Everything you need to know...
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What is the fee?
Home: £10,620 for the course
International/EU: £17,725 for the course -
How long will I study?
1 Year
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Where will I study?
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When do I start?
September 2025
Course summary
- Work under the guidance of internationally acclaimed writers of fiction and poetry.
- Graduate with a coherent and extensive body of creative work.
- Hone your skills with a focus on writing, reinforced with sound criticism and editing.
- Acquire the discipline and market awareness needed to create publishable work.
- Join numerous acclaimed authors as an alumnus of a longstanding, well-regarded course.
This course takes your work and your ambition seriously. You'll focus on your own writing, under the guidance of acclaimed authors of fiction and poetry. You'll leave with a body of work you can be proud of.
Come to an open day
Find out more at our postgraduate open days. Book now for your place.
How you learn
At Sheffield Hallam, all our courses are designed to engage you with the world and challenge you to think in new ways. You’ll get to collaborate with others, and you’ll be taught in a supportive environment where you can thrive.
With a focus on the disciplined honing of your skills, this course is designed to help you become a publishable writer. You'll be assessed on writing projects frequently, with a culture of self-reflection and peer reviews. You'll take part in genre-specific creative workshops, benefit from one-to-one tutelage and take modules based around criticism and research acquiring the grounding that underpins great work.
You learn through
- seminars and tutorials
- frequent assessment, culminating in a major project
- genre-specific creative workshops
- masterclasses with writers, publishers, agents and other literary figures
- presentations
- editing sessions
- critical, theoretical and research-based modules
- one-to-one tutorials
Course leaders and tutors
Dr Shelley Roche-Jacques
Senior Lecturer in Creative WritingI bring to my teaching my interest in dramatic action and the spatio-temporal elements of texts. This approach often helps students unpick ideas around genre, narrat … Read more
Applied learning
Networking opportunities
With frequent guest speakers, masterclasses and a wide involvement with the local and national literary industry, the course provides ample networking opportunities.
Future careers
This course prepares you for a career in
- writing fiction, poetry, children's writing and memoir
- editing
- teaching
- further research
- blog and online writing
- copyediting, proofreading and ghost-writing
- reviewing and criticism
- copywriting
Some of our most successful students include best-selling author ofA Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Marina Lewycka, T.S. Eliot short-listed poet Frances Leviston and Radio 4 and BBC TV script writer Sharon Oakes.
Where will I study?
You study at City Campus through a structured mix of lectures, seminars and practical sessions as well as access to digital and online resources to support your learning.
City Campus
City Campus is located in the heart of Sheffield, within minutes of the train and bus stations.
City Campus map | City Campus tour
Adsetts library
Adsetts Library is located on our City Campus. It's open 24 hours a day, every day.
Learn moreEquipment and facilities
On this course, you’ll have access to our dedicated humanities suite, including:
- co-working spaces with flexible desks, large screens, laptop library, comfy seating, and a shared kitchen
- the Performance Lab: our two-studio theatre space, fully equipped with lighting, sound and special effects.
- a specialist cinema equipped with state-of-the-art 4K digital projection and twin 35mm film projectors
- our learning centre, holding an extensive collection of subject-specific books, journals, and databases
- our skills centre, offering specialist advice to hone essential skills and provide feedback on your academic writing
Entry requirements
All students
A folder of original writing demonstrating postgraduate level potential and, normally, a degree in English or related discipline.
If English is not your first language you will need an IELTS 6.5 score with a minimum of 6.0 in writing and 5.5 in all other skill areas or equivalent. If your English language skill is currently below IELTS 6.0 or equivalent we recommend you consider a Sheffield Hallam University Pre-sessional English course which will enable you to achieve an equivalent English score.
If you do not have such academic qualifications we may consider your application individually, based on your personal, professional and work experience, and other formal qualifications. You may also be able to claim credit points which can reduce the amount of time it takes to complete your qualification at Sheffield Hallam. Find out more
Application guidance
When applying, you need to submit a completed application form, which includes a section requesting further information in support of your application. This part of the form should use tell us who you are, describe your relationship with writing, and what you hope to achieve on the course.
You also need to provide a sample of your original writing. Your sample is the most important part of the application, and you should use the opportunity to show us what you can do and persuade us that you have what it takes to thrive on the course.
We require one of the following
• 3,000 words of prose - two short stories, two chapters from a children's book, novel or memoir
• ten poems
• a twenty minute script of a one-act play or radio play
Please submit your supporting work to the relevant email address below:
UK students: homeadmissions@shu.ac.uk
International or non-UK European students: internationaladmissions@shu.ac.uk
Additional information for EU/International students
If you are an International or non-UK European student, you can find out more about the country specific qualifications we accept on our international qualifications page.
For details of English language entry requirements (IELTS), please see the information for 'All students'.
Modules
Important notice: The structure of this course is periodically reviewed and enhanced to provide the best possible learning experience for our students and ensure ongoing compliance with any professional, statutory and regulatory body standards. Module structure, content, delivery and assessment may change, but we expect the focus of the course and the learning outcomes to remain as described above. Following any changes, updated module information will be published on this page.
Final year
Compulsory modules
Extended Project
Novel
The Contemporary Writer
The Craft: Short Fiction And Poetry
The Workshop
Fees and funding
Home students
Our tuition fee for UK students starting full-time study in 2025/26 is £10,620 for the course. The tuition fee displayed above is for the full course. If the full course is more than one year in duration, the fee will be divided into annual payments which will then be rounded. This may mean the total fee you pay is slightly higher than the fee stated above. If you take a break in study or have to re-take part of the course, you may also be charged an additional fee and will be notified of this at the time.
If you are studying an undergraduate course, postgraduate pre-registration course or postgraduate research course over more than one academic year then your tuition fees may increase in subsequent years in line with Government regulations or UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) published fees. More information can be found in our terms and conditions under student fees regulations.
International students
Our tuition fee for International/EU students starting full-time study in 2025/26 is £17,725 for the course. The tuition fee displayed above is for the full course. If the full course is more than one year in duration, the fee will be divided into annual payments which will then be rounded. This may mean the total fee you pay is slightly higher than the fee stated above. If you take a break in study or have to re-take part of the course, you may also be charged an additional fee and will be notified of this at the time.
Postgraduate student loans
Up to £11,222 available for Home students on most masters courses.
Additional course costs
The links below allow you to view estimated general course additional costs, as well as costs associated with key activities on specific courses. These are estimates and are intended only as an indication of potential additional expenses. Actual costs can vary greatly depending on the choices you make during your course.
General course additional costs
Additional costs for Sheffield Creative Industries Institute (PDF, 219.2KB)Legal information
Any offer of a place to study is subject to your acceptance of the University’s Terms and Conditions and Student Regulations.
Student success story
A group of students studying film and media production and creative writing travelled to Montreal, Canada to collaborate together and make film poems as part of their course.
