Creative Writing and Publishing

Contemporary creative writing is diverse. It’s digital and on the page; social and singular. Our comprehensive programme includes prose fiction, YA, flash fiction, poetry, scriptwriting for live performance and screen, life writing and memoir.

In fact, whatever you want to write, you’ll find an opportunity to explore it with us. We have modules on graphic novels and comics alongside modules in live literature, creative enterprise and professional practice to support your career development. You'll have the opportunity to collaborate on creative projects with other students both within and outside Creative Writing.

You’ll be able to work on magazines, local literary festivals and podcasts, while collaborating with fellow students through our creative writing, publishing and journalism student-run societies.

You’ll graduate with essential publishing skills, from writing persuasive, concise copy and text editing, to communicating brand identity and audience research. We’ll teach you how to layout content and manipulate images using industry-standard software, with opportunities to develop your skills in image use, video, photography, infographics, and HTML.

Additional modules offer the chance to specialise and deepen your knowledge and skill base, and to work on larger personal projects linked to your career aims.

Year one
The course is carefully designed to enable you to explore and experiment with your writing and understand the foundations of writing craft. In the Writer’s Workshop modules you’ll be introduced to an array of different writing forms and genres and you’ll be experimenting with them each week. You’ll have your first experience of the BSU writing workshop where you’ll learn how to work with other writers, giving and receiving feedback. You’ll also attend lectures from visiting writers and members of staff who will talk to you about their writing lives and experiences in the industry.

We’ll introduce you to core publishing principles, with a focus on copywriting and editing. You’ll become familiar with layout, production and publishing software. There will be weekly deadlines, so you’ll get used to turning around work quickly and in a well-presented form. Alongside this you’ll start to build an in-depth knowledge of the publishing industry and have the chance to work collaboratively on all-day challenge projects. 

Year two
In the second year of the course, you have access to a range of modules that will enable you to specialise in a particular form or genre of writing. You’ll take a mixture of core and optional modules from a list that includes, for example, genre fiction, life writing, short stories, form and listening in poetry, and writing for screen. You will also take the project module, Professional Portfolio. This is an opportunity for you to develop your own creative project, designed to help you develop the skills you need as a professional writer, supported by a member of staff.

You’ll gain greater insight into particular areas of publishing, such as marketing, editorial and design. Optional modules allow you to delve deeper into areas such as illustrated books, independent magazines, fiction editing, and the use of publishing skills for social enterprise and charity work. 

Year three
The final year of the programme is designed to consolidate your writing practice and support your progression into a writing-related career. You will take a dissertation-equivalent module in at least one of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, scriptwriting or writing for young people. Alongside that you have a choice of career-focused modules which include Live Literature and Professional Practice which offer you the opportunity to develop your own industry-facing creative projects. 

Tutors will guide you to focus your skills and knowledge around your personal creative and career interests. You’ll be encouraged to develop your individual approach as a creator, curator or project manager; your final portfolio will reflect this, showcasing your work for prospective employers. Optional modules cover book commissioning, children's publishing, and cross-platform digital publishing.

At BSU, our courses are designed to equip our graduates with the knowledge and skills they’ll need for the real world. To do this, we are continually improving our courses by responding to feedback from students and other stakeholders. This may mean changes may be made to the curriculum. You’ll always be given notice of any such changes.

For more information on how we approach such changes at the university, please read our policies on

• Suspensions and Discontinuations
• Programme modifications.

Assessment is based on 100% coursework, including portfolios, essays, feature articles, reflective commentaries and reports. Some modules will require you to submit a portfolio of creative writing along with a reflective or contextual essay in which you describe what you have learned in class, what you have learned from the set texts and working on your own writing. In some modules you’ll share your work through short, informal presentations.

You’ll be taught through creative workshops, skills labs, seminars and lectures. Workshops offer you the opportunity to read and discuss each other's work in a supportive, informal and informative atmosphere. Lectures are used to introduce techniques and themes in detail. Tutorials provide you with the opportunity to discuss your work with your tutor on a one-to-one basis.

You'll learn to be adept at project management and product development following a research and development process. We work on-screen and beyond: creating sketchbooks; making physical prototypes; getting out and meeting people; finding opportunities.

Throughout the course, you’ll work to briefs set by your tutors or industry collaborators, as well as working on your own projects. We expect you to work with flair and enthusiasm, taking your ideas and developing them into industry standard work.

As part of your degree, you could study abroad on a placement at one of Bath Spa’s partner universities.

Students have the opportunity to work on live projects and collaborations. We have worked with international and local clients such as the BBC, TEDxBristol, Bonnier Books, X Media Lab, the National Trust, Forest of Imagination arts events, and Bath Film Festival.

With our support, many students often find exciting subject-related placements and we do our best to help students make connections and gain experiences in companies and organisations that interest them. Our lecturers have had a great amount of experience in the industry and are in an excellent position to help students to develop internship and work experience opportunities.

Students often work with the Bath Literature Festival, for instance, or with production companies such as the BBC. The course team will help you on an individual basis as opportunities present themselves.

Past students have benefited from industry-based opportunities and experiences that have been incorporated into their modules, enabling them to secure credit for the time they have spent in industry environments.

You can also work on the publishing student-run Milk Magazine.

From visiting the London Book Fair or a bookbinders, to working on projects with local companies, you’ll have the opportunity to participate in fieldwork across the Publishing modules.

Publishing graduates have been highly successful in gaining graduate-level jobs. Current graduate careers include:

• Editorial assistant
• Production assistant
• Digital Editor
• Novelist
• Science magazine editor
• Children’s author
• Playwright
• Digital Marketing Executive
• Social media writer
• Commercial copywriter for brands or charities
• Regional editor for an online magazine
• University lecturer
• Editor (Random House)
• Poet.

Many of our students go on to study one of our specialist MA programmes in either Creative Writing, Writing for Young People, Screenwriting, Travel and Nature, or Children’s Publishing.

Each year Creative Writing awards a range of prizes to its students to celebrate the best writing produced in the final year. The department also awards the Les Arnold Prize for the top student in the second year, honouring the memory of poet Les Arnold, who started the writing programme in 1992.

Each year Publishing awards a publishing prize to one student from each year group.

Students are given numerous opportunities to focus on project work – from the first year core module (Writer's Workshop One) to the second year core module and into several project modules in the third year. Student projects are a core part of the Creative Writing curriculum and students are assisted to develop project ideas that support their creative and career ambitions. 

If you’re a full-time undergraduate student starting your first year at Bath Spa University, you can apply for the Certificate in Global Citizenship, which you’ll study alongside your degree.

You’ll gain global awareness and add an international dimension to your student experience, and funding is available. On successful completion of the programme, you’ll be awarded a Certificate in Global Citizenship. This is in addition to your degree; it doesn’t change your degree title or results.

The Creative Writing and Publishing course is taught at our stunning Newton Park campus, where you’ll be surrounded by wildlife and a beautiful 18th century landscape and lake.

You'll have access to a range of excellent facilities, including:

• The Publishing Labs: digital and print making spaces
• Newton Park library
• Commons building with its state-of-the-art classrooms, study spaces and cafe
• Digital labs (Mac rooms) for students learning new media
• Virtual Learning Environment to support you in your modules.

As a Creative Writing and Publishing student, you'll benefit from:

• Technical staff to help students use industry standard software
• Library with print and ebooks, digital resources, literary magazines and journals
• Experienced Publishing technical demonstrators to support you
• The latest specialist software as well as various print and handmade publishing equipment including digital cameras, iPads, booklet makers
• Cameras, audio recording equipment available for students to borrow absolutely free with SISO, Bath Spa’s loan system.

The Professional Placement Year (PPY) provides you with the opportunity to identify, apply for, and secure professional experience, normally comprising one to three placements over a minimum of nine months. Successful completion of this module will demonstrate your ability to secure and sustain graduate-level employment.

By completing the module, you'll be entitled to the addition of 'with Professional Placement Year' to your degree title.

Before your PPY, you'll work to identify roles of interest and secure a placement. The Placements Team will support through timetabled sessions and 1:1 appointments.

As well as completing a minimum of 900 placement hours, you will complete two assessments demonstrating your skill development, growth in professional behaviours and how the PPY has impacted your future career aspirations.