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You are here: Home > Writing in Education > Writing at University > Writing Courses > Bath Spa University > Writing for Young People
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Bath Spa University

Writing for Young People

This specialist creative writing MA course enlists the expertise of our team of writer-lecturers, five of whom are currently published in the field of children's writing. It is supported by visiting speakers from the children's publishing world, including agents, editors, publishers and authors. The course is for writers for children of all ages, from the picture-book age through to adolescent and 'crossover' writing which aims at markets among adults as well as young people. Though prose fiction is likely to be the main area studied, students will have the chance to look at writing in all forms, including poetry, picture book texts and non-fiction.
Duration 1 year full time; 2 years part time
Level MA
Cost UK Home/EU Tuition Fees 2012/13: £4,565. International Tuition Fees 2012/13: £10,030. Bath Spa University has the following AHRC studentships available for 2012-13 under the AHRC Block Grant: Capacity Building Scheme. All are for full studentships covering tuition fees (paid to the university) and maintenance allowance (paid to the student in non-taxable quarterly instalments). 2 x MA Creative Writing or MA Writing for Young People or MA Scriptwriting.
 
The course supports students to create a significant body of writing, with practical plans for its place in the real world of publishing. It is based on the principle that most writers learn and benefit from working closely with their fellow writers, in a disciplined supportive setting, and with tutors who are practising and published writers in their field. Modules are normally taught via tutor-led writing workshops, organised in 11 weekly three-hour sessions on the Corsham Court campus. The manuscript is taught via one-to-one tutorials, working with a tutor with particular knowledge of your field of work. Throughout the course, there will be special events to bring in writers to discuss their work, plus literary agents, editors and speakers with practical advice on publishing.
Requirements
We offer places on the basis of our assessment of the student's quality, potential and commitment as a writer and their ability to benefit from the course. Normally, but not invariably, a student will have a degree. Applicants will need to submit a short piece of creative writing for young people with their application form: for example, six poems or two short stories or not more than 20 pages of a novel.
Modules
Writing Workshops: In the first semester's writing workshop you will explore a variety of formats and approaches, gaining a sense of the different age- ranges and forms. This is also an introduction to the writing workshop experience which is the heart of the course. In the second semester's workshop you will be asked to choose your area of writing, and use the workshop's feedback and encouragement to explore it in more depth. Full-time students take one writing workshop in Semester One and one in Semester Two. Part-time students take one workshop each year. Context Modules: Each full-time student takes one of these in the first semester and one in the second semester. The first semester's context module, Writing for Young People: Forms, Ages and Stages, is concerned with the writer's relationship with their audience, a sense of the history of and issues raised by children's writing. The second semester's module looks at Contemporary Children's Publishing, and aims to give a realistic grasp of the choices open to new writers in the field. Part-time students take one of these context modules in each year of study. Manuscript: This is the development of a manuscript as near to publishable quality as possible. It is supported by tutorials with a manuscript supervisor. It may be a novel, a book of stories, a collection of poems or picture book texts.
Contact Information
Institution Bath Spa University
School of Humanities and Cultural Industries,
Newton Park Campus, Newton St Loe
Bath
BA2 9BN

Tel: (01225) 875693.
Fax: (01225) 875605.
www.bathspa.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/writing-for-young-people.asp
Department: School of Humanities and Cultural Industries
Contact Name: Course Leader: Julia Green
Contact Email: j.a.green@bathspa.ac.uk.