MA Biography and Creative Non-Fiction

Key details

MA BIOGRAPHY AND CREATIVE NON-FICTION

Start Year

2022

Attendance

Full Time

Award

Degree of Master of Arts

Duration (years)

Literary non-fiction is changing in exciting ways and this is your chance to be a part of it.

Instead of the old ‘cradle to grave’ narratives of well-known literary or political figures, our best modern writers are experimenting with new forms and subjects. Nature-writing, the personal essay, food journalism, art criticism and memoir are all part of the intellectually. stimulating emerging mix.

So if you want to develop your own non-fiction writing in any of these genres or one of your own, this MA programme is for you. You’ll study on one of the only dedicated non-fiction MA courses in the UK at the country’s leading university for the teaching of creative writing. This enables you to graduate with the best grounding possible for a successful and fulfilling literary career.

About

This is one of very few courses in the UK that gives you the opportunity to concentrate exclusively on writing non-fiction. Our students come from extremely varied backgrounds, and in the past have included barristers, a zoologist, actors, doctors, teachers, a master of wine and an asparagus farmer!

The age range is diverse too: from people in their early twenties to those in their sixties and seventies. Students come from all parts of the globe but all are united in their desire and commitment to write non-fiction. The diversity of students and the range of their interests is one of the great strengths of the course, as is its collegiate atmosphere: you’ll learn as much critiquing your peers’ writing as you do writing your own pieces.

Some people come with a project in mind, others have no specific idea about what they want to write. Either approach is fine – the course gives you the opportunity to develop an existing project and to experiment with different subjects and voices. Your time at UEA offers you a unique opportunity to focus on your writing in a stimulating and supportive environment.

We encourage you to take advantage of UEA’s vibrant literary culture. Each year a dozen or so leading novelists, poets and non-fiction writers take part in our autumn and spring literary festival, UEA Live. You will also have the opportunity to meet some of the UK’s leading agents and publishers..

We publish an anthology of our students’ writing each year and distribute it to a key list of editors, agents and critics.

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UEA Live

The University of East Anglia's first literary festival took place in 1991 and over the last twenty five years we have welcomed a host of award-winning authors, journalists, illustrators, scientists, economists, broadcasters and more.

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Unlocking The Past

How can the study of dusty manuscripts lead to the creation of interactive digital mapping tools? How does digitising globally significant medieval and early modern letters lead to donning walking gear and creating heritage trails across Norfolk?

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Important Information

Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the courses listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the regular review of course programmes. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes, there will normally be prior consultation of students and others. Changes may for example consist of variations to the content and method of delivery of programmes, courses and other services, to discontinue programmes, courses and other services and to merge or combine programmes or courses. The University will endeavour to keep such changes to a minimum, and will inform students.

After the Course

Our students’ publication record is impressive; many have gone on to have work published, some with large publishing houses including Random House and Bloomsbury, others with smaller presses.

There is a strong alumni network. Often students stay in touch after graduation and continue to read and comment on each other’s work. A significant number go on to take a PhD as they value the supportive atmosphere UEA offers its creative writers.

Career destinations

Non-fiction author
Journalist
Art critic
Essayist
Editor

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TWITTER

Follow us on Twitter for all the latest news about the UEA Creative Writing programme and the achievements of our alumni: @NewWritingNet

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For a window onto the exciting new writing coming out of the UEA Creative Writing programme, visit our website NewWriting.Net

FIND US HERE >

#NEWWRITING.NET

For a window onto the exciting new writing coming out of the UEA Creative Writing programme, visit our website NewWriting.Net

FIND US HERE >

UEA Live

LEARN MORE >

Unlocking The Past

TWITTER

Follow us on Twitter for all the latest news about the UEA Creative Writing programme and the achievements of our alumni: @NewWritingNet

Course Reference Number: 4478138

Assessment for Year 1

Your compulsory modules are each assessed by a 5,000-word essay. The topic is entirely your choice and you will have ample opportunity to workshop possible essay subjects and to discuss the assignment with individual tutors.

The subject of your 15,000-word dissertation is also entirely your choice. You will work with your supervisor over the early summer and submit it at the beginning of September.

Structure

At the heart of this Master’s programme are three compulsory modules: Writing Lives, The Life of the Book, and Writing the First Person. These will allow you to explore the form and function of biography and creative non-fiction, via discussion of a range of influential examples both old and new. As well as examining the many forms that autobiography and biography may take, you will address practical matters such as how to write a proposal, conduct research and take a project through towards publication. Workshopping is a central element in all the compulsory modules. In Writing Lives and Writing the First Person each week selected students will workshop up to 3,000 words of a work in progress. In Life of the Book everybody workshops 500 words each week.

In addition to the three compulsory modules you will take a fourth module, which you can choose from the wide range available within the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing. The optional module gives you the chance to meet students from other MA strands, such as Prose Fiction and Poetry.

In the summer semester (May–June) you will have one-to-one sessions with a tutor as you work on your dissertation – a 15,000-word piece of non-fiction.

If you elect to take the course part-time over two years you will take one module per semester rather than two and you will receive supervision for your dissertation towards the end of your second year.

You will have opportunities to discover the extensive collections held by the British Archive for Contemporary Writing at UEA. We also invite leading non-fiction writers to give seminars on aspects of their craft. Recent guests include Kate Summerscale, Alexander Masters, Richard Holmes, Olivia Laing and Philip Hoare. These are supplemented by one-to-one tutorials with your module leader. In most years students also choose to set up informal reading and writing groups among themselves.

Teaching and Learning

Teaching
Practising and prize-winning non-fiction writers regularly teach on the MA, including Helen Smith and Ian Thomson. Teaching takes place in three-hour seminars, part of which are given over to workshopping students’ work. The rest of the seminar is spent discussing set texts that you will have read in advance. Some of these will be entire books, others will be extracts. The set texts are chosen to illustrate a particular literary technique, or because they raise pertinent questions about a specific aspect of non-fiction writing, such as ethics, ‘truth’ or voice. This reading, together with scrutiny of your fellow students’ work, is designed to make you more critically aware as a reader and, just as importantly, as a writer too.

Independent study
During the teaching period you will be writing your own pieces to present for workshopping. You may be conducting independent research relating to your chosen project throughout the year, particularly during the summer when you will be working on your 15,000-word dissertation. Each year students produce a dossier in advance of the visits by agents and publishers in which they provide brief biographical information and talk about the projects they are working on. You will also write a 2,000-word submission for the anthology of student writing, which is published in the autumn.

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Assessment for Year 1

The subject of your 15,000-word dissertation is also entirely your choice. You will work with your supervisor over the early summer and submit it at the beginning of September.

Compulsory Modules

WRITING LIVES

Code LDCE7001A

Credits 20

This module explores the many ways in which writers have grappled with getting ‘life’ and ‘lives’ down on paper. We will look at samples of writing from many different genres, for example, travel, nature, music and sports writing. You’ll be encouraged to find your own special subjects, to study comparative non-fiction and to look at the many new experimental approaches that make biography and creative non-fiction such flourishing phenomena today. During the workshop you will be expected to submit your own creative work and critique the work of other members.

THE LIFE OF THE BOOK

Code LDCE7003A

Credits 20

This module will follow the arc of a biography or work of creative non-fiction from inception to reception. How do you choose a subject, determine a book’s structure, find a voice and build character? What about the often daunting question of research? Once the book is written, how do you set about writing a proposal, finding a publisher and what happens during the editorial process? The emphasis will be practical, with a significant workshop element.

WRITING THE FIRST PERSON

Code LDCE7005B

Credits 20

You'll look at autobiography in the broadest sense, taking in memoir, nature writing, travel writing, reportage and essay. We'll be talking about the history and variety of first-person narratives, the ways writers reveal themselves in their words, how autobiography keeps to and departs from the facts, the importance of form and structure, and about non-fiction's relationship to novels and poems. Seminars will feature practical writing exercises as well as readings and discussions.

CREATIVE WRITING RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONFERENCE

Code LDCC7006B

Credits 10

This 10-credit module consists of a day-long series of presentations and plenary discussions delivered by Creative Writing and Critical faculty of direct relevance to the practical aspects of researching and writing a major piece of creative work. It is intended for all students on the Prose Fiction, Poetry, Scriptwriting and Biography and Creative Non-Fiction MA courses. Attendance is compulsory.

BIOGRAPHY AND CREATIVE NON-FICTION DISSERTATION

Code LDCE7501X

Credits 90

The final dissertation takes the form of a piece of non-fiction (15,000 words) written by the student. The topic is chosen by the student but is to be approved by the student's dissertation supervisor.

Optional A Modules

(20 credits)

ADAPTATION AND INTERPRETATION

Code LDCC7010B

Credits 20

Critical reading and creative writing collide when adapting a text for performance in another medium. The very process forces a string of questions: Is it possible to separate a story from its expression? What, if any, are the obligations owed to the source text? Must the adaptation always be ‘secondary’? Can we define a ‘good’ adaptation? The questions only grow more interesting if we consider changes in reception and more complex when we alter era or cultural setting. This module focuses on key questions in dramatic adaptation, establishing a foundation in basic theory and then focusing on readings of source works and screenings or performances of adaptations. Seminar discussions probe the choices offered by original texts and explore the possibilities and limitations inherent in different forms. In the later sessions, you will have the opportunity to workshop an adaptation for a final project. Writers are expected to produce scripts, while theatre directors will have to option to produce a script or a performance. The module is a must for scriptwriters, but no prior scriptwriting experience is necessary as the seminars teach the basic techniques of dramatic writing. Class workshop will further develop skills in the specific dramatic forms.

PUBLISHING - A PRACTICAL APPROACH

Code LDCC7012B

Credits 20

Are you interested in how a book is selected for publication, in how to write for an online readership, or in learning how to edit? Whether you are a writer or a would-be publisher, this module will give you an introduction to the modern publishing industry and equip you with some of the practical skills involved in the successful publication of texts. As well as becoming acquainted with the structure and economics of the contemporary publishing world, the opportunities and challenges posed by digitalisation, you will examine the process whereby books are chosen by literary agents and publishers, review principles of text and jacket design, acquire basic copyediting and proofreading skills, learn tips for publicising books online, write jacket 'blurbs' and press releases. You will also engage with the principles and practice of blog-writing, with copyright law and aspects of publishing finance. In recent years speakers such as Chris Hamilton-Emery from Salt, Philip Gwyn Jones of Scribe, Rosie Sherwood of art-publisher Elbow Room and Eloise Wales of The Literary Platform have addressed the seminars. We have examined correspondence between authors and publishers in the UEA Archive of Contemporary Writing, visited the Jarrold's Print Museum in Norwich and the London International Book Fair. Towards the end of the module you will also have to opportunity to become involved in the editing of the annual MA Creative Writing anthologies. Assessment is by formal essay OR creative-critical assignment such as a literary blog.

CONTEMPORARY FICTION

Code LDCC7020B

Credits 20

Various attempts at (sub-)categorising contemporary fiction interpret it as a departure from previous aesthetics or a response to political or historical events or movements: post-modern; post-colonial; post-feminist; post-communist; post-9/11; post-millenial; post-national; even post-post-modern etc. As a prefix, “post-“ suggests supersedence rather than novelty; at worst it is merely an aspirational syllable. Its proliferation co-exists with more conventional attempts at temporal taxonomy such as monographs and student guides dedicated to specific decades. One way of reading “post”-something-or-other is to think of it as an engagement with, and critical reassessment of, the past it so assiduously hyphenates: its literary conventions, cultural heritage, philosophical traditions, political ideologies, and - paradoxically - its long shadows way beyond the present moment. The manifestations of these engagements and reassessments can be rather contradictory. The memory boom of the 1990s put paid to claims about “the end of history” or skepticism over Grand Narratives. The renewed popularity of the (neo)historical novel and period drama also chafes against the recent turn towards trauma studies. The effects of new market forces, media and digital technology on the form of writing and the construction of the “author” could also be seen as one of the legacies of modernism. A focus on mindfulness, ethics and affect sits uneasily alongside the necessity for art to provoke and push boundaries. Expressions of the regional contend with an increasing awareness of transnational subjects, diasporic identities and global issues, and some of the most interesting writing today comes from ‘the East’ or writers with hybrid origins and hyphenated identities. Can fiction still be formally inventive and how might it enter into dialogue with other art forms (photography, sculpture, painting, cinema)? In the light of the critical and commercial success of ‘creative non-fiction’ we might also want to ask precisely how narrative can perforate disciplinary and generic categories. On this module we will attempt to construct a (naturally provisional, selective and incomplete) genealogy of the contemporary by examining some of the discernible trends and tensions of relatively recent writing. Much of this writing will be Anglophone but you should be prepared for adventures in reading translations. We will also have to opportunity do some work in UEA’s Archive of Contemporary Literature: what and who is being archived according to which criteria, and what do archivists, academics and critics consider archival about the contemporary?

THE NON FICTION NOVEL

Code LDCC7022B

Credits 20

Some of the most exciting and innovative fiction of the moment is in fact a hybrid form of fiction, borrowing subject matter and techniques from traditionally non-fiction modes such as memoir, criticism, journalism, reportage and life-writing. These novels depart from the usual concerns with character, realistic dialogue and plot to focus on voice, place, and time, employing strategies of literary craft to be formally innovative. This course looks at original non-fiction and also at contemporary ‘realist’ novels which are pushing boundaries and gaining attention in the wider literary culture. We will study the forms, techniques and thematics of both non-fiction and fiction, with an aim to experimenting with and improving students' writing in both forms. Some writing in class and between classes will be required. The second half of the module will include workshopping student work-in-progress. This is a practice-based module taught by a novelist and non-fiction writer and aimed primarily at students on the creative writing strands but is also open to students studying for critical MAs.

THE POETICS OF PLACE

Code LDCC7023B

Credits 20

This module will allow you to explore innovative and experimental forms of place writing, from the critical and theoretical to the literary and artistic. You’ll study critical and theoretical approaches such as (though this may be subject to small changes each year) psychogeography, ecocriticism, critical heritage studies, deep mapping, animal studies, and literary activism. At the same time, you’ll consider a number of original works of literature from recent years, thinking carefully about the relationship between theory, method and form. Some of the authors that you’ll consider (though this may be subject to small changes each year) are: Richard Mabey, Alice Oswald, W.G. Sebald, R.F. Langley, Italo Calvino, Kei Miller, Sue Clifford and Angela King, Tim Robinson, Paul Farley, Kathleen Jamie, Iain Sinclair, and J.A Baker. During the module, you’ll explore some of the following questions: how have different ways of 'framing' place influenced the sense of cultural identity associated with that place? What role might literature play in this? How might recent developments in theory and practice inform your own methods of place writing? How might they encourage you to experiment with new methods? What surprising literary forms might this lead to? And finally, what new ideas might this prompt about publication, exhibition and public engagement? On this module, you’ll not only gain a strong foundation in debates concerning literature's relationship to the environment, to heritage, and to ideas of community but you’ll engage with these debates following your own line of inquiry, and/or through your own developing practice, in ways that will equip you to take on similar projects after the MA as well.

CREATIVE ENCOUNTERS

Code LDCD7007B

Credits 20

Themes and focus: Place-based work - site-specific, walking, ecologically focused performance writing Self and performance - solo shows, story-telling, autobiography in performance Between Fact and Fiction - dramatising research, documentary material Going Digital - adventures in the digital realm - AR/VR/online Between the Ears - podcasts and audio writing Words and Music - writing for composers, libretti, song-writing Experiment and collaboration - writing beyond categories

EAST ANGLIAN LITERATURE

Code LDCE7002B

Credits 20

Throughout the medieval and Early-Modern periods Norwich was one of England’s most important cities – probably second only to London – and East Anglia one of the country’s culturally liveliest and richest areas. In this module you will explore the literature of these periods in its material contexts (the region’s prosperity and power may still be seen in its architecture and in the rich holdings of its libraries and museums) and ask whether there was a specifically East Anglian cultural tradition. You will explore East Anglia’s rich dramatic traditions, its devotional literature and practices (in orthodox forms and in those that brush against the heterodox), and, insistently, the manner in which its literature participates in its broader social and cultural worlds. This module may particularly appeal to you if you have an interest in the cultural traditions of Norwich and East Anglia or, more generally, in the literature of place.

LUDIC LITERATURE

Code LDCE7006B

Credits 20

The aim of this mixed creative-critical module is twofold: both to explore together some of the major works of playful or ‘ludic’ modern literature across various languages, and to develop our appreciation of style and form by practising various forms of writing that are themselves ludic: creative imitation, parody, transposition from one style and form to another, creative translation. In play, we will find, the boundary between the ‘creative’ and the ‘critical’ becomes unclear. The module is generally taken by a mix of students from the various critical and creative writing MAs, as well as by students in Literature and Philosophy. On the ‘critical’ side, the module traces the evolution of leading postmodernist styles and themes, especially ludic ones, back to their origins in Dostoevsky, Joyce, Kafka, Borges, and Nabokov. Using these enormously influential authors as a starting point, we read a range of ludic authors, passing back and forth between languages, nations, and genres. Each week we usually pair two authors. In previous years we have studied, for example, Dostoevsky against Nabokov, Kafka against Borges, Perec against Queneau and Calvino, Carter against Coover, Muldoon against Heaney, Pynchon against Barthelme, and Ashbery against Mallarmé. There is also a strong philosophical element of the module, you will be encouraged to explore the philosophical theory of aesthetic play in Kant, Schiller, and Nietzsche, and later in Huizinga and Derrida. On the ‘creative’ side in previous years we have, for example, read Kafka’s short tales against Borges’s re-writings of them, tried to write like Kafka or Borges, turned a Kafka story into a Dostoevsky paragraph or a Nabokov poem, explored the various translations of these authors, and played with re-translating them. We have taken a story by Coover and re-written it as a sestina, two kinds of sonnet, and a villanelle. In doing all this, we are asking fundamental questions not only about play but also about style and form, how they shape meaning and make possible certain kinds of writing and thinking. We are also returning to the way in which literature was studied, and creative writing engendered, before the invention of professional literary criticism and creative writing courses in the twentieth century. All students will be encouraged to try their hand at parodying and imitating the texts we are studying, though this is not compulsory. Final assessment can take the form of a 5000 word critical essay or of a combination of a creative piece and a critical essay, to make up 5000 words.

THE NORTHERN RENAISSANCE, 1500-1620

Code LDCE7011B

Credits 20

This module sets out to understand why and how humanism -- the advocacy of the study of the humanities, the Greek and Roman classics -- gave birth to the astonishing outpouring of literature that we call the Renaissance. We will situate English Renaissance literature within the wider context of the humanist literature of France, the Netherlands, and Italy. Questions we consider include: how did the rediscovery of classical texts generate new possibilities for literary writers? How did humanists understand the nature of poetic creation? How did their advocacy of rhetoric create new ways for writers to engage with public life? And what happened when humanists turned philological methods upon the most sacred text of their culture: the bible? Our work will focus on the writings of Thomas More, Desiderius Erasmus, and Michel de Montaigne, but there will be opportunities to read far more widely in the Renaissance literature of the period. Foreign language texts are all read in translation. The might be of interest to anyone who wishes to gain an in-depth understanding of one of the most dazzling periods of European literary history.

PROCESS AND PRODUCT IN TRANSLATION

Code LDCE7014B

Credits 20

Throughout this module you will produce translations in conditions that encourage and facilitate reflection on the process and product of translation. You will be encouraged to think experimentally, not only about the forms a finished translation might take, but also about the ways in which process might be incorporated into the translation. The module has a workshop format and culminates in a series of presentations of the projects on which students have chosen to work. A series of sessions devoted to the discussion and hands-on tackling of practical problems connected with translation and the projects ahead, precede the presentations. One class meeting will take place at the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts and another at the Special Collections of the UEA Library. Throughout the semester you will be encouraged to discuss a variety of texts, both critical and creative, that help illuminate the process and product of literary translation. You will also be invited to circulate your own bibliographies (developed in relation to in-class presentations as well as the main project) to other members of the class, and to bring to our attention any text(s) you encounter that may be of particular relevance. Your final project will engage with the process of producing literary translation, and will comprise a scholarly discussion thereof illustrated by your own translations of a more or less experimental nature. The in-process project will be presented to the class for discussion and feedback in the second part of the semester.

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Important Information

Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring and review of modules. Where this activity leads to significant change to a programme and modules, the University will endeavour to consult with affected students. The University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. Availability of optional modules may be restricted owing to timetabling, lack of demand, or limited places. Where this is the case, you will be asked to make alternative module choices and you will be supported during this process.

Entry Requirements

Degree classification

Bachelors (Hons) degree - 2.1 or equivalent

Degree subject

Any subject

Additional entry requirements

When submitting your application you will be required to submit a sample of your biographical writing or creative non-fiction of around 3000 words.

Students for whom english is a foreign language

We welcome applications from students whose first language is not English. To ensure such students benefit from postgraduate study, we require evidence of proficiency in English. Our usual entry requirements are as follows:

IELTS: 7.0 (minimum 6.0 in each section and 7.0 in writing)
PTE (Pearson): 76 (minimum 64 in each section and 76 in writing)

Test dates should be within two years of the course start date.

Other tests, including Cambridge English exams and the Trinity Integrated Skills in English are also accepted by the university. The full list of accepted tests can be found here: Accepted English Language Tests

INTO UEA also run pre-sessional courses which can be taken prior to the start of your course. For further information and to see if you qualify please contact intopre-sessional@uea.ac.uk

Intakes

This course is open to UK, EU and International applicants. The annual intake for this course is in September each year.

Please note that those candidates offered a place on the course will not be able to defer their offer to the next year if they are unable to take up the offer of a place, however they are welcome to reapply the next year.

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Unlocking The Past

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Course Reference Number: 4478138

Fees and Funding

Tuition fees for the Academic Year 2022/23 are:

UK Students: £8,900 (full time)
International Students: £18,500 (full time)

If you choose to study part-time, the fee per annum will be half the annual fee for that year, or a pro-rata fee for the module credit you are taking (only available for Home students).

We estimate living expenses at £1,023 per month.

Further Information on tuition fees can be found here.

Scholarships and Bursaries

The University of East Anglia offers a range of Scholarships; please click the link for eligibility, details of how to apply and closing dates.

Course related costs

Please see Additional Course Fees for details of course-related costs.

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Unlocking The Past

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Course Reference Number: 4478138

How to Apply

Applications for Postgraduate Taught programmes at the University of East Anglia should be made directly to the University.

To apply please use our online application form.

FURTHER INFORMATION

If you would like to discuss your individual circumstances prior to applying please do contact us:

Postgraduate Admissions Office
Tel: +44 (0)1603 591515
Email: admissions@uea.ac.uk

International candidates are also encouraged to access the International Students section of our website.

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Course Reference Number: 4478138

Literature, Drama and Creative Writing

MA BIOGRAPHY AND CREATIVE NON-FICTION

Key details

Year of Entry:

Attendance

Full Time

Award

Degree of Master of Arts

Duration (years)

Statutory and legal information

Literary non-fiction is changing in exciting ways and this is your chance to be a part of it. Instead of the old ‘cradle to grave’ narratives of well-known literary or political figures, our best modern writers are experimenting with new forms and subjects. Nature-writing, the personal essay, food journalism, art criticism and memoir are all part of the intellectually. stimulating emerging mix. So if you want to develop your own non-fiction writing in any of these genres or one of your own, this MA programme is for you. You’ll study on one of the only dedicated non-fiction MA courses in the UK at the country’s leading university for the teaching of creative writing. This enables you to graduate with the best grounding possible for a successful and fulfilling literary career.

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Course Modules

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Unlocking The Past

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Course Variants

MA Biography and Creative Non-Fiction (Part time)

MA BIOGRAPHY AND CREATIVE NON-FICTION