MA IN CREATIVE WRITING Marian Keyes in conversation with Joseph O'Connor at UL The University of Limerick offers a Master of Arts in Creative Writing. Our Chair of Creative Writing is Prof. Joseph O’Connor (author of nine novels including Ghost Light, The Thrill of it All, the million-selling Star of the Sea, and Shadowplay, winner of the 2019 Irish Novel of the Year Award, shortlisted for the 2019 Costa Novel Award). Our outstanding teachers include twice Booker-Prize- longlisted Donal Ryan, (author of The Spinning Heart, The Thing About December and From a Low and Quiet Sea), understanding of the requirements of the redrafting, widely acclaimed Rob Doyle (Here Are the Young Men and submission and publication processes. This is the Ritual), Guardian First Book Award-shortlisted Gavin McCrea (Mrs Engels) and Irish Book Award nominee Our Creative Writing students enjoy teaching-visits and Prof. Sarah Moore Fitzgerald (A Strange Kind of Brave), readings from outstanding contemporary authors. Visitors to internationally published Young Adult author, UL Chair of UL Creative Writing have included Colum McCann, Marian Teaching and Learning, and lecturer on self-motivation for Keyes, Anne Enright, Louise O’Neill, Claire Keegan, Colin writers. Barrett, John Boyne, Kit de Waal, Kevin Barry, Mary O’Malley, Sara Baume, Liz Nugent, Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Ford This one-year programme enables students to develop their and Laureate for Irish Fiction Sebastian Barry. Creative Writing skills through consideration of the work of established writers; through study of the many aspects of a Students gain practical experience through working on our piece of successful Creative Writing; through assignments literary journal The Ogham Stone, through meeting that foster strategies for revision of work; and through an publishers, editors and literary agents, and in the preparation of their dissertation portfolios. Our Creative Writing student cohort is always diverse and has attracted students from the United States, Puerto Rico, Australia, Brazil, India, South Africa and the UK as well as wider Europe and Ireland. Mature students are always a welcome part of our MA class. Local literary attractions include the Limerick Literary Weekend in Honour of Kate O’Brien; the Doolin Writers’ Weekend, the Eigse Michael Hartnett Poetry Arts and Literary Laureate for Irish Fiction, Festival; Cuisle, the Limerick International Poetry Festival. Sebastian Barry, during his 2019 visit to UL. Contact: Prof. Joseph O’Connor // Email: [email protected] How to Apply originality, technique, and readability. Please note Application for the Creative Writing MA opened in that we are not in a position to offer feedback to November 2019. We do not operate a deadline; applicants who are not offered a place. instead“ we close applications when the class is full. Generally we accept a maximum of 24 applicants. Applicants must satisfy the English Language Requirements of the University. Visit www.ul.ie/ Many applicants for our Creative Writing MA have a graduateschool/prospective‐students for details. first or second class Level 8 honours degree (NFQ or Applications should be submitted online. Further other internationally recognised equivalent) but details can be found here: www.ul.ie/graduateschool application is open to everyone, including applicants who do not have a primary degree but have what Fees might be considered equivalent experience, perhaps EU students: €5,000 * in the arts, publishing, bookselling, writing, creativity Non‐EU students: €10,708 * IN MASTERS or some related activity. Please note, we always Full information on fees can be found here: receive more applications than we have places to http://ulsites.ul.ie/finance/student-fees offer. Applicants must accompany their formal online Our Graduates application with a 3,000 word sample of their creative Recent graduates of our Creative Writing MA have writing (this can be one single piece or several pieces been published nationally and internationally and totalling 3,000 words) and a one-page letter setting WRITING CREATIVE have won or been short-listed for major literary out why they would like to work with us on our MA prizes, including the prestigious Hennessy New Writer programme as opposed to the many other Creative of the Year Award, the RTE Francis McManus Award, Writing MA programmes now available. Previous the Listowel Writers’ Week Bryan MacMahon Short experience of Creative Writing workshops is helpful. Story Award, the Arts Council Next Generation Award and the Irish Writers’ Centre Novel Fair Award. The Application Portfolio is assessed by a small committee of staff, who judge submissions on their PROGRAMME CONTENT * Autumn semester Spring semester Summer Creative Writing 1: A Weekly Creative Writing 2: A Weekly Workshop Dissertation portfolio. Workshop Applied Editing 2 15,000 words of Creative Applied Editing 1 Writerly Reading: Aspects of Storytelling Writing. Project Development for Creative Individual Creative Writing Project with Writers Dissertation Plan Recent students have offered work in a wide range of Electives (choose 1): Electives (choose 1): creative genres, from memoir to Literary Modernism Creative Writers in the Community short stories, chapters of novels, Gender and Sexuality in Irish Issues in Modern and Contemporary collections of poems and song Writing Poetry lyrics. Literature, Film and Human Rights Politics and American Literature Literature of Migration Post‐Colonial Theory and Literature Full details of all modules Writing Memoir, Biography and Feminist Literary Theory. can be found at Autobiography Textual Constructions of Cultural bookofmodules.ul.ie Identity Utopian Theory and Texts * may be subject to change Contact: Prof. Joseph O’Connor // Email: [email protected] .