Angeles, CA 90089-0915

Please note: this is a separate address from our office address. We cannot guarantee that any hard copy additional materials you send to our office will be included with your application materials. Therefore, make sure to upload all of the necessary documents for the application, such as your writing samples, statement of purpose and your recommendations.

Can I apply to the program in more than one genre?

You must apply to the program in one genre only: fiction, nonfiction or poetry. We recommend that applicants apply to their strongest genre, even if they are multi-genre writers.

Will there be opportunities to take coursework in other literary genres?

While the majority of your creative coursework will be in your primary genre, and your creative dissertation must be written in your genre as well, you will have opportunities to take creative writing classes outside of your primary genre, in addition to your normal coursework.

Is there a nonfiction degree track?

Yes! We welcome applications from writers of nonfiction.

How long does it take to earn a Ph.D. in Creative Writing & Literature?

The program is designed to be completed in five years.

Can I finish more quickly if I have a Master’s degree in Creative Writing or Literature?

You may transfer up to 12 units of similar coursework from a related degree, but this will not significantly reduce the number of years to earn the Ph.D. You should still plan to spend 5 years completing the program.

Does the Ph.D. in Creative Writing & Literature program offer an online or low-residency option?

No, the Ph.D. in Creative Writing & Literature program at USC is a full time, in-residence program. We do not offer a low-residency or online option.

When do the academic sessions begin?

The USC academic calendar is divided into two terms: fall and spring. The fall semester begins in late August and ends in mid-December. The spring semester begins in early January and ends in mid-May. There are also summer sessions with six-week classes, but not all courses are offered during the summer. The academic calendar can be found on USC’s website:  http://academics.usc.edu/calendar/ .

Can I transfer units from my Master’s to the course work requirement for the Ph.D. in Creative Writing & Literature?

You may transfer up to 12 units from an M.F.A. or a Master’s in English to your coursework requirement in the Ph.D. in Creative Writing & Literature, which would reduce the total units needed from 64 to 52.  Your academic advisors will help you decide the best transfer strategy for your individual needs.

What are the course work requirements for the Ph.D. program?

The program consists of 56 units of coursework: 32 in Literature, 24 in Creative Writing, and 8 units of dissertation work. Only one class is required: ENGL 501, History of Literary and Cultural Theory.  Beyond that, each student crafts an individualized course of study under the guidance of her or his academic advisors to meet the unit requirements.

Is the Ph.D. in Creative Writing & Literature program at USC associated with any magazine, literary journal or literary review?

The program is not associated with a magazine or literary journal, however, the students in our program run a small press, publishing chapbooks and full-length books:  http://goldlinepress.com/ .

Is there a language requirement?

Ph.D. in Creative Writing & Literature students are required to demonstrate translation proficiency in at least one foreign language. This may be demonstrated by completing a course in the literature of that language at the 400 or 500 level (with a grade of B [3.0] or better) or by passing a foreign language exam that tests proficiency in reading comprehension and translation. Ph.D. in Creative Writing & Literature students may also demonstrate proficiency by completing a creative translation project in their primary genre, under the guidance of a professor whose areas of expertise include that specific language.

Do you offer an M.F.A. in Creative Writing? Do I obtain a Master’s degree while earning the Ph.D.?

Our program is strictly a Ph.D. program—we do not offer a Master’s degree.

Is funding available to students admitted to the Ph.D. in Creative Writing & Literature program at USC?

All applicants who are offered admission into the program are also offered funding in the form of fellowships and assistantships, which offer tuition remission, year-round health insurance coverage and a modest stipend. Because all admitted students receive fellowship, they are expected to devote full-time study towards the Ph.D. and are not allowed to take on contemporaneous employment or equivalent external commitments during the academic year.

As of August 15, 2022, the GRE General Test is no longer required!

If my recommender does not want to upload a recommendation to the online system, is it possible for them to send a hard copy?

Our application is entirely online. Therefore, your letters of recommendation must be submitted online.  Hard copies of materials that are sent to our office will not be included in your application file.

Do all of my recommendations have to be from academic sources?

While we prefer to receive recommendations from academic sources, we will accept recommendations from people other than your previous professors. If writing mentors, publishers, editors or employers (especially if writing is a part of your job) can attest to your ability to write creatively, show your experience in the writing world, or can explain to the admissions committee that you have the critical thinking abilities necessary to be in a Ph.D. program, we would be happy to receive their letters.

Is it possible to submit my letters of recommendation through an online system like Interfolio?

It is possible to submit letters using Interfolio. However, please note that our application is completely electronic–during the application process online you will be prompted to enter the email addresses of your recommenders. If you are using Interfolio, please submit the email address the Interfolio service provides to send out electronic letters of recommendation, rather than the email addresses of your individual recommenders.

Do you conduct face-to-face interviews with applicants?

We do not require nor offer any face-to-face interviews with applicants as part of the admissions process.

Can I sit in on a class?

Unfortunately, creative writing classes are closed to visitors.

What does it mean that I am required to write a “critical” and “creative” component to my dissertation?

The dissertation consists of both critical and creative components. The creative component should be a book-length manuscript and the critical component will be a document of approximately 60 pages. While the creative and critical components often work in conversation with one another, the critical aspect is not a “foreword” to the manuscript.

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Your Complete Guide to Creative Writing Doctoral Degrees

what does a phd in creative writing entail

Written by Haley Boyce

doctorate-degree-writers

By this point, your craft is not just a thing you study but something that is part of your essence. When someone describes you to a friend, one of the first things they mention is your love for storytelling. When they read your writing, they become part of it as the lines of the real world are blurred by sensory details of the fictional world that just one, two, even four years ago was kept only in your imagination. When people speak of you they say, “Oh, them? They’re a writer and an academic. You should really read their stuff. It’ll blow you away.”

You’re reading this because you love two things: Words and academics.

We’re willing to bet you have a philosophy on lifelong learning and a strong opinion about the Oxford comma. You see the value in research and sharing knowledge. That’s who you are and why you’re seeking out universities that offer creative writing PhDs.

By earning a creative writing doctoral degree, you are fulfilling your innate need as an artist to create through storytelling while elevating your professional opportunities in academia. If your parents always told you to become a doctor, just wait until you show them what you’re about to do with next few years of your life.

Creative Writing Doctoral Degrees are Purpose-Built for Careers in Academia

professor and lecture class

A creative writing doctoral degree is all about narrowing your writing focus down to your preferred genre. As a creative writing doctoral candidate, you will produce a complete manuscript, play, screenplay, or any other writing project you choose to work on. Additionally, you will have opportunities to work on university publications, participate in literary events and festivals, teach as an assistant or adjunct professor, and work in very small cohorts with well-respected writers as your mentors.  

After you finish your two or three years as a doctoral candidate, you will have your pick of career opportunities – as long as that pick is a tenure track at a college or university.

Applying to a Competitive Creative Writing PhD Program is a Study in Fortitude

As a scholar, you know that the application process can be arduous. At no such time is that truer than as a prospective candidate for a creative writing doctoral degree.

Doctorate programs are extremely selective with some schools admitting just two or three applicants out of hundreds per genre. 

Standard materials to have prepared for the application process will include a resume, at least three letters of reference, and a statement of purpose explaining exactly why a PhD in creative writing needs to be in your future. Of course, you’ll need transcripts from all graduate and undergraduate coursework you’ve completed. If you don’t have copies at the ready, this can take a little longer than expected since you’re at the mercy of each institution you attended.

As you’d expect, you’ll also need to supply plenty of samples of your creative writing work. Schools will differ in what they expect with your application, but plan to share approximately 25 pages of fiction or nonfiction work. Or if your focus is poetry, have 10 -12 pages at the ready. Schools may also ask for a sample of scholarly critical work.

Some schools will also have you complete a Diversity, Inclusion, and Access Statement. This is optional, but its purpose is beneficial to all applicants. Schools that ask for this are doing so in order to create an environment where everyone is comfortable. If you choose to submit a Diversity, Inclusion, and Access Statement with your application, write a one-page statement expressing how your perspective lends itself to a diverse learning atmosphere. 

Your Creative Writing Doctoral Dissertation Relies on the Skill and Discipline You’ve Already Developed

large library bookshelves

Your dissertation is a personal project and labor of love that you will be working on for the duration of your doctoral program, quite literally for years. In its final presentation, it could be a manuscript, a play, a novella, or even a screenplay. Depending on your program, the only requirement may be the one that all doctoral programs in creative writing will expect:

A publish-ready work that contributes something unique and significant to the field.

The topic may come to you easily, perhaps it’s something you’ve already been chewing on in your quite hours for many years. It may come through slow evolution, emerging only as you chip away at the more prosaic and uninspired elements. It may only crystalize after many thoughtful discussions with professors and colleagues, or it may have already been known to you in some form long before you ever thought you’d need it for anything other than your own internal dialogue. In any case, it will be something deeply meaningful to you.

The good news is that, aside from selecting the topic itself, the hardest part about a dissertation for most doctoral candidates will be the one thing that comes very naturally to you – writing. The best advice anyone can offer is the same advice you’ve been following as a matter of course since you first decided to become a writer: write every day. Making your dissertation a daily exercise will give you a chance to not only stay familiar with your topic and the thought process that led you to it, but it will also help you strike your chisel with gentler and gentler precision, allowing the definition of what you are trying to create reveal itself to you.

Fellowships Offer a Chance at a Fully-Funded PhD in Creative Writing

Because PhD programs in creative writing exist to prepare future scholars and academics, there’s a surprising number of options that won’t cost you anything monetarily. Instead, they represent a gentleperson’s trade, where you put your talent, integrity, commitment, brainpower, and time on the table in exchange for the finest education in the literary arts – an education that not even money can buy.

If you’re planning on applying to a fully funded creative writing doctoral program, you can expect complete funding for a select number of years, to be divvied at each school’s discretion. For example, some schools will guarantee funding for the first three years of academic studies, and then two more years through teaching assistantship.

It is a good idea to become knowledgeable about the different fellowships available to you prior to the application process as not all fellowships are created equal. The term “fully funded” generally means that tuition, housing, and health insurance are all covered.

The Doctor of Fine (DFA) Arts in Creative Writing is Strictly an Honorary Degree

To be sure, not all “doctorates” carry the same weight that a creative writing PhD does. The Doctor of Fine Arts degree only exist as something that is granted as a symbol of honor and nothing more. 

A Doctor of Fine Arts is honorary in that the school awarding the degree wishes to commend the recipient for their contribution to the arts. It’s granted in recognition of artistic achievement, not academic achievement.

It’s an Honor to Hold a DFA… But That’s About All It Is

dolly parton star walk of fame

At the end of the day, those honorary degrees are being awarded with good reason, but it’s not the same reason you’re earning a PhD, of course. Most schools award honorary doctorates to people who have dedicated their lives to bettering the world in some way. 

Meryl Streep: Well clearly, if there is one person who is suffering for an award, it’s Meryl. Poor thing needs some attention, don’t you think? She graduated from Yale in 1975 and was later awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from her alma mater in 1983. She also has honorary degrees from Dartmouth University, Princeton University, Harvard University, and Indiana University. 

Celine Dion: Celine’s heart will most certainly go on in dual-doctorate hall of fame. Her first, a Doctor of Music, was awarded by Laval University in Quebec. A subsequent Doctor of Music was given to her by Berklee School of Music alongside Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes. 

Oprah Winfrey: A recipient of a Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Princeton University, a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Duke University, and a Doctor of Laws degree from Harvard University. Internationally, she was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the University of the Free State in South Africa for her services to education there. 

Robert De Niro: This one’s a doozy, you guys. While receiving an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts at Bates College, De Niro gave a commencement speech to graduates. He told them that he made the right choice and saved money by not going to college. (Know your audience, Buddy.) However, he did give this bit of sage advice: “If you’re an actor, always be true to your character . . . If you’re not an actor, have character and always be true to yourself.”

Dolly Parton: In a rare move for the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, the even rarer gem, Queen Dolly, was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane and Musical Letters – only the second such degree to be awarded by the school. Fun fact: Her graduation gown was fitted to her notorious form and her regalia can be seen on display at the Chasing Rainbows museum at her Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. 

Taylor Swift: T-Swizzle once joked in an interview with Vogue that she wanted to get an honorary doctorate degree because Ed Sheeran had just received one. Cut to May 2022 – she received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from New York University. In her speech, she quipped, “I’m 90% sure I’m here because I have a song called ‘22’.” 

If reading some of the above information about actors, actresses, and musicians leave you feeling a little perturbed, you’re not alone. But do you know what? Their degrees aren’t real. In no way did they get a free pass on the SS Good Ship Lollipop with a glittery rainbow bridge that led them straight to the podium to accept their degree.

It’s not only the rich and famous who are given honorary degrees. In fact, many are given to professionals who have dedicated their careers to activism and research and good old fashioned hard work so that others may live healthy and safe lives. Some notable recipients of honorary degrees include:

  • José Ramón Andrés Puerta is the recipient of an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree for his humanitarian work. A chef with numerous other awards to his name, Puerta was honored by Harvard University for his work as the founder of the nonprofit disaster-relief organization World Central Kitchen. He was unable to attend the ceremony, as he was in Ukraine where World Central Kitchen has delivered over 130 million meals since February 24th, 2022.
  • Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum is described in the Lancet as “Africa’s veteran Ebola hunter.” He is not only one of Ebola’s first survivors, but also its discoverer. For four decades his work was wrongfully attributed to a group of Belgian scientists. He has worked to battle other diseases including Covid-19 and is crucial to the World Health Organization’s efforts to battle infectious diseases. Today, Muyembe-Tamfum is the recipient of countless honors including Harvard’s Doctor of Science degree.
  • Frederick W. Smith learned to fly a crop duster as a teenager, was admitted to Yale as an experienced pilot who would go on to write an economics term paper in which he proposed an overnight air courier service. This imagined company became what we now call FedEx. Smith was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by Princeton University.

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Doctoral concentration in creative writing, creative writing at ul.

[Audience at Vi Khi Nao reading at Beausoleil Books

The UL Lafayette Creative Writing Program invites you to join our close, energetic community of faculty and students.

Generalist Program

Our Ph.D. in English is unique in that it is a generalist program. That means you as a student gain broad expertise in a variety of creative writing genres: fiction, poetry, drama, and creative non-fiction. It also means that you’ll strengthen your understanding of literature, and develop solid pedagogical practice by instructing undergraduate courses in rhetoric and composition. There will also be opportunities to teach creative writing, literature, and design your own special topics courses.

The generalist program ensures graduates concentrating in Creative Writing who opt for academic positions are qualified to teach in several areas. Graduates who choose careers outside of the academy will have experience managing a classroom while teaching and designing their own courses.

Opportunities

Assistantships are available in the Ernest J. Gaines Center, the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, and within the English Department. Graduate teaching assistantships give you the chance to teach first-year writing, sophomore literature survey courses, a creative writing workshop, and a literature course of your own design. Three-year university fellowships with lighter teaching loads are also available.

You will be able to gain professional development experience through working on the University-supported in-house print journal The Southwestern Review, and our online literary journal Rougarou. Students also read at our Thursday Night Reading Series (TNRS) , and often attend the annual Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) conference where our graduate creative writers host an annual off-site reading. Creative writers also have the opportunity to present their work at the Global Souths conference we put on each year through a creative plenary and creative panels.

In addition to our great faculty, and writer-in-residence, the UL Lafayette Creative Writing Program is enhanced by the Deep South Reading Series . Recent guests include: Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Katie Jean Shinkle, Terese Svoboda, Rodrigo Toscano, Asiya Wadud, Matthew Salesses, Vi Khi Nao, Clemonce Heard, and Wandeka Gayle.

Apply to Write with Us

In addition to the PhD in English application requirements, the department requires a creative writing portfolio. You should submit a creative writing sample of 15-20 pages as part of their application directly to the Graduate Coordinator for Incoming Students, Dr. Leah Orr at [email protected] . PDFs are preferred. Please specify the genre: Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Creative Nonfiction, or Hybrid work.

Read more info about applying.

Resources and Links

  • Apply today to write with us at UL!
  • Read about our current and past Writers-in-Residence.
  • Have questions about our program? Contact our graduate coordinator at [email protected].
  • See what jobs our students have landed.
  • View our comprehensive English Graduate Student Handbook .
  • Check out recent news and events for the UL Lafayette CWP.
  • View Creative Writing PhD Requirements and Courses .
  • Follow the UL Lafayette CWP on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram .

The English Department’s Thursday Night Reading Series (TNRS) features weekly readings of original poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, drama, and experimental works from UL graduate students and faculty. Watch the video to see our graduate students share their work and  visit the TNRS Facebook page to learn more.

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Doing a PhD in Creative Writing: Is it for Everyone?

It’s weird, having a PhD in Creative Writing. It’s both real—I have Dr on every piece of identification possible—and make believe: how many people even know that creative writing is an academic discipline? and how can you be a “professor of making things up”?

PhD in Creative Writing programs are becoming more popular, but the question remains whether they are necessary for a writer. The easy answer: no. The harder answer: not really but maybe there’s some benefit.

Doing a PhD is a four- to seven-year commitment, depending on the country and whether you study full or part time. I did mine in the UK, because I researched 400 years of English gardening history and how gardens function in fantasy fiction, and this is where those gardens live. I was incredibly lucky in my supervisors, and after almost five years sat my viva. The dissertation consisted of a 100,000-word historical fantasy novel about a “haunted” garden and a 40,000-word critical commentary in which I analysed my process and project though the lens of various theories about space and time that I applied to gardens (both real and fictional). I started my research having a solid idea of what it was I wanted to do, with a novel partially planned out (though it changed—that’s not unexpected). I did the PhD not because I wanted to write the novel, but because I was interested about the context of the novel and its place in the genre with other novels that use gardens fantastically, and because I have always felt comfortable in academia.

When I interview PhD applicants, I always ask “Why do you want to do a PhD?” I get numerous responses, from “I want to be a university lecturer” to “I want to learn how to write a best-seller”. The only right answer, however, is “Because I want to” because those other goals cannot be guaranteed. First, getting a full-time permanent lecturing position is rare, as most academics will tell you. Yes, I have one, but I had a career before I ever did my PhD (which I started at 40!), and that career was a distinct benefit when I applied for my current position. And second, no one can ever guarantee that you will be a best-selling novelist. Doing a PhD like mine can help you better understand your own writing process and, in turn, make you a more conscientious writer, but it isn’t necessarily going to make you a better commercial writer.

If you have a love of spending hours and days and weeks alone, reading and thinking and analysing a topic, then doing a PhD in Creative Writing might be for you. It was for me when I realised I hadn’t left my room in two days while reading The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction and trying desperately to understand it; when I sat in the British Library holding back a coughing fit while ill but desperate to get through the pile of books I had ordered; when I had no choice but to work on my dissertation after a devastating breakup and subsequent house move in the dead of a very cold and snowy winter; and when, after graduating at 45 with a degree but no permanent home or work visa, I had to figure out what I was going to do when I grew up. The work led to physical and mental-health issues. It’s not for the light-hearted.

My best advice:

Choose a topic that you love. You will spend years and years on it, and it will get boring. And you will get sick to death explaining it to well-meaning people who ask you what you’re researching.

Choose a topic that can be studied academically. If you want to write a novel you’ve plotted out, then go write it. But if you have an idea for a novel (or short story collection) and are almost more interested in the different angles of the genre or the world or the context than the story itself, then you might have something worth PhD study. Do some digging and academic reading before you start filling out applications.

Choose your university wisely. Mine was open to SFF writers, but many aren’t. You don’t necessarily want to stay at the same university for your MA and PhD. On that note: an MA in writing isn’t necessary for a PhD application, but it really helps. So, too, does having finished writing a novel before and having experience in a workshop/critique setting.

Choose your supervisor even more wisely. First, their research interest should match yours and they should be active in your genre; and second, it’s a close relationship, but a working one. Interviewing the supervisor is as important as the possible supervisor interviewing you.

In the end, a PhD in Creative Writing is an academic pursuit, not the means to finish a novel. As it turns out, the novel I wrote, Threading the Labyrinth, worked as the result of academic study but wasn’t commercially publishable until I revised it and even restructured it, and now, more than three years later, it’s on its way to being published. I don’t know whether I could have written Threading without the research I did as a PhD student, but I do know that Threading is a better novel for it.

Tiffani Angus is a Senior Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK, who lectures in Publishing and Creative Writing, is the Course Leader for the MA Creative Writing, and is a Director at the Anglia Centre for Science Fiction and Fantasy. She has published short fiction in a variety of genres (among them science fiction, historical fantasy, horror, and even erotica) and her debut novel Threading the Labyrinth will be out with Unsung Stories Press in late 2019. Her current work in progress is novel inspired by her research into the estrangement of women’s bodies in apocalyptic fiction. An American who grew up in Las Vegas, she now lives in Bury St Edmunds with her partner.

She can be found on Twitter @tiffaniangus

Her website is at www.tiffani-angus.com

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Thank you for this information. Very helpful.

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I loved this ! I know what I’m doing with my life now . It’s such a beautiful combination of science and creativity . So well spoken .

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Hi, Tiffani.

I really enjoyed your post and found it very informative. I’m coming to the end of my MA in Creative Writing at Hull, and I’m currently looking for Ph.D. opportunities with a focus on magical realism and the introduction of mesmerism into British society in the 1800s. I hadn’t realised Anglia Ruskin had an SFF department, but it sounds like a wonderful place to study.

Thanks for the insight.

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So which uni did you do your PhD in? I’m also thinking of doing something related to SFF!

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I did my PhD at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, England, where I now teach and am also the General Director of the Anglia Centre for Science Fiction & Fantasy (we are very genre-friendly at ARU!). We have staff in the English Department who supervise lit students studying SFF, and I and a colleague supervise creative writing students (though currently our rosters are rather full). There are other universities that are SFF-friendly; best bet is to start looking at universities and the staff members’ research expertise listings to find someone to approach. Good luck!

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It was good to see your blog post. I keep being on the fence on getting a creative writing phd. I have an MA and MFA in creative writing (and had a good and a bad experience with that). Part of my wants to get the phd for my ego. But honestly, I itch to write. I have been writing since I was twelve and I can’t not write. I miss being with writers and the writing craft.

If you have any advice for this, that would be fantastic! Thanks, K

First of all, apologies for the delay in responding.

I am glad to hear that the blog post has been informative. I can understand wanting to get the PhD for your ego–it is definitely one of those things that changes how people see you in some ways. But it doesn’t necessarily help you feel completely different about yourself in a positive way. Like with the MA and MFA, the experience can be both good and bad.

If you itch to write, then just write. A PhD does require writing, yes, but in addition to the creative/fiction writing it also requires a LOT of academic and non-fiction writing, which requires a boatload of analysis and thinking, which end up distracting you away from the fiction writing! So it’s not all sitting and doing constant sprints or pomodoros but going into detail explaining what you were doing when you were writing, explaining where ideas came from, how they developed, etc. (read the 2nd article I posted on the site for more about that: https://booksbywomen.org/threading-the-labyrinth-of-historical-research-how-the-twists-and-turns-led-to-a-creative-writing-phd/ )

If you miss being with writers, then the PhD (at least in the UK) might not be the right fit for you because you spend most of your time doing solo research. I’d advise you to find a writers’ group to be part of. This can be difficult, but they ARE out there. (Do some googling for meetups, etc., in your area.) Try to find a group of serious writers, not hobbyists; by that I mean people who want to publish or have been published. A group where people stand a read their work aloud (where that is your first experience with their work and you don’t read it before the meetings) isn’t what you want. You want people who are serious about critiquing and helping each other. A group like that can be invaluable, and it is a completely different experience from a PhD where YOU are often a group of 1.

Good luck with your writing and with making a decision about doing the PhD. If you do decide you want to explore the PhD idea, you’ve got my advice for that in the article!

Best, Tiffani

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Postgraduate Research in Creative Writing

Creative writing research at phd level.

Creative writing research has been a growing strand within the wider research culture of the English and Creative Writing since 2008. The Contemporary Cultures of Writing Research Group engages in a number of activities including running seminar series in collaboration with The Institute of English Studies in London, on topics such as the rise of creative writing study, life writing and creativity’s relationship with translation.

The PhD focused on Creative Writing presents particular challenges and opportunities because its core requirement is the creation of a book-length work of literature, written specifically for the degree and perfected to a publishable standard. In tandem, it requires an accompanying critical/reflective thesis which elucidates the research and creative strategies involved in the making of the work.

The two parts of the thesis are not separately conceived and realised – they must cohere and illuminate each other. The essence of the Creative Writing PhD is research through creative practice. The final creative piece emerges from and embodies the research questions, decisions and discoveries made in the course of producing the work.

Creative Writing Research at MA level

The MA in Creative Writing gives writers an opportunity to develop their skills by undertaking practical activities and exchanging work with peers. Students choose a ‘primary’ genre from fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and script. They also write in a second genre, gaining an immersive insight into different forms and methods. The study of contemporary published works is a central feature of the course, and students complete creative and critical tasks. The MA culminates in the submission of a substantial piece of creative writing.

Key Information:

The deadline for completed applications for the year commencing in October 2023 will be in early January 2023 .

How to apply

  • Research Degree Prospectus

Discover the sorts of projects our researchers are involved in and get a sense of their PhD experience. Many of our researchers are working on novels and life writing but we welcome proposals involving other genres.

  • Current and recent research students

What constitutes research in Creative Writing?

‘Research questions’ in relation to creative works are the underlying reference points, speculations and questions that writers have in mind when approaching new work. For example, when planning a historical fiction, a writer might be interested in the legitimacy of inventing or embellishing ‘facts’ about real people or about how research and imagination might fuse. Or a writer might want to portray the subjectivity of a marginalised individual, for example, a character with severe learning difficulties. Here, the research question might be about how to render or imaginatively inhabit an unarticulated consciousness. For a PhD application, such driving research questions must be made manifest at an early stage.

The PhD focused on Creative Writing includes several kinds of research:

Acts of writing, in their stages of spontaneous drafting, considered revision and redrafting, are recognised in the PhD as a form of exploratory research that emerges from and refers to the creative process. PhD researchers keep notebooks and a record of source materials. They supply accompanying commentaries with drafts of creative work. After supervisions, they write an account of the discussion including insights, agreements, and plans for future work. Through this process they devise and analyse their own system of ‘poetics’, which forms the groundwork for the eventual critical/reflective thesis part of the PhD.

Research into craft and technique is performed through readings of comparable literature in the same genre or from studying the work of creative writers who have written about creative strategies from a practitioner’s point of view. Experimentation and adaptation of studied methods and evaluation of the effects are recognised as forms of research.

Most creative writing projects also require formal research to facilitate and authenticate acts of invention. Such research may involve field visits to explore locations; exploration of historical archives; interviews with experts; readings of relevant fictional accounts; the study of customs, beliefs, or work practice.

Who should study for a PhD focused on Creative Writing?

Applicants should have a strong academic and creative record, usually with an MA in the subject and some relevant publications. They should be highly experienced writers of proven talent. This degree does not teach the basics of how to write a novel, for example. It is more of a place to test and enlarge existing capacities. It is suitable for writers who are prepared to have their ideas and pre-conceptions challenged and to move beyond their comfort zones. It requires stamina and commitment to work on a project for several years. It should only be considered by writers who are deeply interested in the critical/reflective aspect of the PhD as well as the creative work.

All PhDs are required to ‘contribute to new knowledge’ and the creative work in particular must contain elements of originality and create new insights and understanding in order to fulfil this criterion. 'Originality' in this context does not simply mean 'of the writer’s own making': the literary text must be a significant contribution to the art of fiction/life writing/poetry/scriptwriting for the degree to be awarded. The writing of the literary text is a project which demands the full exercise of the technical skills of the craft and a critical awareness of both the tradition and the current issues, practices and debates within the selected genre and form.

The PhD usually takes the form of the creation of a book-length work of 80,000 words in the student’s chosen literary form and a critical/reflective thesis of 20,000 words. 20,000 words is the required minimum for the critical/reflective thesis but it may, in certain cases, go up to 50,000 words. Variations on the 80/20 division may be negotiated but are more suitable for writers of poetry, scripts, or shorter fiction such as a novella or story collection. Because the creative element has to be a fully realised work of literature, novelists need to adhere to the basic 80/20 split. In fact, some novels may be permitted to exceed 80,000 words if the word limit would result in an aesthetically impaired work with obvious structural or plot gaps. Such cases have to be negotiated and approved.

For those who think their proposal might be more connected to Literature study, see the information about postgraduate research on the English site.

The application deadline for the PhD Programme is in January every year. However, if you want your proposal to be successful, you’re advised to start working on your application well in advance.

Details of the application procedure are available from the Research Degrees website, and we recommend that you contact our postgraduate convenor in advance if you are considering making an application via [email protected] .

Fiction is the most common focus for the PhD but we are open to interesting and viable proposals regarding other genres. Detailed advice on how to produce a research proposal is also available online. Key issues to bear in mind from the start include the fact that a PhD should be 'an original contribution to knowledge' - so you need to check existing scholarship in your field. Second of all, as how to produce a research proposal indicates, it is always useful to have research questions guiding your enquiry. The  English & Creative Writing PhD proposal form  offers specific guidance on what should be included in your proposal. Please be sure to include this form with your application. 

Project proposals should be for a novel or collection of stories or poetry or for a book-length piece of life writing (biography, autobiography or memoir) or for dramatic script- or screen-writing as the core of the research. The critical/ reflective thesis may be an essay contextualising the work with others in its genre or in relation to critical theory. It may be more of a personal exploration of the processes involved in its creation.

A crucial part of the application is a substantial sample of your previous creative writing, at least 10,000 words of prose for a fiction or life writing proposal, or 20-25 poems for a poetry proposal, 60 pages of script for a drama proposal.

(N.B. Journalism or academic writing or writing for children/young adults should not be sent.)

Studentships

Suitable applicants will be encouraged to apply for funding. Follow these links to find out about funding through the Faculty , financial support for research degrees and applications to The Arts and Humanities Research Council.

The support structure for the PhD

Students who are accepted on to the programme are provided with two supervisors who are published writers and recognised experts in the teaching of creative writing. They both read and give feedback on regular submissions of your work. The supervisors work together to help your development through written feedback, regular face to face meetings or video conferencing. The Research School provides a programme of training sessions in aspects of doctorate research and the English discipline runs occasional postgraduate research days that provide opportunities for networking and gaining practice in public speaking. Your progress is carefully monitored with detailed reports prepared by both the student and supervisors at six monthly intervals. There is a probation process near the end of the first year (second year for part-time students). Successful passing of this enables students to transfer from MPhil registration to PhD.

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what does a phd in creative writing entail

We are happy to receive applications for research projects focusing on Literary Studies or Creative Writing and the Department welcomes enquiries from students who wish to pursue a PhD in any of the areas in which members of staff have expertise.   

  Part of what makes Aberystwyth special is our thriving research culture : you’ll get to join an engaging and interactive community where staff, students, and guest speakers come together to share and showcase their research. You’ll also work alongside researchers who are recognised internationally for their contributions to knowledge and the furthering of the discipline.   

Department Expertise  

The Department’s particular areas of expertise include:  

  • Contemporary poetry  
  • Crime fiction  
  • Life writing
  • Nature writing
  • Black diaspora literature
  • Postcolonial fiction
  • Women’s writing
  • Children’s literature
  • Literary geography and ecocriticism
  • LGBT writing
  • Welsh writing in English
  • Literatures of surveillance
  • Literature and disability
  • Irish writing
  • Gothic literature and ghost stories
  • Psychoanalysis
  • Late Medieval secular literature
  • Contemporary medievalism
  • Romanticism
  • Victorian literature
  • Modernism and late modernism
  • Postmodernism.

What does a PhD in the  Department of English and Creative Writing involve?  

A PhD in literary studies is awarded upon satisfactory completion of a thesis of 80–100,000 words followed by a viva voce examination.   

  A PhD in creative writing has two parts: the creative work (comprising 75–80,000 words of prose or 60 pages of poetry) plus a 20,000-word critical commentary. Award of the PhD in creative writing is subject to satisfactory completion of this twin written element, followed by a viva voce examination.  

  For both literary studies and creative writing PhDs, the normal period of registration is three years (full-time) or five years (part-time). For full-time students, it is expected that the thesis will be submitted within four years of initial registration. For part-time students, submission is expected within seven years of initial registration. Full-time research students are expected to be based in Aberystwyth. Part-time research students can pursue their studies at a distance but may need to be available to attend sessions on campus on occasion.  

  Each research student is assigned two supervisors, who offer support and advice at every stage of the research project. The primary supervisor works closely with the student and will be a specialist in the chosen field of research/creative writing.  

  All full-time doctoral candidates are required to undertake a selection of research skills and professional development modules that are provided by the Aberystwyth University Graduate School. These modules are undertaken over the first two years of study. Under the guidance of their supervisors, students will be expected to develop advanced skills in handling a sustained project, which makes an original, rigorous contribution to the candidate’s chosen field of literary studies or creative writing practice.  

For further information, or to discuss options for the shorter MPhil research degree, please contact us directly on [email protected]    

Guidelines for PhD Proposals  

PhD proposals should include the following information:  

Literary Studies (c. 3,000 words)   

  • Synopsis of project (your project’s primary research ideas/aims, key texts, and theoretical perspectives) (250 words)    
  • Contribution to knowledge (what your work will contribute to the relevant field of study) (250 words)   
  • Research questions (outline the two primary research questions that will drive your project, and briefly explain how your research will address them) (250 words)   
  • Full research proposal (detailed description of your planned research, including an outline plan of the proposed sections of the thesis) (2,000 words)    
  • Your work to date in this or related areas (250 words)  

You should also submit a sample of your critical work of c. 5000 words.   

  Creative Writing (c. 3,000 words)     

  • Synopsis of project (an outline of your project’s central creative ideas, proposed stylistic engagements, key critical engagements, and theoretical perspectives) (250 words) 
  • Contribution to creative and critical practice (what your work will contribute to the relevant creative and critical fields) (250 words) 
  • Creative Aims (outline the two primary creative aims that will drive your project and explain how your work will address them) (250 words) 
  • Full proposal (detailed description of your planned work, including outline plans of both the creative and critical components) (2,000 words)

You should also submit a sample of your creative work of c. 5000 words of prose or 100 lines of poetry. 

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  1. PhD Creative Writing

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  2. PhD in Creative Writing

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  3. Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature

    Requirements for admission to study in the Ph.D. program in Creative Writing and Literature include: B.A. degree in any area of study; GPA, undergraduate and graduate (if applicable) Creative writing sample (25 pages of prose or 10-12 pages of poetry) Critical writing sample (10-25 pages) Statement of purpose (no more than three pages)

  4. PhD in English with Creative Writing

    Our PhD in English with Creative Writing encourages distinctive approaches to practice-based literary research. This route allows you to develop a substantial research project, which incorporates an original work of creative writing (in prose, poetry, or other forms).

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  7. PDF A Brief Guide for Students making an application to the PhD Creative

    The purpose of the critical component of the PhD is to place the creative work within a literary and cultural context, and to serve as an independent, scrupulously researched and persuasive piece of writing that displays the qualities of originality, significance and coherence.

  8. Pre-application guidance for the PhD in Creative Writing

    How to apply for our PhD in Creative Writing Contact us Pre-application guidance for the PhD in Creative Writing Find out why and how you should apply for our PhD in Creative Writing, including guidance on the creative and critical components of your degree. How is the Creative Writing PhD structured?

  9. Creative Writing PhD

    The PhD in Creative Writing offers committed and talented writers the opportunity to study Creative Writing at the highest level. Supported by an expert supervisory team you will work independently towards the production of a substantial, publishable piece of creative writing, accompanied by a sustained exercise in critical study.

  10. Creative Writing

    Part time: 6-8 years. October. January. The Creative Writing discipline supports practice-based and critical research and PhD study focused on creative writing. This research activity is associated with the discipline's Contemporary Cultures of Writing Research Group. The core activity in this type of PhD study is the creation of a book ...

  11. Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature

    The curriculum for Ph.D. students emphasizes creative writing and literary study. The city of Houston offers a vibrant, multi-cultural backdrop for studying creative writing at the University of Houston. With a dynamic visual and performing arts scene, the Houston metropolitan area supplies a wealth of aesthetic materials.

  12. Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature

    The Creative Writing and Literature Ph.D. curriculum is comprised of professional development courses, courses in a curricular area stream, elective courses, and creative writing workshops. As part of their curricular plans, all English department Ph.D. students must enroll in one of five curricular area streams: Critical Studies of the Americas.

  13. English Creative Writing Ph.D.

    The UNT English graduate program is designed for students who wish to build a professional career as creative writers, educators or academics. ... The creative writing faculty features nationally and internationally recognized writers whose books have been published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Harper Collins; and Oxford University Press ...

  14. Frequently Asked Questions

    Frequently Asked Questions. "Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.". - Samuel Johnson. Below find the answers to some common questions regarding the Ph.D. in Creative Writing & Literature program. The dropdown menus below will help you skip to the topic in which you are interested.

  15. Creative Writing PhDs

    Creative Writing Doctoral Degrees are Purpose-Built for Careers in Academia. Your Creative Writing Doctoral Dissertation Relies on the Skill and Discipline You've Already Developed. Fellowships Offer a Chance at a Fully-Funded PhD in Creative Writing. The Doctor of Fine (DFA) Arts in Creative Writing is Strictly an Honorary Degree.

  16. PDF Overview of the PhD in Literature and Creative Writing

    Overview of the PhD in Creative Writing and Literature. Fall. Spring. Year One. Take two 3-hour courses, plus Practicum (2 hours) and the Professionalization Seminar (1 hour) Teach one composition course. You're guaranteed one creative writing course next year; by December 1, turn in an application for any additional CW or literature courses ...

  17. PhD Degrees in Creative Writing

    About PhD Degrees in Creative Writing Creative writing extends beyond the boundaries of normal professional journalism or academic forms of literature. It is often associated with fiction and poetry, but primarily emphasises narrative craft, character development, and the use of traditional literary forms.

  18. Doctoral Concentration in Creative Writing

    The UL Lafayette Creative Writing Program invites you to join our close, energetic community of faculty and students. Generalist Program. Our Ph.D. in English is unique in that it is a generalist program. That means you as a student gain broad expertise in a variety of creative writing genres: fiction, poetry, drama, and creative non-fiction.

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  20. Creative Writing

    The PhD focused on Creative Writing presents particular challenges and opportunities because its core requirement is the creation of a book-length work of literature, written specifically for the degree and perfected to a publishable standard. ... 'Originality' in this context does not simply mean 'of the writer's own making': the literary ...

  21. PhD : Department of English & Creative Writing , Aberystwyth University

    A PhD in literary studies is awarded upon satisfactory completion of a thesis of 80-100,000 words followed by a viva voce examination. A PhD in creative writing has two parts: the creative work (comprising 75-80,000 words of prose or 60 pages of poetry) plus a 20,000-word critical commentary. Award of the PhD in creative writing is subject ...

  22. Fully Funded PhD Programs in Creative Writing

    Starting salary for a PhDs is $20,104/9 months. As part of the assistantship, students are awarded either a Graduate Tuition Fellowship, which remits tuition, or a Creative Writing Program Fellowship, which covers the cost of tuition and the University will pay up to 50% of the costs of medical insurance. University of Illinois, PhD in Creative ...

  23. PDF Writing a Practice Based PhD Proposal Creative Writing York Centre for

    • What does my creative writing seek to assess - this might be about a critical idea, form or writing, the practice of writing/being a writer, or all of these. ... If you are thinking about a Creative Writing PhD and you have an MA in Creative Writing, do also consider our MFA in Creative Writing, which can be a more appropriate route for ...