We welcome applications from the United States of America
We've put together information and resources to guide your application journey as a student from the United States of America.
Overview
Top reasons to study with us
4
4th for Art and Design
The Complete University Guide (2025)
5
5th for graduate prospects (Art and Design)
The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide (2025)
6
6th for Creative Writing
The Complete University Guide (2025)
Lancaster's degree in Fine Art and Creative Writing is taught jointly by the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA) and the Department of English and Creative Writing. This course is ideal for anyone with strong academic and creative abilities who wants to study fine art alongside creative writing.
Your Creative Writing courses are taught by a team of widely published authors through a combination of lectures, readings, practice and discussion in regular tutor-led workshops. Your degree includes an Introduction to Creative Writing in your first year, and in your second and final years of study you will choose additional genre-specific units such as Short Fiction, Poetry Writing or Creative Non-fiction.
The study abroad option is an exciting and informative experience for anyone who is thinking of working abroad during their career or who simply wants the experience of living and studying overseas as part of their degree. You will study in your third year at one of our international partner universities. This will help you to develop your global outlook, expand your professional network, and gain cultural and personal skills. During your year abroad, you will choose specialist modules relating to your degree as well as other modules from across the host university.
Fine Art at Lancaster gives you the opportunity to integrate Art Practice with Art History/Theory at a high level. From the first through to the final year of your degree you will develop creative and technical skills in painting, drawing, sculpture, digital art and their hybrids. While we have no ‘house style’ the emphasis is on Fine Art practice and Fine Art ‘thinking’ rather than illustration. Our aim is for you to develop the practice and ideas that best reflect your aims and values as a young Fine Artist. Your tutors will be professional artists and publishing historians and the mix of academic and creative skills gained at Lancaster makes you highly attractive for postgraduate study and employers.
Lancaster University will make reasonable endeavours to place students at an approved overseas partner university that offers appropriate modules. Occasionally places overseas may not be available for all students who want to study abroad or the place at the partner university may be withdrawn if core modules are unavailable. If you are not offered a place to study overseas, you will be able to transfer to the equivalent standard 3-year degree scheme and would complete your studies at Lancaster.
Lancaster University cannot accept responsibility for any financial aspects of the year abroad.
“You get so much freedom in terms of what you write and what you’re interested in, and you’re really encouraged to follow that”. Discover how you could forge your Creative Writing journey at Lancaster University.
Fine Art at Lancaster University
Fine Art at Lancaster offers a distinctive blend of theory and practice, with teaching by practicing artists and your own studio space. Hear from students on what Fine Art at Lancaster University has to offer to you.
Your year abroad
Study abroad
The study abroad option is an exciting opportunity for anyone who is thinking of working abroad during their career or who simply wants the experience of living and studying overseas as part of their degree.
Often study abroad students describe the year abroad as a “transformative experience”, as it can shape your future career path as well as having a positive impact on your personal development.
On a study abroad course, you'll spend two years at Lancaster before going overseas in your third year to study at one of our international partner universities. This will help you to
develop your global outlook
expand your professional network
increase your cultural awareness
develop your personal skills.
You’ll return to Lancaster for your final year of study in year four.
Host universities
During your year abroad, you will choose specialist modules relating to your degree and potentially other modules offered by the host university that are specialisms of that university and country.
The places available at our overseas partners vary every year. In previous years destinations for students in the Faculty have included Australia, USA, Canada, Europe and Asia.
Alternative option
We will make reasonable endeavours to place students at an approved overseas partner university that offers appropriate modules. Occasionally places overseas may not be available for all students who want to study abroad or the place at the partner university may be withdrawn if core modules are unavailable.
If you are not offered a place to study overseas, you will be able to transfer to the equivalent standard 3-year degree scheme and would complete your studies at Lancaster. Lancaster University cannot accept responsibility for any financial aspects of the year abroad.
Study abroad
The study abroad option is an exciting opportunity for anyone who is thinking of working abroad during their career or who simply wants the experience of living and studying overseas as part of their degree.
Often study abroad students describe the year abroad as a “transformative experience”, as it can shape your future career path as well as having a positive impact on your personal development.
On a study abroad course, you'll spend two years at Lancaster before going overseas in your third year to study at one of our international partner universities. This will help you to
develop your global outlook
expand your professional network
increase your cultural awareness
develop your personal skills.
You’ll return to Lancaster for your final year of study in year four.
Host universities
During your year abroad, you will choose specialist modules relating to your degree and potentially other modules offered by the host university that are specialisms of that university and country.
The places available at our overseas partners vary every year. In previous years destinations for students in the Faculty have included Australia, USA, Canada, Europe and Asia.
Alternative option
We will make reasonable endeavours to place students at an approved overseas partner university that offers appropriate modules. Occasionally places overseas may not be available for all students who want to study abroad or the place at the partner university may be withdrawn if core modules are unavailable.
If you are not offered a place to study overseas, you will be able to transfer to the equivalent standard 3-year degree scheme and would complete your studies at Lancaster. Lancaster University cannot accept responsibility for any financial aspects of the year abroad.
Study abroad
The study abroad option is an exciting opportunity for anyone who is thinking of working abroad during their career or who simply wants the experience of living and studying overseas as part of their degree.
Often study abroad students describe the year abroad as a “transformative experience”, as it can shape your future career path as well as having a positive impact on your personal development.
On a study abroad course, you'll spend two years at Lancaster before going overseas in your third year to study at one of our international partner universities. This will help you to
develop your global outlook
expand your professional network
increase your cultural awareness
develop your personal skills.
You’ll return to Lancaster for your final year of study in year four.
Host universities
During your year abroad, you will choose specialist modules relating to your degree and potentially other modules offered by the host university that are specialisms of that university and country.
The places available at our overseas partners vary every year. In previous years destinations for students in the Faculty have included Australia, USA, Canada, Europe and Asia.
Alternative option
We will make reasonable endeavours to place students at an approved overseas partner university that offers appropriate modules. Occasionally places overseas may not be available for all students who want to study abroad or the place at the partner university may be withdrawn if core modules are unavailable.
If you are not offered a place to study overseas, you will be able to transfer to the equivalent standard 3-year degree scheme and would complete your studies at Lancaster. Lancaster University cannot accept responsibility for any financial aspects of the year abroad.
Study abroad
The study abroad option is an exciting opportunity for anyone who is thinking of working abroad during their career or who simply wants the experience of living and studying overseas as part of their degree.
Often study abroad students describe the year abroad as a “transformative experience”, as it can shape your future career path as well as having a positive impact on your personal development.
On a study abroad course, you'll spend two years at Lancaster before going overseas in your third year to study at one of our international partner universities. This will help you to
develop your global outlook
expand your professional network
increase your cultural awareness
develop your personal skills.
You’ll return to Lancaster for your final year of study in year four.
Host universities
During your year abroad, you will choose specialist modules relating to your degree and potentially other modules offered by the host university that are specialisms of that university and country.
The places available at our overseas partners vary every year. In previous years destinations for students in the Faculty have included Australia, USA, Canada, Europe and Asia.
Alternative option
We will make reasonable endeavours to place students at an approved overseas partner university that offers appropriate modules. Occasionally places overseas may not be available for all students who want to study abroad or the place at the partner university may be withdrawn if core modules are unavailable.
If you are not offered a place to study overseas, you will be able to transfer to the equivalent standard 3-year degree scheme and would complete your studies at Lancaster. Lancaster University cannot accept responsibility for any financial aspects of the year abroad.
Careers
Fine Art and Creative Writing graduates from Lancaster University have developed careers as professionals for creative agencies, working in publishing, television or for museums and galleries, while some go on to be professional artists.
As well as teaching and arts administration, the multidisciplinary skills our graduates acquire during their degree open doors across the creative industries and in many employment sectors.
Lancaster graduates successfully progress onto PGCE, MA, MPhil and PhD courses, either with us or at other high quality national and international institutions, for example the Royal College of Art, London; Goldsmiths College, University of London; Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Ghent.
Lancaster University offers lifelong Careers advice to students beyond graduation.
Lancaster University is dedicated to ensuring you not only gain a highly reputable degree, but that you also graduate with relevant life and work based skills. We are unique in that every student is eligible to participate in The Lancaster Award which offers you the opportunity to complete key activities such as work experience, employability/career development, campus community and social development. Visit our Employability section for full details.
Entry requirements
These are the typical grades that you will need to study this course. You may need to have qualifications in relevant subjects. In some cases we may also ask you to attend an interview or submit a portfolio. You must also meet our English language requirements.
30 Level 3 credits at Distinction plus 15 Level 3 credits at Merit
We accept the Advanced Skills Baccalaureate Wales in place of one A level, or equivalent qualification, as long as any subject requirements are met.
DDM
A level at grade B plus BTEC(s) at DD, or A levels at grade BB plus BTEC at D
32 points overall with 16 points from the best 3 HL subjects
We are happy to admit applicants on the basis of five Highers, but where we require a specific subject at A level, we will typically require an Advanced Higher in that subject. If you do not meet the grade requirement through Highers alone, we will consider a combination of Highers and Advanced Highers in separate subjects. Please contact the Admissions team for more information.
Distinction overall
Contact Admissions
If you are thinking of applying to Lancaster and you would like to ask us a question, please complete our enquiry form and one of our team will get back to you.
International foundation programmes
Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, our one-year tailored foundation pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University degrees. Visit the INTO Lancaster University website for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.
Contextual admissions
Contextual admissions could help you gain a place at university if you have faced additional challenges during your education which might have impacted your results. Visit our contextual admissions page to find out about how this works and whether you could be eligible.
Course structure
Lancaster University offers a range of programmes, some of which follow a structured study programme, and some which offer the chance for you to devise a more flexible programme to complement your main specialism.
Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, and the University will make every reasonable effort to offer modules as advertised. In some cases changes may be necessary and may result in some combinations being unavailable, for example as a result of student feedback, timetabling, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes and new research. Not all optional modules are available every year.
This module seeks to establish fundamental Fine Art practices and principles and initiate development of critical understanding of basic concepts, approaches, possibilities and ways of working. The module enables students to engage with the practical disciplines of painting, sculpture, digital art, drawing and inter-media practices that combine two or more disciplines. This creative work alongside academic work in LICA100 initiates training in thinking and making as a fine artist.
This practical course combines technical skills with different approaches to the disciplines as appropriate to developing individual interests as a practitioner of fine art. The teaching and learning systems for this course are designed to expose the student to ways of working and thinking as a practitioner; to thinking visually.
In this module, Fine Art ideas and movements are surveyed viewed through pairings of major exhibitions throughout modern history, from the birth of avant gardes in The Salon des Refuses (1863) and Manet and the Impressionists (1910), to major shows on Digital Culture, Neoliberalism and non-Western art in the 21st century. This module is designed to supplement, contextualise and enhance the essential knowledge and skills covered in the Studio Practice module, and develop study and writing skills that you will need as you progress through your degree.
Continuing the study of Fine Art ideas and movements through pairings of major exhibitions throughout modern history.
This module will introduce you to key methods, tools and critical concepts used by academics to understand a broad range of creative work, its discussion and practice historically and today. Through a combination of lectures and seminars, you are encouraged to think of yourself as a "creative critic" who uses intelligent observations about the creative world to inform your own practice of writing and making.
This year-long module is focused on the development of your own writing. You will be encouraged to experiment with various forms and genres, to explore new approaches in drafting and editing your own work, and to develop the gentle art of responding to the work of fellow students. The lectures will introduce you to a range of exciting texts and helpful terminology, and offer insight from published authors. The follow-up workshops allow you to practice technique, mature your voice, and nurture your writerly instincts.
Core
core modules accordion
Critical Reflections explores a number of key interdisciplinary philosophical and cultural concepts which will enable you to analyse, engage with, and reflect upon artworks in your own discipline. It also allows you to establish a common set of concepts which can be shared by students from all LICA subjects.
The structure of the module consists of six three-week blocks as follows:
Aesthetics
Experience
Post-structuralism
Marx and Post-Marx
Waves of Feminism
Thinking with the Earth (new materialism)
Regular plenary lectures make connections across the arts, and are supplemented by seminars/workshops which allow students to work in their subject groups (art, film, theatre, design) on ideas and examples specifically tailored towards these disciplines.
This year-long module is the gate-way to the second and third year experience of Creative Writing. You will be able to write in any literary genre, drawing on the accompanying half-units or exploring new areas of creative work. You will develop a portfolio of creative writing, supported by peer and tutor feedback. A lecture series will increase the professionalisation of your writing.
This module develops your knowledge and skills in fine art thinking and making. The module prepares and encourages you to direct your own research and to develop a self-reliant and independent approach to studio practice.
You will work in your own dedicated studio space with 24/7 access. You will be supported by specialist tutors who are practicing artists. You will belong to a tutor group led by dedicated tutors with expertise in your area of practice.
To support your creative development you will engage in one-to-one tutorials, group tutorials, technical workshops, and peer-feedback. You will also be encouraged to visit exhibitions and attend our visiting artist programme of talks.
The size of your studio practice module depends on your degree programme. Singe honours students study the maximum 60 credits, combined honours students must take at least 30 credits.
Optional
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This module enables you to explore topics, techniques, and methods involved in memoir and life writing, as well as the risks and opportunities – technical, ethical and personal – inherent in this form. Through a series of seminars and workshops we will explore set texts, generative writing prompts, and give and receive feedback on works in progress. You will work towards the creation of your own memoir text – either a short stand-alone work or works, or a chapter / section from a proposed longer work. In addition, you will be supported in developing independent research to set your own work in its context in your reflective essay.
This module will enable you to develop a range of graphic skills with the opportunity to approach and represent ideas, issues and experiences in a documentary manner. The module is designed to be relevant to creative practice in Fine Art, Theatre, Film and Design. You will have the opportunity to expand your knowledge and experience of observational and on-site drawing, and develop their learning and experience by engaging in further technical training and by introduction to drawing beyond the studio and 'in the field'. On completion of this module our aim is for you to have significantly developed their knowledge and awareness of drawing and the ability to engage in independent study and develop a substantial personal project for assessment.
The module provides training and experience in visual communication through painting in the broadest sense. Our aim is to provide students with an understanding of painting as an ‘expanded’ and interdisciplinary art form. Weekly workshops will introduce you to the scope of contemporary painting and some of its methods and approaches. You will develop skills through experimentation with a range of traditional and contemporary painting methods, approaches, ideas and equipment. Building on the teaching, you will develop an independent project that extends the language of painting beyond conventional bounds.
How does our lived experience translate into poetry? And how does poetry crystallize or transform experience through language and form? These and many other questions are explored in this module as we read as well as write poetry; for the writing of poetry is dependent not only your experience but also your abilities as a reader and interpreter of poems. We will look at the base structures of poetry – from the line-ending to more complex forms like sonnets and sestinas; and you will be encouraged to seek out new reading as a result of seminar discussion. Finally, you are expected to keep a journal of your poems and thoughts throughout the course, the contents of which will be used to create the reflective essay for your portfolio.
What is short fiction as a literary form? The module approaches this question by exploring its unique opportunities and challenges. We will look at examples of modern and contemporary short stories from around the world (including work by Katherine Mansfield, Herve le Tellier and Walter Mosely) to see how the form can be manifested, pushed, pulled, and made malleable.
Critical and creative engagement with these set texts will allow you to see how key techniques of narrative, voice, imagery, and dialogue can be tailored for short fiction. You will put these techniques into practice through a series of writing exercises and in your own submissions for tutor and peer feedback, as you build towards a portfolio of original short fiction; this will be accompanied by a critical reflection where you can explore your strategies for writing in this form.
This module aims to give students a grounding in “the contemporary” as a key critical concept used in artistic discourses, and provide a number of ways that students can explore and articulate their own contemporaneity. In conversation with cutting edge ideas from art, science, technology and popular culture, the module will enable participants to discuss and identify what they are contemporaries of, how they relate to their own time as artists, citizens and critical writers and what this necessitates in their own practices.
Students will engage in critical discussion of key terms used to define the current moment, such as Anthropocene, Singularity, Post-Truth, and Globalisation, as well as understanding how particular technologies and phenomena, such as distributed and decentralised networks, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and genetic engineering are reshaping the contexts in which the arts are made. These topics are explored through lectures and seminar discussions in which students are encouraged to produce and define their own position and modes for articulating what makes them contemporary.
The module is designed for creative students who wish to use writing and material practice to explore their own relationship to the ecologies, politics, trends, technologies, and aesthetics that typify our experience of the world today.
The module aims to enable you to write for the theatre and develop your awareness of the processes by which a written script makes its way to performance. You will be taught through weekly seminars/workshops in which you will explore the effects that different staging approaches and performance strategies have on your scripts.
The module usually ends with a performance showcase at the Dukes Theatre, Lancaster, in which you will be actively involved; the showcase will allow you to reflect upon your work in the light of audience feedback.
Over the course of the module, you will develop your own writing styles and gain an awareness of the professional requirements of playwriting.
This module seeks to helps you write imaginatively about places and/or landscapes. You will be able to write poetry, prose fiction, or non-fiction as we explore the broad field of nature, environmental, and place-writing. You will study major texts that engage with different kinds of place and landscape – from fields and forests to rivers and urban edgelands – and explore your own emergent interests in place-writing. You will be encouraged to consider your own work as part of a larger, ongoing literary conversation about place, and to explore those places and landscapes that interest and excite you. The module also contains an element of fieldwork, linking the act of physically walking through a landscape to the practice of reading and writing about it.
Core
core modules accordion
In your third year you will study at one of our international partner universities. This will help you to develop your global outlook, expand your professional network, and gain cultural and personal skills. It is also an opportunity to gain a different perspective on your major subject through studying the subject in another country.
You will choose specialist modules relating to your degree and also have the opportunity to study other modules from across the host university.
Places at overseas partners vary each year and have historically included Australia, USA, Canada, Europe and Asia.
During your degree you’ll spend a year as a registered student at one of our approved partner universities in North America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand or Europe.
Core
core modules accordion
This year-long module forms the core Creative Writing offering in your final year, and allows you to write in any literary genre. You will be encouraged to draw on the other creative writing modules you are taking and to explore new areas of creative work as you develop your portfolio. Throughout, you will be supported by feedback from both your tutor and fellow students.
This module supports you to develop your own distinctive voice as an artist. Our aim is for you to take increasing responsibility for the creative and conceptual direction of your artwork. You will work in your own dedicated studio space with 24/7 access and be supported by specialist tutors who are practicing artists. You will belong to a tutor group led by dedicated tutors with expertise in your area of practice. Teaching is delivered through one-to-one tutorials, group work and peer feedback. You will also be encouraged to visit exhibitions and attend our visiting artist programme of talks. The module culminates in a final end of year public exhibition.
The size of your studio practice module depends on your degree programme. Singe honours students study 60 or 75 credits, combined honours students must take at least 30 credits.
This module allows you to undertake a major independent research project on a topic of your choice, presented in the form of a dissertation or a practice-based project and an essay. The module is taught through lectures focused on research skills and one-to-one supervision. Upon completion, you will be able to demonstrate your ability to undertake a major project that includes conducting research, engaging in a sustained critical analysis of relevant texts, building an argument and applying this to practice.
Optional
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At the heart of this module is a regular writers' workshop, to which you regularly submit your own creative work to be read and helpfully discussed by your tutor and your peers. The nature of this creative work will be generated by you, following your own interests and artistic concerns.
This module is for students who wish to continue working in a mixed form group and for students working on hybrid projects. Projects might be formed of a hybrid portfolio (prose/poetry/script), they might be creative-critical, or might engage with multi-modal forms such as the graphic-novel, collage essays, etc.
Students will be expected to read widely and discuss their current reading during workshops. Relevant authors, writers and theorists will be recommended by the tutor throughout the year.
At the heart of this module is a regular writers' workshop, to which you regularly submit your own creative work to be read and helpfully discussed by your tutor and your peers. The nature of this creative work will be generated by you, following your own interests and artistic concerns.
This module is for students who wish to devise, plan and execute a poetry-based creative project with formative support from their tutor and peers. This might include any verse form or any hybrid form in which verse dominates, etc.
Students will be expected to read widely and discuss their current reading during workshops. Relevant authors, writers and theorists will be recommended by the tutor throughout the year.
At the heart of this module is a regular writers' workshop, to which you regularly submit your own creative work to be read and helpfully discussed by your tutor and your peers. The nature of this creative work will be generated by you, following your own interests and artistic concerns.
This module is for students who wish to devise, plan and execute a prose-based creative project with formative support from their tutor and peers. This might include short stories, a novel or novella (for adults or young people), memoir, narrative non-fiction, the personal essay, flash fiction etc.
Students will be expected to read widely and discuss their current reading during workshops. Relevant authors, writers and theorists will be recommended by the tutor throughout the year.
At the heart of this module is a regular writers' workshop, to which you regularly submit your own creative work to be read and helpfully discussed by your tutor and your peers. The nature of this creative work will be generated by you, following your own interests and artistic concerns.
This module is for students who wish to devise, plan and execute a script-based creative project with formative support from their tutor and peers. This might include audio drama, stage plays or screenplays, etc.
Students will be expected to read widely and discuss their current reading during workshops. Relevant authors, writers and theorists will be recommended by the tutor throughout the year.
This module develops the key techniques studied in the second-year module, ‘Short Fiction: Genre and Practice.’ It explores endings that use misdirection and ‘the reveal,’ as well various forms/genres of short stories, such as flash fiction, the ghost story, and rewriting fairy tales. As we go, we will be discussing several contemporary short stories, experimenting through writing exercises, and workshopping student drafts. You will thus develop a portfolio of your own original short stories, which is accompanied by a critical reflection on your use of form and technique. The module ends with tips on sending work for publication.
This practical fine art focused module will introduce the skills and sensitivities needed to work outside the studio through interactions with people, places, and technologies. The module introduces you to the way that current fine art practitioners employ a wide range of strategies for such interaction. You will work through practical projects and critical reflection. The course will begin with an art historical grounding for this area of practice. You will then experiment and test out new ways of working in a variety of locations and situations such as: in the rural or urban landscape, in the virtual online world, or in a social space such as a cafe. We will explore a range of processes such as conversation, performance, video, movement and digital interaction.
Throughout the module you will build a range of skills and knowledge of technologies, for example: practical considerations in working ‘off-site’ (responding to and researching a place, collaborating with the public, gaining permission to work in specific sites); digital tools for working with networks and strategies and sensitivities for working with people (ethics, interviews, collaborations etc).
The module has two aims. Firstly, it aims to explore methods of improvising or choreographing movement from the practice and study of drawing, and, reciprocally, approaches to drawing that emerge from the experience of movement and the analysis of motion. This is assessed through either a staff-supervised, student-led group choreographic project with documentation or, alternatively, a portfolio of drawings presented at the end of the module. Secondly, the module examines twentieth and twenty-first century works in which choreographers have collaborated with visual artists. This part of the module is assessed through an essay. Teaching is through lecture, seminar and practical compositional exercises in movement and drawing.
This module will explore the writing of reviews, essays, and cultural reflection, through the development, in a workshop environment, of your own work, combined with directed reading of a selection of contemporary work. The terms ‘essays’ and ‘reviews’ will be interpreted broadly; you will, then, study the essay as a form that has evolved over the last four hundred years as a commentary on human existence, at both the deepest and most trivial level; and you will study the review as a form which, at its best, sets its subject in a cultural and personal context.
In this module you will examine, through both set reading and writing prompts, the unique features of long fiction. Through tutor presentations and discussion of set texts, the workshopping of creative writing in progress, and the writing of synopses and other planning documents, you will develop competence in approaching a long fiction project. You will thus learn to: find strategies for planning and structuring; choose point of view and tense; develop plot; work with setting; address themes and characterisation; experiment with form; and write an ending. You may work in any adult genre you wish, but we will focus on literary, historical and science fiction, as well as both speculative and crime genres
This module aims to challenge received structures of poetic language through a close reading of poets who opened up new frontiers of 20th/21st century literature through their approaches to language. In each seminar, there will first be a close reading of work by a published poet, from Alice Oswald to Ezra Pound, looking at how they stretch or break the lyric formula; and then your own poetic experiments are workshopped.
In week two, there is a basic introduction to Ludwig Wittgenstein's famous theory of language games, with each subsequent poet examined in the light of how they try to break the rules of the game. Your own experiments will be very much encouraged, as either continuations of the radical departures first implemented by the poets in question, or your own attempts to break from comfortable notions of confessional or lyric poetry.
This module enables you to write drama for radio, developing your own scriptwriting style and gaining an awareness of the professional requirements of the genre. We will study exemplar radio dramas and use them to contextualise the creative choices in your own work whilst also exploring the effects of different structural and stylistic approaches. For the purposes of concision, 'radio' in this context also refers to other formats for audio drama such as podcasts.
Peer and tutor feedback will guide the development of your creative portfolio as you work towards a single radio drama script. Reflective practice will help you to master the art of redrafting and editing and you will pen a short essay placing your experience of this in the context of radio drama.
Resources for this module includes the wonderful Box of Broadcasts, just one of the many electronic archives to which the you will have free access via the University Library.
What are the constraints and opportunities of writing for children and young adults? By reading, analysing, and responding creatively to a range of texts, you will become more familiar with: contemporary practitioners of writing for young people; the expectations of the audience; and the opportunities for innovation.
The module begins with picture-books, and concludes with young adult novels. You will come to appreciate the complexities of writing fiction for young people, exploring everything from the constraints of paper engineering to the opportunities of a multi-modal narrative in picture books; and from the constraints of coming-of-age tropes to the opportunities for fresh, inventive language in YA fiction.
You will be asked to engage in a close reading of the texts studied and to respond creatively to them.
This module will introduce students to writing for games of all kinds, both digital and pen-and-paper. We will explore the basic principles of collaborative narrative experience as we seek to engage both critically and creatively with this new and extremely popular branch of contemporary writing. text currently is as follows could you kindly adapt new text please The weekly workshops are currently supplemented by a weekly, evening Games Study Night in the University Library to explore existing games, play-test your own, and enjoy the Library’s rich collection of board games.
This module enables you to both explore and learn to write graphic novels, including digital forms such as web comics.
You will investigate the graphic novel from the point of view of the writer, looking at the very many considerations required to create stories for this specific medium. Particular attention will be paid to writing a script for a graphic novel, and how words work with both images and the space(s) of the page. Through regular workshops, you will be introduced to a wide array of genres, which could include:
the realism of Craig Thompson
the space opera of Brian K. Vaughan
the investigative journalism of Joe Sacco
the surreal horror of Emily Carroll
the queer science fiction of Tillie Walden
You will also encounter works such as those by Alison Bechdel, Daria Bogdanska, Maia Kobabe, and Una and Mariko Tamaki.
We employ diverse assessment methods designed to develop your skills further; so, for example, this could include a graphic-novel script, and/or a short critical reflection
This module will build on the second-year module ‘Writing Poetry,’ thus deepening your engagement with both writing and reading process. We will explore poetic form through a wide-ranging selection of poems, and consider form as a tradition that has been questioned, adapted, subverted, upcycled, reaffirmed. We will focus, in particular, on forms regularly employed or reimagined in the twentieth century and more recently.
Fees and funding
Our annual tuition fee is set for a 12-month session, starting in the October of your year of study.
You will need to buy some art materials during your course. Materials and equipment are available to use during some classes, and the departmental art shop sells materials to students at cost price. We will send you information about materials and equipment before you arrive so that you know what to bring with you and what you might need to buy during your course. You will be able to borrow many books free of charge from the university library, however most students prefer to buy their own copies of at least some of the texts. Costs vary depending on whether these are bought new or second hand.
There may be extra costs related to your course for items such as books, stationery, printing, photocopying, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits. Following graduation, you may need to pay a subscription to a professional body for some chosen careers.
Specific additional costs for studying at Lancaster are listed below.
College fees
Lancaster is proud to be one of only a handful of UK universities to have a collegiate system. Every student belongs to a college, and all students pay a small college membership fee which supports the running of college events and activities. Students on some distance-learning courses are not liable to pay a college fee.
For students starting in 2025, the fee is £40 for undergraduates and research students and £15 for students on one-year courses.
Computer equipment and internet access
To support your studies, you will also require access to a computer, along with reliable internet access. You will be able to access a range of software and services from a Windows, Mac, Chromebook or Linux device. For certain degree programmes, you may need a specific device, or we may provide you with a laptop and appropriate software - details of which will be available on relevant programme pages. A dedicated IT support helpdesk is available in the event of any problems.
The University provides limited financial support to assist students who do not have the required IT equipment or broadband support in place.
Study abroad courses
In addition to travel and accommodation costs, while you are studying abroad, you will need to have a passport and, depending on the country, there may be other costs such as travel documents (e.g. VISA or work permit) and any tests and vaccines that are required at the time of travel. Some countries may require proof of funds.
Placement and industry year courses
In addition to possible commuting costs during your placement, you may need to buy clothing that is suitable for your workplace and you may have accommodation costs. Depending on the employer and your job, you may have other costs such as copies of personal documents required by your employer for example.
The fee that you pay will depend on whether you are considered to be a home or international student. Read more about how we assign your fee status.
Home fees are subject to annual review, and may be liable to rise each year in line with UK government policy. International fees (including EU) are reviewed annually and are not fixed for the duration of your studies. Read more about fees in subsequent years.
We will charge tuition fees to Home undergraduate students on full-year study abroad/work placements in line with the maximum amounts permitted by the Department for Education. The current maximum levels are:
Students studying abroad for a year: 15% of the standard tuition fee
Students taking a work placement for a year: 20% of the standard tuition fee
International students on full-year study abroad/work placements will be charged the same percentages as the standard International fee.
Please note that the maximum levels chargeable in future years may be subject to changes in Government policy.
Scholarships and bursaries
You will be automatically considered for our main scholarships and bursaries when you apply, so there's nothing extra that you need to do.
You may be eligible for the following funding opportunities, depending on your fee status:
As a student within LICA, you will have access to a range of state-of-the-art facilities and equipment to catalyse your studies.
Download the course booklet to find out more about Lancaster University, how we teach Creative Writing and what you'll study as a Creative Writing student.
The information on this site relates primarily to 2025/2026 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.
The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.
More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.
Our Students’ Charter
We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies.
Our historic city is student-friendly and home to a diverse and welcoming community. Beyond the city you'll find a stunning coastline and the picturesque Lake District.