Graduate Publications
Team Dream
Jeni Mawter
Willow Tree and Olive
Irini Savvides
Big Dramas
Sue Murray
Déjã Vu
John Larkin
Catherine Panich ‘Canary’ in Southerly 65 (2)
Vostock & This Could Have Happened to You
Zijie Pan
MA in Creative Writing
Postgraduate Certificate in Creative Writing
MA in Creative Writing
The Creative Writing Programs at Macquarie offer students the opportunity to become part of a community of writers. Small seminars focus on developing each student's writerly imagination and skills. The MA in Creative Writing and Postgraduate Certificate in Creative Writing combine weekly writing workshops with reading, research and discussion-based learning. The programs support the individual development of style and craft, while critically examining contemporary and past literary works, and contemporary literary milieus.
Objectives of the MA in Creative Writing
- To offer specialist teaching in Creative Writing to new writers, and others working in the creative arts.
- To develop each individual's writing skills, through a focus on craft, style and technique.
- To develop an understanding of the historical and social context in which writers pursue their art.
- To offer practical experience in analysing and critiquing a diversity of texts and genres, including prose fiction, poetry, screen and creative non-fiction.
- To provide an introduction to current principles and practices in Australian publishing, and the distribution and consumption of creative writing.
- To situate the new writer in relationship both to Australian culture and to the international literary milieu.
Entry Requirements
Applicants will have either a Bachelor’s degree, with a major in Literature, or other qualifications or expertise which would equip you for the programs. Applicants also submit a porfolio of their creative work (eg short stories, chapters from a novel in progress, poetry, etc). Your portfolio may include work that has been published or performed. For detailed information on applying please read Your Portfolio and Application (PDF).
Structure
The program is available full-time, over 1 year (international students) or part-time, over 2 years (the usual mode) , and consists of 4 coursework units of 4 credit points each and a Writing Project of 16 credit points. Two of the coursework units, CWPG810 Creative Writing Seminar 1 and CWPG811 Creative Writing Seminar 2, are held weekly over 2 semesters. The third is LIT806 Literary Theory, and the fourth either CWPG815 Writing: Text and Context or a unit selected from among those offered in the MA in Literature or the MA in Children’s Literature.
Each unit requires attendance for one evening per week, for two hours, usually as a mixed lecture/seminar/writing workshop session. Grades for the Creative Writing seminar/workshops, are based on the creative writing by the student.
The Program
These unit descriptions are current as of the 9th September, 2006
Core Units
CWPG810 Creative Writing Seminar 1
A weekly writing workshop over one session. This unit focuses on the
development of craft and technique. Readings from contemporary and classic
literature and related genres (eg screenplay adaptations) aim to expose
students to a wide range of forms and techniques, and to develop a critical
awareness of their own writing.
http://online.mq.edu.au/pub/CWPG810/index.html
CWPG811 Creative Writing Seminar 11
A weekly writing workshop over one session. This unit focuses on the
development of craft and technique. Readings from contemporary and classic
literature and related genres (eg screenplay adaptations) aim to expose
students to a wide range of forms and techniques, and to develop a critical
awareness of their own writing.
http://online.mq.edu.au/pub/CWPG811/
CWPG812 Writing Project
This is a supervised Creative Writing project within a chosen form or
genre, available to the MA in Creative Writing students. The project is
done either simultaneously with coursework over one year (full-time) or
as the second-year of study (part-time), and should result in a manuscript
of 30,000 words that may be part of a longer work or complete in itself,
depending on the genre, aiming toward a publishable standard.
(16 pg cr pts)
http://online.mq.edu.au/pub/CWPG812/
LIT806 Literary Theory
This unit considers some theoretical movements and issues of literary criticism. Areas may include the concept of the text; subjectivity and the reader; literature and gender; art and value; feminism; the impact of ‘politically’ situated theories; literature and culture.
Optional Units
CWPG815 Writing: Text and Context
In this course we look at the varied contexts in which texts are written,
with a focus on Australian creative non-fiction. Students read a range
of contemporary writing as well as some film and fiction, and
consider the narrative techniques used, and the cultural contexts in which
the texts have been written, published, and debated. Research skills and
narrative techniques are a focus of the unit, with assessment based on
a combination of practical research tasks and the students’ writing.
The unit will suit MA in Literature, Children’s Literature and Creative
Writing students keen to extend their research/writing skills.
http://online.mq.edu.au/pub/CWPG815/
Other 4 credit point units offered in the MA in Literature or the MA in Children’s Literature.
The Postgraduate Certificate in Creative Writing
Admission requirements
As for the MA in Creative Writing.
Length of candidature
One year part-time.
The course enables students already engaged in creative writing to explore
writing processes through writing workshops and discussion seminars alongside
the MA in Creative Writing students.
Course Structure
3 units (total 12 pg credit points).
Core
CWPG810 Creative Writing Seminar 1.
CWPG811 Creative Writing Seminar 11.
Options to be chosen from
CWPG815 Writing: Text and Context.
Any 4cp unit at MA level offered within the MA in Literature or the MA
in Children’s Literature.Further Information
Dr Jane Messer
Tel: 9850 8738
Email: jane.messer@humn.mq.edu.au
Unit outlines are also available in the University Handbook.