English and Creative Writing University of Galway

Overview

During the  English and Creative Writing programme of the University of Galway , will study and practice all the major genres of Creative Writing: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Playwriting, Screenwriting. Within these broader genres, you will be helped discover, experiment with and strengthen your own individual strands of interest.

Careers

During the course, your developing concentration on your own creative practice is paralleled by a focus on the practical imperatives and industry requirements in the many established and emerging writing-related fields. From the very start during your first year, a speaker from the writing professions visits the class each week for discussions, Q & A and informal conversation. This will help you begin to actively engage with the everyday routines and rhythms of writing-related professionals of all kinds.

With your expanding knowledge of what it takes to write at a high level, by the end of second year you will be ready to embark on a third year that provides for a 100% focus on your personal Creative Writing project(s). By the end of this specialism year, students on the course have developed advanced drafts of, for instance, novels of various kinds, collections of stories and/or flash fiction, poetry collections, plays, screenplays, essay collections, podcast scripts. You decide on your creative direction and project focus for the year, and then we will engage with your ideas and provide the teaching, mentorship and all-in guidance to help you fulfil your vision for your work.

Then, as you complete your studies in English and one other subject during your fourth and final year, you will build further on your third-year project(s) through modules that concentrate on professionalisation, publication planning, social and public platforms and the various ways now of getting yourself and your writing out into the world.

In first year, you choose two Arts subjects alongside your denominated degree subject (no two from the same group) from this menu (excluding Law, Psychology and subjects in groups 4 and 5). In second year and for the remainder of your course, you continue with one subject alongside your denominated degree. See below for the options available, noting that progression into Year 2 and beyond will vary. For more information, visit Bachelor of Arts (Joint-Honours).