Master of Creative Writing

The MCW is for writers working on a large-scale creative writing project: a novel, short story collection, full-length work of creative nonfiction, or poetry collection. The programme is convened by the award-winning fiction writer and essayist Paula Morris. Selina Tusitala Marsh, a former Poet Laureate, co-supervises poets in the programme. Each week writers meet for both workshops and seminars. Our visitors include local and international writers; practitioners from the world of film, radio and theatre; and speakers from the publishing and literary arts world. Recent visiting writers include Airini Beautrais, Teju Cole, Michel Faber, Aminatta Forna, Stephanie Johnson, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Elizabeth McCracken, Amy McDaid, Frankie McMillan, Karlo Mila, Ben Okri and Ngugi wa Thiong'o.

The MCW is a one-year, full-time programme of study with entry in Semester Two only. You will enrol in CREWRIT 797 Creative Writing (120 points).

If you are writing a novel, short stories or creative non-fiction, you are expected to produce a portfolio of between 40,000 and 80,000 words. Poetry collections should have a minimum of 80 pages.

Class contact time and peer interaction are an essential part of the programme. In both semesters of the MCW, you must be able to attend two weekly classes - workshops and seminars. In the workshop you will submit drafts for discussion and give considered feedback to the other writers in your cohort. The weekly seminar is a forum for thinking and talking about writing. In these classes we discuss published work and explore the key issues of technique you need to consider in your work.