Ma Creative Writing Handbook

School of Arts
Department of English & Humanities
MA CREATIVE WRITING
Academic Year 2019-20
Contents
Welcome....................................................................................................3
Starting your Course...............................................................................5
Programme Structure.............................................................................8
Aims and Outcomes of the Programme...............................................9
Autumn Term.........................................................................................10
Writing and Reading Seminar................................................................10
Contemporary Literature Modules..........................................................13
Poetry Workshop...................................................................................13
Contemporary Writing 2: Genre.............................................................16
Writing the Self......................................................................................18
Spring Term............................................................................................22
The Writing Workshop............................................................................22
Option Modules......................................................................................24
Creative Non-Fiction...............................................................................25
Introduction to Screenwriting.................................................................30
Introduction to Playwriting.....................................................................32
Summer Term.........................................................................................34
Dissertation............................................................................................34
The Mechanics’ Institute Review........................................................37
Coursework Presentation and Plagiarism.........................................38
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Coursework Submission........................................................................43
Assessment Requirements for the MA CW Programme..................45
Assessment Criteria..............................................................................47
Degree Regulations...............................................................................49
Student Support.....................................................................................51
Creative Writing Staff Profiles.............................................................55
Contact Details.......................................................................................60
Appendix A: Term Dates and Deadlines.............................................61
Appendix B: How to Format Your Fiction and Prose Non-Fiction. .63
Appendix C: How To Format Critical Work........................................65
Appendix D: Extracurricular Opportunities......................................67
Appendix E: Getting Started with Moodle........................................68
Published August 2019

This document is for reference only. Every effort was made to ensure that
information was correct at time of print, but discrepancies may still occur due to
the nature of this document. Any changes will be communicated to you via email
or Moodle.
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Welcome
When Birkbeck College was established in 1823, its principal mission

was to provide education and training to working adults who earlier in life
had lacked educational opportunity. A College of the University of London
since 1920, Birkbeck is committed to the concept of lifelong education,
and especially within the world of work. Birkbeck and the other member
colleges of the University of London have many research interests in
common and share the same standards and degrees structures, but in
one important respect Birkbeck is unique. Our mission is ‘to provide
courses of study to meet the changing educational, cultural and training
needs of adults who are engaged in earning their livelihood, and others
who are able to benefit’ (Birkbeck College Charter).
Birkbeck College has built up special expertise in providing a stimulating,

positive learning environment for adult, mature students. Recently we
have also expanded our provision for full-time postgraduate students. We
award undergraduate degrees in a full range of disciplines and have an
unusually high proportion of students following taught Masters and
MPhil/PhD courses.
The MA in Creative Writing is offered by the Department of English and

Humanities in the School of Arts and can be taken full-time for one year or
part-time over two-years. All classes are taught in the evenings.
Supporting writers of fiction and creative non-fiction (with some options
for poetry, playwriting, screenwriting, and writing in genre - young adult,
crime etc), our aim is to help you develop skills to a professional level in
your chosen genre through workshops, regular tutorials and dissertation
supervision, and to develop your critical understanding of contemporary
literature. Students will benefit from the expertise of writers with
international standing, as well as visiting publishers, editors and literary
agents. Students can also volunteer as editors for the annual literary
magazine, The Mechanics’ Institute Review that showcases student
writing and facilitates contact between students and the creative
industries and as interns on the MIROnline website and the MIRLive events
which take place termly. Further information about these activities can be
found at www.mironline.org and by signing up for the newsletter.
Students begin the programme in the autumn term with the Writing and
Reading Seminar that concentrates on the short story. Each weekly
class is divided into a writing segment where students present and
discuss their writing, and a critical segment in which essential works of
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short fiction are given close textual readings. In this way students engage
in the art of reading as well as writing.
Also in the autumn term, full-time students will take one of the three
Contemporary Literature Core Modules (part time students in their
second year) that focuses on either genre (the structures of
storytelling), literary non-fiction or poetry and the critical theory
propelling such work.
In the spring term the Writing Workshop will follow on from the Writing
and Reading Seminar and concentrate solely on students’ own writing
(part-time students take this in their second year). You will critique the
work of your peers either whole short stories or sections of novels in
progress.
The Option modules also run in the spring term (part-time students take
an option in their first year). You will elect to study one module from a
range offered by the department, but will need to nominate a second and
third choice in the event your first choice option is full.
In the summer term there will be a series of lectures and craft seminars
focusing on aspects of narrative art, and visiting speakers (such as a
literary agent and an editor from a publishing house). These seminars and
talks give crucial insights into the mechanisms of the novel and the
cultural industries respectively and are not to be missed. The summer
term is a non-assessed term.
Your Dissertation Supervisions will occur in the Summer Term by

appointment with your tutor. Full time students will get two, one-hour
supervisions. Part time students will have a fifteen minute tutorial in the
first year, and two half an hour supervisions in the second year.
You will be assigned a Personal Tutor who is your first contact for any
queries you may have about academic or pastoral issues.
Birkbeck is now a corporate member of the Royal Society of Literature.

More information can be found on their website at www.rslit.org.
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Starting your Course
Enrolment: Important Information

After receiving an offer of a place on the MA, you need to enrol as soon as
possible (see administrative information, below). For early applicants this
option is usually available from July onwards. Late applicants (those
interviewed in August/September) may experience some delay in
receiving their enrolment details at what is the busiest time of the year for
Registry. Please click here to complete your enrolment via your My
Birkbeck profile.
The College will expect you to have formally enrolled and to have begun
paying your fees by mid-October. You must enrol by the end of October or
you may not be eligible to continue your degree.
A student who withdraws after enrolling is liable for payment of fees for
the first term of their intended study, and all subsequent terms up to and
including the term in which they withdraw or for the full fees due for all
modular enrolments (whichever is greater). Fees are not returnable, but
requests for ex-gratia refunds of part of the fees paid in cases where a
student is obliged to withdraw because of circumstances beyond the
student's own control (but normally excluding changes in employment)
may be made.
Fees/ Finance
College fees may be paid by many methods. Additional expenses will be
incurred and it is important to budget for the purchase of books. Whilst
we have great sympathy with students who find difficulties in paying their
fees, neither the Course Director nor any of your supervisors have the
power to waive fees or sanction delays in payment. The College Finance
Office deals with fees and you should communicate and negotiate with
them directly on 020 7631 6295. Students who fail to pay their fees may
become ineligible to continue the course or unable to submit
assessments. Any student who has a debt to the College at the end of the
year will not have their marks relayed to them. The College fees policy
can be found here www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/services/rules/College-
Fees-Policy.pdf
Contact Details/Email
Birkbeck students are required to maintain their personal details via the
My Birkbeck Profile (student intranet) throughout their period of study.
Failure to maintain this information via your student portal will mean that
you may miss important information concerning the course. You may
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nominate an email via your My Birkbeck Profile. If you encounter any
difficulty with this process please visit the ITS Service Desk in the main
Malet Street building. Email is the normal means of communication in the
School of Arts.
School of Arts Location

The School of Arts is housed at 43 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PD,
where you will find the administrative offices and individual staff offices.
Teaching often takes place in our building, but your lectures may be held
in any of the University of London or University College London buildings.
Please login to your My Birkbeck Profile for access to your student
timetable and links to maps of the buildings.
The Administrative Office

Please contact your Programme Administrator by phone or email to
discuss any queries or to book an appointment. During term time, the
Gordon Square entrance is staffed from 8.00am to 9.00pm, Monday to
Friday and is open between 9.00am and 5.00pm on Saturdays (during
term time only).
Moodle (Birkbeck’s Virtual Learning Environment Platform)

Moodle is an online student portal. You will be expected to upload and
submit all assignment documents using Moodle throughout the
duration of your study. You can also use Moodle to access interactive
tutorials, lecture slides, reading lists and recorded lectures, career
management resources and your personal student record.
It is recommended all students access Moodle Support for Students to
become familiar with how to access Moodle and submit coursework online.
Please Login to Moodle with your Birkbeck College username and
password. If you do not have your username and password, please
contact ITS Reception in the main Malet Street building or by e-mail at its-
helpdesk@bbk.ac.uk. If you have difficulty using Moodle, please
contact/visit the ITS Help Desk where they can walk you through the
process.
Books: to buy or borrow?

Throughout your degree you will be given reading lists, which will include
both essential texts forming the basis of lectures and seminars, and
suggestions for wider reading. The distinction between these two
categories is clearly marked in this booklet. The first you will normally be
expected to buy (particular versions or editions are specified in some
cases) or photocopy from the short loan collection in Birkbeck Library. If
you have trouble obtaining the recommended edition, or already own an
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alternative, a substitute will often be acceptable; consult the lecturer
concerned if you are in any doubt. If you intend to rely on libraries, bear in
mind that many other students will inevitably need the books at exactly
the same time as you do. It is your responsibility to obtain these books in
time for the classes. If you do find that a book has become unobtainable
for any reason, please let the lecturer know as soon as possible.
Attendance Requirements
Taking a degree course at Birkbeck requires a high level of commitment,
and it is important that you attend seminars consistently. Regular
attendance is a requirement of every course unit and you will be required
to register your attendance each week. It is your responsibility to
make sure you sign in using the e-register (see below) at every
class you attend. It is accepted that through illness or exceptional
pressure at home or at work you may have to miss occasional classes, but
if you have to be absent from several classes, or you know that you are
going to have difficulties in attending regularly, please inform the
Programme Director. We do require notice of intended absence in
writing (by email) to your module tutor AND your Programme
Administrator.
Registering your attendance with eRegisters

The eRegisters system allows students to keep track of and monitor their
own attendance at teaching events. In Birkbeck teaching rooms, students
will be expected to tap their Birkbeck student ID card onto a card reader
at the beginning of each class. Please remember it is your
responsibility to bring your Birkbeck ID card to class to monitor
your attendance. This is especially important for those of you that
are Tier 4 students. For further information on eRegisters please click
here.
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Programme Structure
Part-Time
Term 1 Term 2 Term 3

Writing and Reading Option Summer tutorial
Part- Seminar Modules 1 tutorial: up to 15
time minutes
students Wednesday Various days
Year 1 Craft seminars and
2 tutorials (up to 30 visiting professionals
mins)
Contemporary Writing Dissertation
Part- Literature module Workshop supervision
time 2 tutorials: up to 30
students Various Days Wednesday minutes
Year 2
2 tutorials (up Craft seminars and
to 30 mins) visiting professionals
Full-time
Term 1 Term 2 Term 3

Writing and Reading Writing Workshop Dissertation supervision
Seminar Two tutorials up to 60
Wednesday minutes each
Wednesday
2 tutorials (up to 30
2 tutorials (up to 30 mins)
mins)
Contemporary Option Modules Craft seminars and

Literature module visiting professionals
Various Days
Various Days
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Aims and Outcomes of the Programme
The aims of the programme are to enable students to:
 Develop to a professional level the craft of writing in a particular genre

 Develop confidence, sensitivity and discernment in their analysis of
their own and their fellow students’ work
 Develop a greater critical understanding of contemporary literary
developments
 Place their own writing in the context of developments in contemporary
fiction
 Develop to professional level skill in editing of both their own and
fellow students’ creative work
 Gain a greater practical knowledge and understanding of the markets
for fiction
 Complete under supervision a creative dissertation of high literary
quality
By the end of the programme students will have:
 Developed the skills and techniques involved in writing in a particular

genre and in completing a substantial creative dissertation
 Developed a critical understanding of literary writing through study of

contemporary movements and theory, close readings of individual
texts and by placing your own work in relation to contemporary writers
 Gained practical knowledge of the publishing industry by learning how

to present and market your creative work
 Completed and submitted for assessment a creative writing portfolio
Module Availability
We reserve the right to cancel modules that do not recruit the minimum
student numbers as required by Birkbeck College. In addition, please
remember that both the requirements of the Department and the personal
circumstances of tutors may change over the course of the year. This
booklet is for reference only.
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Module Information
Autumn Term
The autumn term starts on Monday 30th September with an induction

for all new students on Thursday 26 th of September. This is an
opportunity for you to meet tutors and fellow students and to learn more
about the programme. It is important that you attend as the course pack
for the Writing and Reading Seminar will be distributed, and class groups
will be drawn up.
Details of the induction will be sent to students via email closer to the
date.
The first Writing and Reading Seminar will run on Wednesday 2 October.
Writing and Reading Seminar

ENHU036S7
Wednesday
6:00pm-8.30pm
Tutors: Julia Bell, Toby Litt, Jodie Kim
Module Aims and Outcomes

 Develop to a professional level the craft of writing in the short story
genre
developments
fiction
for fiction
Module Description
This module focuses on the student’s emerging creative writing and the
significance of reading texts for the writer. Each of the ten sessions is
divided into writing segments where students present a short story for the
class to critique (These stories should be no longer than 3000 words in
length but can be shorter). This is followed by a 1000 word critical
reflection choosing one essential reading from the module. How has this
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story helped you improve your own writing? Ground your answer in close
reading using two technical themes (POV, time, territory, etc).
Assignment Description Weighting
Coursework 3000 word short story
Assessed Essay 1000 word critical 100%
reflection
Required Texts
Required reading will be made available at the start of term (via the
course reader or Moodle). It is your responsibility to read set texts in
advance of class each week.
Coursework Deadline: Monday 13 January 2020, 2pm via Turnitin
Optional Reading
Babel, Isaac, The Collected Stories of Isaac Babel (Norton, 2002)
Barry, Kevin, Dark Lies the Island (Vintage, 2013)
Barrett, Colin, Young Skins (Cape, 2014)
Bennett, Claire-Louise, Pond (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2015)
Carter, Angela, The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories (Gollanz, 1979)
Carver, Raymond, Where I’m Calling From (Harvill, 1993)
Chekhov, Anton, The Kiss and other Stories (Penguin, 1982)
Davis, Lydia, Almost No Memory (Picador USA, 2001)
Joyce, James, Dubliners (Penguin, 2007)
July, Miranda, No One Belongs Here More Than You (Canongate 2007)
Keegan, Claire, Antarctica (Faber, 1999)
McGregor, Jon, This isn't the sort of thing that happens to someone like
you (Bloomsbury, 2013)
Mansfield, Katherine, The Collected Stories (Penguin, 2004)
Munro, Alice, Too Much Happiness (Vintage, 2010)
Packer, Z.Z., Drinking Coffee Elsewhere (Canongate, 2004)
Proulx, Annie, Close Range: Wyoming Stories (4th Estate, 2000)
Saunders, George, Tenth of December (Bloomsbury, 2013)
Simpson, Helen, Hey Yeah Right Get a Life (Vintage, 2001)
Williams, Eley, Attrib. and Other Stories (Influx, 2017)
Further Reading
Alvarez, Al – The Writer’s Voice (Bloomsbury, 2006)
Bell, Julia, and Paul Magrs, eds, The Creative Writing
Coursebook (Macmillan, 2000)
Cohen, Robert and Parini, Jay, eds, The Writer’s Reader (Bloomsbury
2017)
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Litt, Toby, Mutants: Selected Essays (Seagull Books, 2016)
Lodge, David, The Art of Fiction (Penguin, 1992)
O'Connor, Flannery, Mystery and Manners (Faber, 1984)
O'Connor, Frank, The Lonely Voice (Melville, 2011)
Websites
Thresholds Short Story Forum: http://blogs.chi.ac.uk/shortstoryforum/
Granta: http://www.granta.com/New-Writing
Paris Review: http://www.theparisreview.org/
New Yorker Fiction
Podcasts: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/podcast/
Word Factory Video Archive: http://www.thewordfactory.tv/site/
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Contemporary Literature Modules
Please note that options will only run if student numbers meet
the School of Arts minimum requirement, and therefore
undersubscribed options may be cancelled.
Poetry Workshop
AREN120S7
Monday
6:00-8:30pm
Tutor: Dr Hannah Copley
Fiction is a language art and a narrative form. Everything however, is built

out of the sentence. Not just a carrier of narrative, a sentence has to be
its own story. It needs to be declarative and arresting. In other words, the
sentence has to do everything.
One of the best training grounds for the novelist on the level of the
sentence is a poetry workshop. Poetry is a concentration of language,
where not a single word can be wasted. Poetry also has rhythm and
musicality.
This poetry workshop will be useful to all students of fiction who want to
improve their literary language skills and push the sentence to another
level of expertise.
Learning Objectives and Aims

On successful completion of this module, students will be expected:
 To be able to compose poetry at a formal and experimental level.
 To demonstrate knowledge of various set forms
 To evaluate their own work in a critical fashion.
 To apply their new skills to other modes of writing.
 The module will further provide students with a broad knowledge of
published poetry
Communication skills learned in the workshop will aid them both socially
and professionally.
Module Description
We will read from a variety of poetries with an eye and an ear to the
particular uses of language and form which we find in verse, contrasting
familiar, canonical texts with modern re-interpretations while attempting
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our own reworkings of that material. Throughout the course we will take
care to see which elements of poetic language and form touch on and
inform the practices of prose-writers, while creating new poetry
responding to our discoveries and workshopping it together.
The poetic representation of the self will be at the heart of our reading.
Taking a roughly chronological approach, we will read poems and critical
essays that address the way that poetry’s representation of the self has
shifted, comparing the amorous lyric self of sonnets with the heroic social
consciousness of epic and “the death of the author” in the twentieth-
century.
Attitudes towards nature and politics—and their representation through

form—will be to the fore throughout. We will ask how form changes when
we consider such questions, and if the quality of the language we use
affects the way we think about our subject—a central consideration as we
seek to understand and to create a “poetics”.
Coursework and Assessment

Assessed Essay 1500 word essay on one aspect
of the craft of poetry 100%
Portfolio of Poems Up to 12 poems (approximately
100-150 lines), some of which
have been previously submitted
to the workshop
Coursework Deadline
Monday 13 January 2020, 2pm via Turnitin
Required Reading
 A selection of essays and poems posted weekly on Moodle during
the term.
 Hirsch, Edward, How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love with Poetry
(Harvest 1999)

Recommended Reading
 Hilson, Jeff, The Reality Street Book of Sonnets (Reality Street 2008)
 Eliot, T.S. The Waste Land and Other Poems (Faber, 2002)
 Lowell, Robert, Life Studies (Faber, 1959)
 Frank O’Hara, Lunch Poems (City Lights 1964)
 Riley, Denise, Selected Poems (Reality Street 2000)
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 Griffiths, Eric and Matthew Reynolds, Dante in English (Penguin
2005)
 Wordsworth, William, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge Lyrical Ballads
(Routledge 2005)
 O’Sullivan, Maggie, Out of Everywhere: Linguistically Innovative
Poetry by Women in North America and the UK (Reality Street 1996)
 Notley, Alice, The Descent of Alette (Penguin, 1996)
 Walcott, Derek, Omeros (Faber 2002)
 Rothenberg, Jerome and Pierre Joris (eds.), Poems for the
Millennium: The University of California Book of Modern and
Postmodern Poetry, Vol. 1: From Fin-de-Siecle to Negritude
(California 1995)
 Rothenberg, Jerome and Pierre Joris (eds.), Poems for the
Millennium: The University of California Book of Modern and
Postmodern Poetry, Vol. 2: From Postwar to Millennium (California
1998)
 Salzman, Eva and Wack, Amy Eds., Women’s Work, (Seren, 2008)
 Strand, Mark and Eavan Boland, The Making of a Poem: A Norton
Anthology of Poetic Forms (Norton, 2000)
Websites
The Poetry Library: http://www.poetrylibrary.org.uk/
The Poetry Society: http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/
Poetry Foundation: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/
Academy of American Poets: http://www.poets.org/
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Contemporary Literature: Genre
ENHU041S7
Thursday
6:00pm-8.30pm
Tutor: Darragh Martin
Module Description
Whatever your voice or thematic preoccupation, it’s almost a certainty
that you will have to place your characters within a compelling story if
they are to engage the reader from the first page to the last. Easier said
than done, perhaps. Conflict, passion, risk and uncertainty are the
powerful forces at work in the world of your characters, but how can you
channel these into an effective plot that provokes the reader into turning
the pages?
There are few better ways of exploring these issues than looking at what
is often labeled “genre fiction”. Dealing predominantly with matters of
plot and narrative, this module will focus as much on the underlying and
archetypal structures that genre stories seem to share as on the features
that distinguish one genre from another.
We will read and dissect examples of each of these genres:

science fiction, Young Adult fiction, historical fiction, crime fiction.
Learning Aims and Objectives

This module will:
 Begin to develop your skill as a writer of genre.
 Give you a broad understanding of the textual strategies
underlying a range of genres that dominate contemporary
story-telling.
 Develop your skills of self-evaluation and constructive
analysis of your own work and the work of others.
 Provide you with a strong sense of the principles of narrative
and plot structure.
 Enable you to understand how generic expectation within
the reader is an important tool to be exploited.
 Enable you to engage imaginatively in the analysis and
interpretation of published novels and develop your own
practice as a writer.
 Respond more effectively to the work of others; to
participate in workshop or small group discussion by
listening and contributing ideas in a sensitive and
informed manner.
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 Demonstrate an awareness of the industry-standard
expectations for the presentation of your creative work.

You will be expected to write 1000 words in each genre for homework,
and choose one genre in which to write your final submission coursework.
Genre fiction piece 3000 words in either of the three
genres studied 100%
Critical/reflective 2000 words
essay
Coursework Deadline
Monday 13 January 2020, 2pm via Turnitin
Required Reading (Fiction)
Mitchell, David, Cloud Atlas (2004)

Christie, Agatha, The Hollow (1946)
Le Guin, Ursula, The Dispossessed (1974)
Okorafor, Nnedi, Binti (2015)
Mantel, Hilary, Wolf Hall (2009)
Thomas, Angie, The Hate You Give (2017)
Required Reading (Non-Fiction)

Barthes, Roland, “Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narratives” in
Image, Music, Text (1977) (PDF on Moodle).
Highsmith, Patricia, Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction (1966)
(photocopied extract to be supplied).
Le Guin, Ursula, ‘The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction’ (1988) (pdf supplied)
Recommended Reading
Students are not required to buy these books but they are recommended
as useful ancillary reading for the module:
Hammett, Dashiell, The Maltese Falcon (1930)

French, Tana, The Trespasser (2016)
Jemisin, N.K., The Fifth Season (2015)
Waters, Sarah, Affinity (2002)
Whitehead, Colson, The Underground Railroad (2016)
Salinger, J. D., The Catcher in the Rye (1951)
Rosoff, Meg, How I Live Now (2004)
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Writing the Self
AREN238S7
Tuesday
6:00pm-8.30pm
Tutor: Katherine Angel
Literary non-fiction is enjoying a surge in visibility and popularity, with

memoir, personal essay, and lyric essay reaching a wide readership,
garnering critical acclaim, and winning prizes. Texts that have recently
received attention include Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts, a lyric essay
exploring transgender identity; The Lonely City, Olivia Laing’s meditative
book on a cluster of mostly gay male artists associated with New York
City; Eula Biss’s On Immunity, an erudite and personal essay on infection
and motherhood, and Katherine Angel’s formally inventive hybrid text,
Unmastered: A Book on Desire, Most Difficult To Tell.
This module will examine the craft of good literary non-fiction in the first
person, but it will also begin to question and deconstruct some of the
orthodoxies of this kind of writing. Exploring the formal, narrative, and
ethical questions these texts raise, the module will put these texts into
dialogue with critical and theoretical writings exploring the stakes in
writing about the self, identity, and subjectivity. We will explore political
questions of power, community, speech, responsibility, and identity-
formation, questions vital for writers to engage with as they explore the
creative content, form and voice of their own writing. On whose behalf are
they writing? Who are they writing for? What subjectivity can they access
and mine when writing from their own lives, given the challenge that
various thinkers in the 20th and 21st centuries have posed to notions of the
self and truth-telling about that self? Exploration of these questions,
alongside detailed attention to technical questions, will help students
develop a rigorous approach to their own first-person writing.
Module Content
Week One
Introduction: Finding the Right Persona: Rules of Thumb in Memoir
Required Reading:
Vivian Gornick, Fierce Attachments: A Memoir
Extracts from Mary Karr, The Art of Memoir
Further Reading:
Vivian Gornick, The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative
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Week Two
Writing What You Know? Memory and Self-Knowledge
Required Reading:
Lara Pawson, This Is The Place To Be
Freud, ‘The unconscious’, Standard Edition XIV, or ‘’Notes on a case of
obsessional neurosis’, Standard Edition X
Week Three
Subject Positions: The Possibility of Expression
Required reading:
Hilton Als, ‘GWTW’, in White Girls
Sara Ahmed, ‘Institutional Life’, & ‘Speaking About Racism’, in On Being
Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life
Further Reading:
Kate Zambreno, Heroines
Week Four
Survival’s Ethics: The Politics of Illness
Required Reading
Anne Boyer, The Undying
Further Reading
Porochista Khakpour, Sick: A Memoir
Johanna Hedva, ‘Sick Woman Theory’
Week Five
Grief and Grievability
Required Reading
Jesmyn Ward, Men We Reaped
Extracts from Judith Butler, Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable?
Week Seven
Gender and form
Required Reading
Maggie Nelson, The Argonauts
Laboria Cuboniks, The Xenofeminist Manifesto: A Politics for Alienation
Further Reading
Jacqueline Rose, ‘Trans Narratives’, LRB
Andrea Long Chu, ‘On Liking Women, n+1
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Week Eight
Trauma and the Possibility of Writing
Required Reading
Jenn Ashworth, Notes Made While Falling
Week Nine
Who Are We? Sexuality and History
Required Reading
Alexander Chee, How To Write an Autobiographical Novel
Edouard Louis, The End of Eddy
Further Reading
Michel Foucault, The Will to Knowledge: A History of Sexuality
Week Ten
I or We? On Speaking For Others
Juliet Jacques, Trans: A Memoir
Alison Kafer, Feminist Queer Crip
Week Eleven
On In-between-ness
Will Harris, Mixed-Race Superman
FURTHER READING
Gloria Andalzua, Borderlands (1987)
James Baldwin, Nobody Knows My Name (1991)
Dodie Bellamy, ‘Phone Home’, in When The Sick Rule the World (2015)
Judith Butler, Gender Trouble and Bodies that matter: on the discursive
limits of ‘sex’ (1993)
Judith Butler, Giving An Account of Oneself (2005)
Marie Calloway, What purpose did I serve in your life? (2013)
Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me (2015)
Kimberlé Crenshaw, Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed
the Movement (1995)
Ann Cvetkovich, Depression: A Public Feeling (2012)
Lee Edelman, No Future: queer theory and the death drive (2004)
Hervé Guibert, Crazy for Vincent (2017)
Herve Guibert, To the Friend Who Did Not Save My Life (1990)
Eva Hoffman Lost in translation (1989)
20
Maxine Hong Kingston, Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among
Ghosts (1989)
Chris Kraus, I Love Dick (1997)
Yiyun Li Dear friend: from my life I write to you in your life (2017)
Hannah Lowe Long Time No See (2015) and Chick (2013)
Michel Leiris, Manhood (1992)
Wendy C Ortiz, Excavation (2014)
Caryl Phillips, Colour me English (2011)
Jasbir Puar, The Right to Maim: Debility, Capacity, Disability (2013)
Gillian Rose, Love’s Work (1995)
Gayle Rubin, ‘Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of
Sexuality’, in Carole Vance, ed., Pleasure and Danger (Routledge & Kegan,
Paul (1984)
Edward Said, Reflections on Exile (2000)
William Styron, Darkness Visible (1990)
Emily Witt, Future Sex (2016)
Assessment
Piece of first-person writing
Creative 4000 words
Critical 1000 words 100%
Coursework Deadline
Monday 13 January 2020 2pm via Turnitin
21
Spring Term
The Spring term begins on Monday 13 January 2020 Full and part-time
first year students take one option course (Creative Writing option details
follow here and online). Full-time and second year part-time students also
take the Writing Workshop.
The Writing Workshop

ENHU039S7
Wednesday
6:00pm-8.30pm
Tutors: Toby Litt, Jodie Kim, Mark Blacklock, Julia Bell
Module Outcomes and Aims

 Develop to a professional level the craft of writing in either the short
story or novel genre
developments
 Place their own writing in the context of developments in
contemporary fiction
 Gain a greater practical knowledge and understanding of the
markets for fiction
Module Descriptions
This workshop follows on from the Writing and Reading Seminar and
centres upon students’ own writing (4000 words maximum per
submission). There will be no published texts used in the workshop.
Instead ongoing reference will be made to specific examples of
contemporary writing that relate in some way to each student’s work. You
will have the opportunity to continue writing short stories or begin to
develop a novel with the critical support of the class.
Essential Reading:
Cohen, Robert and Parini, Jay, eds, The Writer’s Reader (Bloomsbury
2017)

22
Coursework 4000 words 100%
Coursework Deadline
Monday 27th April 2020, 2pm via Turnitin.
Required Texts Reading

Alvarez, Al, The Writer’s Voice (Bloomsbury, 2006)
Bell, J., and P. Magrs, eds, The Creative Writing Handbook (Macmillan,
2001)
Further Reading
Bennet, Alan, Writing Home (Faber, 1998)
Berger, John, Ways of Seeing, (Penguin, 1972)
Bradbury, Malcolm, ed., The Novel Today: Contemporary Writers on
Modern Fiction (Fontana, 1990)
Cixous, Hélène, Three Steps on the Ladder of Writing (Columbia University
Press, 1993)
Cuddon, J. A., Book of Literary Terms and Literary Theory (Penguin, 1992)
Eagleton, Terry, Literary Theory (Blackwells, 1996)
O’Connor, Flannery, Mystery & Manners: Occasional Prose (Farrar Straus
Giroux, 1969)
Sellers, Susan, ed., Taking Reality By Surprise (Women’s Press, 1991)
Singleton, J., and M. Luckhurst, eds, The Creative Writing Handbook
(Macmillan, 1996)
Turner, Barry, ed., The Writer’s Handbook (Macmillan - yearly)
23
Option Modules
Options are allocated on a first come, first served basis. Students select
ONE of the following modules, nominating a SECOND & THIRD choice in the
event your first choice module is oversubscribed. You will be contacted by
your Administrator when it is time to make your selections.
Please note that options will only run if there are enough students
and therefore undersubscribed options may be cancelled.
You are strongly advised to give careful consideration to options

offered by the Department of English and Humanities and not just
those options taught by members of the creative writing team. The
opportunity to study under world-class academics is a chance not
to be missed that will extend your range of literary reference and
help contextualise your own writing. If you would like to consider
an option in another department not listed in this handbook,
please contact your programme director.
Full details of all the options offered by the Department are available online,
you will be sent the relevant link in due course.
24
Creative Non-Fiction
ENHU002S7
Tuesday
6:00pm-8.30pm
Tutors: Julia Bell, Richard Hamblyn
Module Outcomes and Objectives

By the end of this module students will have gained:
 An awareness of the styles, forms and elements of the non-fiction
writer’s craft, including the processes of research and exposition.
 An understanding of recent and contemporary creative non-fiction
across a range of forms and genres (travel, nature, life writing,
reportage, creative documentary, verbatim theatre), and an
understanding of its place within literary canons.
 The confidence to tackle craft-related problems in areas such as
structure, setting, atmosphere, and the use of dialogue and telling
detail.
 The confidence to recognise and understand sources of inspiration
and creativity.
 The ability to use research-generated ideas more confidently,
precisely, and imaginatively.
 Confidence in handling a variety of research methodologies
(whether electronic, archival, interview-based or investigative), with
insight and creativity.
 An awareness of the industry-standard expectations for the
presentation of non-fiction writing, including its bibliographic and
citation conventions.
 Enhanced skills of self-evaluation as well as constructive analysis of
the work of others.
 The critical and creative skills needed to realise a personal writing
project, taking it from initial idea, through research to writing and
editing.
Module Description
“We like non-fiction because we live in fictitious times” – Michael Moore
This ten-week module aims to develop the understanding and practice of

non-fiction writing in all its forms, covering all aspects of the craft from
ideas to research and writing. It will be taught through an interactive mix of
reading, writing, discussion and peer appraisal.
The course will be split into two five week periods. The first five weeks
focused on reading, discussion, and exercises. The second five weeks will
25
give every student an opportunity to workshop ONE piece of work of up to
5,000 words.
During the first 5 weeks each student will be expected to deliver a short
(8 minute) presentation on that week’s set text. The presentation can be
about any aspect of the book that interests them, but as well as subject,
we will be looking at structure, delivery, style and technique.
EVERYONE is expected to read the five set texts – even if they are
not presenting - the secondary reading would be helpful but is
not essential.
The assessment for the course will comprise a piece of original Creative
Non-Fiction of up to 5,000 words. Each student will have ONE 30 min
tutorial will the tutor in the second half of term.
Module Content
Week 1 Plenary Session
Introduction: the ‘truth’ vs the Truth
What The Garbageman Knows – Peter Hessler (New
Yorker)
Week 2 Politics
Funder, Anna – Stasiland (Granta 2011)
Secondary Reading: Orwell, George - Down and Out in
Paris and London (Penguin Classics 2001)
Week 3 Workshop 1
Week 4 Place
Capote, Truman - In Cold Blood (Penguin 2012)
Solnit, Rebecca, A Field Guide to Getting Lost (Canongate,
2008)
Week 5 Workshop 2
Week 6 READING WEEK
Personal
Winterson, Jeanette, Why Be Happy When You Could Be
Normal (Vintage, 2012); vs Oranges Are Not The Only
Fruit (Vintage, 1991)
Week 7 Workshop 3
Set essay
Week 8 Society
Didion, Joan – The White Album (FSG 2009)
Baldwin, James – The Fire Next Time (Penguin, 1963)
26
Week 9 Workshop 4
Week 10 Workshop 5

The assessment is via
Coursework a 5,000-word piece of 100%
original creative non-
fiction.
Coursework Deadline
Monday 27 April 2020, 2pm via Turnitin
Further Reading
Essential
Cline, Sally and Midge Gillies, The Arvon Book of Literary Non-Fiction
(Bloomsbury, 2012)
Recommended
Beaumont, Matthew and Gregory Dart (eds), Restless Cities (Verso, 2010)
Bechdel, Alison, Fun Home A Family Tragicomic (Jonathan Cape, 2006)
Bourdain, Anthony, Kitchen Confidential (Bloomsbury, 2000)
Carey, John (ed.), The Faber Book of Reportage (Faber, 1996)
Clanchy, Kate, Antigone and Me (Picador, 2010)
Capote, Truman, In Cold Blood (Penguin Modern Classics, 2000)
Eggers, Dave, Zeitoun (Penguin, 2011)
Ephron, Nora, I Remember Nothing and Other Reflections (Doubleday,

2011)
Gerard, Phillip, Creative Nonfiction: Researching and Crafting Stories of

Real Life (Waveland Press, 2004)
Granta 66: Truth + Lies (Granta, 1999)
Granta 102: The New Nature Writing (Granta, 2008)
Greenlaw, Lavinia, The Importance of Music to Girls (Faber, 2007)
27
Gross, John (ed.), The Oxford Book of Essays (Oxford University Press,
1991)
Gutkind, Lee (ed.), In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction (W. W. Norton,
2005)
Hamblyn, Richard, Terra: Tales of the Earth (Picador, 2009)
Hammond, Will (ed.), Verbatim Verbatim: Techniques in Contemporary

Documentary Theatre (Oberon, 2008)
Hersey, John, Hiroshima (1946; Penguin Modern Classics, 2002)
Holmes, Richard, Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer (1985;

Flamingo, 2005)
Jack, Ian (ed.), The Granta Book of Reportage (Granta, 2006)
Jamie, Kathleen, Sightlines (Sort Of Books, 2012)
Kramer, Mark & Wendy Call (eds), Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction
Writers’ Guide (Plume Books, 2007)
Kingsolver, Barbara, Small Wonder: Essays (Faber & Faber, 2002)
Lopate, Philip (ed.), The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the
Classical Era to the Present (Anchor Books, 1995)
Masters, Alexander, Stuart: A Life Backwards (Harper Perennial, 2007)
McPhee, John, The John McPhee Reader (Farrar Straus Giroux, 1977)
Miller, Brenda & Suzanne Paola, Tell it Slant: Writing and Shaping Creative
Nonfiction (McGraw-Hill, 2005)
Orlean, Susan, The Orchid Thief (Vintage, 2000)
Oswald, Alice, Dart (Faber and Faber, 2002)
Sage, Lorna, Bad Blood (Fourth Estate, 2000)
Satrapi, Marjane, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (Jonathan Cape,

2003)
Schama, Simon, Dead Certainties: Unwarranted Speculations (Granta,

1991)
Sebald, W. G., The Emigrants (Vintage, 2002)
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Sedaris, David, Me Talk Pretty One Day (Abacus, 2002)
Shields, David, Reality Hunger: A Manifesto (Penguin, 2011)
Sullivan, John Jeremiah, Pulphead (Vintage, 2012)
Talese, Gay (ed.), The Literature of Reality: Writing Creative Nonfiction

(HarperCollins, 1996), Frank Sinatra Has a Cold and Other Essays (Penguin
Classics, 2011)
Wallace, David Foster, Consider the Lobster, and Other Essays (Abacus,
2007)
Zinsser, William (ed.), Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir
(Mariner Books, 1998)
29
Introduction to Screenwriting
ENHU040S7
Tuesday
6:00pm-8.30pm
Tutor: David Stafford
Learning Objectives and Aims

 An advanced understanding of the craft of professional
screenwriting as it’s currently practised in the industry.
Module Description
This module will give students as thorough a grounding in the art, craft
and business of writing for the screen as possible in ten weeks. Through a
mix of interactive seminar presentations, assignments, workshops and
analyses of produced screenplays (both on screen and on the page), we
will develop an appreciation and understanding of:
 the tools of screenwriting (plot structure, characterisation, theme,

dialogue etc.)
 knowledge of that which distinguishes the process of writing for the
screen from writing prose fiction or stage drama.
The course will examine screenwriting techniques relevant to a wide

range of genres and screenwriting forms. By the end of the module
students will have produced two drafts of an original script (15-30
correctly formatted pages), analyzed a feature-length screenplay and
viewed a wide range of complementary material.

An original short 15-30 correctly formatted pages 100%
script
Coursework Deadline
Monday 27 April 2020, 2pm via Turnitin
Films that may be referenced
An Education, w. Nick Hornby, d. Lone Scherfig (2009)

Blackkklansman, w. Charlie Wathcel (and 3 others), d. Spike Lee (2018)
Bridesmaids, w. Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig, d. Paul Feig (2011)
Casablanca, w. Julius J. Epstein (and 2 others), d. Michael Curtiz (1942)
30
Drive, w. Hossein Amini, d. Nicolas Winding Refn (2011)
Get Out, w. & d. Jordan Peele (2017)
Jaws, w. Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb, d. Steven Spielberg (1975)
Lady Bird, w. & d. Greta Gerwig (2017)
Mississippi Damned, w. & d. Tina Mabry (2009)
Star Wars Ep. IV – A New Hope, w. & d. George Lucas (1977)
The Godfather, Pt. II, w. Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo, d. Francis
Ford Coppola (1974)
The King’s Speech, w. David Seidler, d. Tom Hooper (2010)
Suggested reading
Field, Syd – The Deifinitive Guide to Screenwriting (Ebury Press, 2003)
Goldman, William, Adventures In The Screen Trade (Macdonald, 1983)
Hudson, Kim, The Virgin's Promise: Writing Stories of Feminine Creative,
Spiritual, and Sexual Awakening (Michael Wiese Productions, 2010)
Jacey, Helen, The Woman in the Story: Writing Memorable Female
Characters (Michael Wiese, 2017)
Keane, Christopher, How to Write a Selling Screenplay (Broadway Books,
1998)
Mamet, David, Bambi Versus Godzilla (Pantheon Books, 2007)
McKee, Robert – Story (Methuen, 1999)
Press, Joy, Stealing the Show: How Women are Revolutionizing Television
(Atria Books, 2019)
Seger, Linda, Creating Unforgettable Characters (Henry Holt, 1998)
Seger, Linda, Making a Good Script Great (Simian-James Press, 2010)
Snyder, Blake- Save the Cat! (Michael Wiese, 2005)
Trottier, David, The Screenwriter's Bible (Silman-James Press, 2005)
Vogler, Christopher, The Writer's Journey (Boxtree, 1996)
Yorke, John, Into the Woods (Penguin, 2014)
31
Introduction to Playwriting
ENHU124S7
Mondays
6:00pm-8.30pm
Tutor: Darragh Martin
Learning Outcomes and Objectives

This module will:
 Provide a coherent and gradated introduction to writing for the
dramatic form and thereby enable students to broaden their skills’
base.
 Deepen students’ awareness of the dramatic form and the
playwright’s craft.
 Develop students’ skills of self-evaluation and constructive analysis
of their own dramatic work, and that of others.
 Enable students to develop skills in editing and revising their own
playwriting.
Having taken this module the successful student will be able to:
 Demonstrate awareness and control of the elements of dramatic
writing.
 Discuss and evaluate the work of fellow students and established
playwrights in relation to elements of craft.
 Experiment with style and form.
 Solve craft-related problems in their own dramatic work.
 Implement the practice of redrafting and editing.
Module Description
This module offers students the opportunity to develop both their
understanding of and writing skills in playwriting from first principles to
final draft. Through weekly workshops the student will also consider the
various means of theatrical production and the nature of the business of
writing for the stage. The weekly sessions combine presentations by both
lecturer and student on aspects of craft, writing exercises and feedback,
analyses of canonical and contemporary plays, and ongoing script
development. The student will gain a thorough grounding in the
fundamental elements of playwriting such as: dramatic structure,
character, dialogue, subtext and the manipulation of theatrical space and
time. By the end of the module students will have produced two a
workshopped short original play script or an excerpt of a full length play
(4500 words including stage directions), and a 1000 word reflection on the
process of developing the piece and the dramaturgical challenges and
choices involved.
32
NB In the event of this module being oversubscribed, the 15 available
places will be offered to the first five students to apply from each of the
MA Creative Writing and MFA Theatre Directing programmes.

Original Playscript Either a complete one act play or 85%
part of a full length script, (4500
words) (formatted to industry
standard)
Essay on craft 1,000 words 15%
Coursework Deadline
Monday 27 April 2020 2pm via Turnitin
Suggested further reading:

Aristotle, Poetics, (Dover Thrift, 1997 or any edition)
Aykbourn, Alan, The Crafty Art of Playmaking, (Palgrave McMillan, 2003)
Barker, Howard, Arguments for a Theatre, (Manchester University Press,

1997)
Beckett, Samuel, The Complete Plays, (Faber)
Brook, Peter, The Empty Space, (Penguin, 1968, or any edition)
Chekhov, Anton, The Cherry Orchard, (Penguin, 2004)
Churchill, Caryl, A Number, (Churchill Plays 4, Nick Hern Books, 2008)
Edgar, David (ed), State of Play: Playwrights on Playwriting, (Faber &

Faber, 1999)
Kane, Sarah, Complete Plays, (Methuen, 2001)
Mamet, David, A Whore’s Profession, (Faber, 1994)
Pinter, Harold, The Caretaker, (Faber 1991, or any edition)
Sophocles, Oedipus the King, (Penguin, 1984 or any edition)
Teevan, Colin, How Many Miles to Basra?, (Oberon 2007)
Teevan, Colin, Missing Persons: Four Tragedies and Roy Keane, (Oberon,
2006)
33
Summer Term
The summer term is a non-assessed term, however attendance at the

lectures and craft seminars is strongly encouraged. You will receive
dissertation supervision and a preface advice session. In addition, there
will be an ten-week series of lectures and craft seminars focusing on
aspects of narrative design, together with talks from visiting speakers.
Previous speakers have included prizewinning authors, literary agents,
book publishers and specialists on e-publishing.
Dissertation
ENHU002D7
For full-time students in year 1; part-time students in year 1 and
2
By appointment
Module Aims and Outcomes

 Develop to a professional level the craft of writing in the short story or
novel genre
developments
fiction
 Develop to professional level skill in editing of their own creative work
for fiction
Module Description
Students work with their supervisors on the dissertation in one-to-one
tutorials. For practical and pedagogic reasons the structure of the
supervisions is slightly different for part-time and full-time students.
Supervision slots will be available from mid-May through to the beginning
of July. Students are expected to make appointments with tutors through
the online diary, Doodle.
Part-time students
You will have a fifteen minute tutorial in your first year followed by two
half an hour supervisions in your second year.
In the first year, your tutorial will be an exploratory discussion of ideas for
your dissertation and an overview of your writing development thus far.
34
In the second year, your two supervisions will closely focus on the
development of your prosewriting and ideas. You will need to produce
3,000 words of new work at least a week in advance of each supervision
Full-time students
You will be assigned two supervisors in the summer term. With each
supervisor, you will have a one hour supervision, totalling two
supervisions in your final term. You will need to produce 4,000 words of
new work at least a week in advance of each supervision.
Submissions for supervisions

The work can be a section of a novel, or several short stories, a piece of
creative non-fiction, or a screenplay, but must not be work that has
already been marked as your assignments for modules. You must
submit your work to your supervisor at least ONE WEEK before the date of
the supervision. The aim of these tutorials is to help and guide you
towards the writing of the 15,000 word dissertation itself, due in
September of your graduating year and also to discuss your on-going
writing projects. You will get oral feedback from tutors, with some
annotation on the scripts themselves.
Please note: to remove the possibility of students duplicating work

previously submitted for assessment, all dissertation material must not
have been previously assessed. New work (stories or novel extracts)
should be submitted for dissertation supervision in the summer
term and for eventual submission for final assessment in
September.
Preface
The preface is a hybrid form of literary essay/critical self-assessment and
is intended to explain how you came to write the creative work in your
dissertation. This is an opportunity to describe the personal journey
involved in crafting an extended creative work over the course of the
programme. You should discuss the development of your writing in terms
of the literary influences upon it, citing at least six influencing texts,
The completed Dissertation must include a 3,000 word preface. If

submitting a novel extract you may include a brief synopsis, if necessary,
that does not have to be included in the word count.

Dissertation 15,000 words 100%
Preface 3,000 words
35
Due 2pm, Monday 14th September 2020 via Turnitin
Important Information
Part-time students should normally complete the term one Writing and
Reading module before beginning Dissertation supervision.
Full-time students should normally have completed all the modules in the
programme before beginning dissertation supervision.
36
The Mechanics’ Institute Review
The Mechanics’ Institute Review is an annual magazine of short fiction by

Birkbeck Creative Writing students, and MACW Alumni. A call for
submissions is sent out annually in December and students can volunteer
to form an editorial team who will be responsible for selecting the material
to be published. Students will be expected to make decisions on format,
content, design, and production, as well as oversee the physical
manufacture and launch of the magazine. Although students who
volunteer will not be eligible to submit work to that year’s issue of MIR,
they will be able to submit in subsequent years. Students are encouraged
to visit London Bookfair in April (free to students). A call for volunteers will
go out in November.
37
Coursework Presentation and Plagiarism
Guidelines and Style sheet
References within your essay and the bibliography should be full,

consistent and properly presented. You are expected to consult and
follow the MHRA Style Book where a much fuller discussion of
presentation is to be found. It can be downloaded from the Department of
English and Humanities website:
http://www.mhra.org.uk/Publications/Books/StyleGuide/download.shtml.
Essays for options run by departments other than English and Humanities
should, however, follow their documentation guidelines.
While minor lapses (e.g. commas out of place, forgetting to mention the
translator of a work in the bibliography) may be ignored if they are
infrequent, you will be penalized for sloppy and inaccurate
documentation. While doing your preparatory reading, it is important to
take full and accurate references so as to avoid spending a great deal of
time hunting back through works to find page numbers etc.
Often MA students underestimate the time it takes to prepare a successful

essay. This is not only because of the extent of the reading required, but
because constructing a carefully-documented piece, and dealing with a
larger body of primary and secondary materials than you are likely to
have experienced in writing undergraduate essays, is a time-consuming
process. No matter how long you spend on doing the preparatory
reading, leave yourself plenty of time to write your piece.
Presentation
Editions
Wherever possible, standard editions should be used, especially for
passages essential to the argument of the essay. References to the same
work should be to the same edition, unless differences between editions
are relevant to the argument of the essay.
Quotations
Quotations must be accurate and should be checked carefully before the
essay is submitted.
Prose quotations up to about three lines and verse quotations up to one

full line should be incorporated into the body of the text. Longer
38
quotations should be inset, in which case inverted commas are not
needed.
Once the source of quotation has been clearly identified in a footnote,

quotations from the same text and edition can be identified by page
number (or line number, or act, scene and line number etc., as
appropriate) in parentheses immediately after the quotations, thus
avoiding unnecessary footnotes.
Footnotes
Footnotes should be succinct; they should not become miniature essays.
There are good grounds for restricting footnotes to:
i) The identification of quotations and other essential
documentation.
ii) Undeveloped references to other relevant material: ‘see also…’
Documenting footnotes should follow the sequences:

a) Printed books: author, title (underlined); editor’s name (if
appropriate, preceded by ‘ed.’); place and date of publication (in
parentheses); volume and/or page number(s).
b) Periodical articles: author, title of article (within single inverted
commas); title of periodical (underlined); volume number; date of
publication (in parentheses); page number(s).
Sample footnotes:
(1) G. R. Hibbard, Thomas Nashe: A Critical Introduction (London:
Routledge and
Kegan Paul, 1962), p.24
(2) Hibbard, pp. 25-6 [a following reference to the same book]
(3) John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, lines 25-6 (Poems, ed. J. Kinsley, Oxford:
OUP, 1958), I, 53
(4) Lois Whitney, ‘English primitavistic theories of epic origins’, MP, 21
(1924), 337 or MP, xxi (1924), 337
List of Sources
At the end of the essay should be listed all the works, including editions of
the texts discussed, that have been consulted in its preparation. The list
should be in alphabetical order of author. The conventional sequences
are as follows:
printed books: author (surname first), title (underlined); editor (if

appropriate); number of volumes (if more than one); place of
publication [colon] publisher [comma] year of publication
39
articles: author (surname first); title in single inverted commas;
title of periodical (underlined); volume number; date (in
parentheses); numbers of first and last pages of article.
Acknowledgements
In footnotes and list of sources the student must make clear
acknowledgement of ALL works, reports and sources from the internet
used in writing the essay and should not descend to plagiarism or
collusion. S/he should carefully note the University of London General
Regulations for Internal Students, 9.5:
Where the regulations for any qualification provide for part of an

examination to consist of ‘take-away’ papers, essays or other work
written in a candidate’s own time, course-work assessment or any
similar form of text, the work submitted by the candidate must be
his own, and any quotation from the published or unpublished works
of other persons must be duly acknowledged.
Plagiarism is the quotation, verbatim or virtually verbatim, of other

people’s work, published or unpublished, without acknowledgement.
Plagiarism carries severe penalties and may even warrant exclusion
from the course. If in doubt about the protocols of
acknowledgement, ask.
40
Assessment
All assessed essays are double-marked; a set of comments and a mark
are returned to the student. These marks remain provisional until ratified
by the external examiner at the Board of Examiners’ meeting in
November of the following year.
Student Support
Any matters that students want to discuss that are directly related to the
content of the MA should be discussed with the appropriate tutor. Staff
telephone numbers and email addresses will be provided.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism, the act of taking somebody else's work and presenting it as
your own, is an act of academic dishonesty, and Birkbeck takes it very
seriously.
Examples of plagiarism include (but are not restricted to):

 copying the whole or substantial parts of a paper from a source text
(e.g. a web site, journal article, book or encyclopaedia), without
proper acknowledgement
 paraphrasing another's piece of work closely, with minor changes
but with the essential meaning, form and/or progression of ideas
maintained
 piecing together sections of the work of others into a new whole
 procuring a paper from a company or essay bank (including
Internet sites)
 submitting another student's work, with or without that student's
knowledge
 submitting a paper written by someone else (e.g. a peer or relative)
and passing it off as one's own
 representing a piece of joint or group work as one's own.
If you knowingly assist another student to plagiarise (for example, by

willingly giving them your own work to copy from), you are committing an
examination offence.
What happens if plagiarism is suspected?

In October 2008, the College introduced a new three stage policy for
dealing with assessment offences. The first stage allows for a very rapid
and local determination for first or minor and uncontested offences. Stage
two allows for a formal Department investigation, where a student wishes
to contest the allegation or penalty, where there is an allegation of a
41
repeat offence or for more serious cases. Stage three involves a centrally
convened panel for third and serious offences, dealt with under the code
of Student Discipline.
What if I am worried that I’m not referencing correctly?

Please see your module tutor or contact a member of the learning support
team as soon as possible. Ignorance to Birkbeck’s commitment to student
standards will not be accepted as an excuse in a plagiarism hearing. The
following links from Birkbeck’s Registry provide some helpful information,
but are not intended to replace any guidelines or tuition provided by the
academic staff.
General Guidelines
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/student-services/exams/plagiarism-guidelines
Assessment Offences Policy

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/registry/policies/documents/assessment-offences-
policy.pdf – Written for Birkbeck’s Registry.
Plagiarism FAQ
https://guides.turnitin.com/01_Manuals_and_Guides/Student_Guides/
Feedback_Studio/FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions from Turn It In.
42
Coursework Submission
All work should normally be computer-generated (using a format

compatible with Microsoft Word, and not a PDF or similar). All work should
be submitted double-spaced. Please note that the word count should
include footnotes but excludes the bibliography.
Your work should normally be submitted electronically, via Turnitin (or,

exceptionally, in case of difficulty with this system, by email to the
administrator concerned). You may, exceptionally, also be asked to leave
a paper copy in the coursework box in the entrance hall of 43 Gordon
Square. You should also retain a copy yourself. In no circumstances
should essays be handed directly to the lecturer or seminar
leader.
Paper copies of coursework should be stapled in the top left-hand corner,

with your completed coversheet forming the top page. It should be
placed in an envelope which is clearly marked with the name of the
lecturer and the module title. Please do not put them in a folder or
plastic sleeve: markers prefer to receive work simply stapled.
For further information and instructions on how to submit coursework

using Turnitin please see the appendices or visit the ITS Help Desk.
Return of Coursework
Coursework will normally be marked and returned electronically within 4-6
weeks from the stated submission date or the date of handing in,
whichever is later. Larger modules and modules with numerous seminar
groups, such as core modules, could take longer due to the number of
students involved. There may also be a delay if the college is closed or if
there are extended holidays during that 4-6 week period.
Essays are never sent back to students by post. If online

submission/return has not been used, your lecturer will advise the
method by which your work will be returned – normally via the
student pigeonholes in the entrance hall of 43 Gordon Square.
Your administrator will email you to let you know when
coursework has been marked. Please do not phone/e-mail to ask
whether your essay has been marked unless the marking periods
as above have elapsed.
College Assessment Policy
43
It may also be useful to familiarise yourself with the official college
assessment policy. Please see the following link:
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/registry/policies/documents/feedback-on-
assessment.pdf
Late Submission of work for assessment

All Schools and Departments across the College have moved to a system
whereby students are not permitted to ask for extensions to coursework
deadlines. If for some reason you are unable to submit a piece of work by
the deadline, you should complete a Mitigating Circumstances form, which
can be downloaded from the Birkbeck website here. This form gives you
space to describe the circumstances that have prevented you from
meeting the deadline, and requires you to provide supporting evidence
(e.g. medical certificate).
It is advisable to discuss the situation with your personal tutor before

submitting the form. The Mitigating Circumstances Form should be
emailed to the course administrator or handed in to the Department office
within 14 days of the deadline. Any work that is submitted for formal
assessment after the published deadline is given two marks: a penalty
mark of 50% for postgraduate students, assuming it is of a pass standard,
and the ‘real’ mark that would have been awarded if the work had not
been late. The case will then be considered by the appropriate sub-board
or delegated panel.
If no case is made then the penalty mark will stand. If a case is made and
accepted then the examination board may allow the ‘real” mark to stand.
Note: If you are taking an option within another School please note that
you will need to adhere to the deadline/ extension policy of the School in
which the option course is based.
Dissertations
It is particularly important to submit dissertations on the deadline date.
This deadline is not negotiable. If missed, the candidate may not be
examined in the same year and may have to wait another twelve months
before being awarded the degree as MA examination boards meet only
once a year, in November. Any difficulty in meeting the dissertation
deadline should be brought to the attention of the Course Director at the
earliest opportunity.
44
Assessment Requirements for the MA Creative Writing
Programme
Assessment is based entirely on coursework. To pass the programme,

students must complete all the coursework, which includes critical essays,
creative pieces and the dissertation, and achieve an overall mark of 50 or
above. Coursework should normally be submitted in the first week of the
succeeding term. All manuscripts must be typed in Times New Roman
and double-spaced.
Students who fail their dissertation are allowed to resubmit once.
Assessment Weighting
67% of the overall grade (average of the marks from four
modules) includes:
 16.75% Writing and Reading Seminar: creative piece and a short

critical essay, 5,000 words in total.
 16.75% Contemporary Literature Module: Poetry Workshop: 1500

word essay and portfolio of 10-12 poems. Contemporary Writing 2:
Genre: genre fiction piece and critical/reflective piece, 5,000 words
in total.
 16.75% The Writing Workshop: Creative piece (100%). 5,000

words.
 16.75% Option Module: Assessment criteria varies with each option.
33% of the overall grade:
 Dissertation (18,000 words in total – not including bibliography)
Marking Scheme
Distinction
A 75% - 100%
A - 73% - 74%
A -- 70% - 72%
Merit
AB 69%
B++ 66% - 68%
45
B+ 63% - 65%
B(+) 60% - 62%
Pass
B 59%
B(-) 56% - 58%
B- 53% - 55%
B-- 50% - 52%
46
Assessment Criteria
Short Creative Pieces
A Pass should show:

 Engagement with the structure and conventions of a particular genre
 Understanding of the relationship between content and form
 Competent use of language
 Awareness of reader/audience
A Merit should also show:

 Confident handling of the structure of a particular genre
 Willingness to experiment
 Fresh (i.e. non-clichéd) use of language
A Distinction should also show:

 Ambitious and/or original choice of content
 Accomplished handling of chosen form
 Original use of language
Critical essays on contemporary writing
A Pass should show:

 Awareness of the variety and range of contemporary writing
 Ability to analyse the use of language in published writing
 Analysis of the relevant aspects of the 'craft' of writing
 Sustained critical thinking
 Competent use of language

 A willingness to approach 'difficult' writing
 Ability to sustain a convincing critical analysis
 Fresh use of language

 Sharp critical insight into what makes a literary work successful against
different criteria
 Awareness of critical methods and theories
 Fluent use of critical language
Dissertation
A Pass should show:
47
 Awareness of the strengths and limitations of the chosen genre and of
its 'fitness for purpose'
 Ability to use structure and voice to develop elements of one or more
of the following: narrative, theme, character, prosody
 Understanding of the relationship between content and form
 Competent use of fictional, dramatic or poetic techniques
 Awareness of reader/audience
 Commitment to editing
 Appropriate use of research (where relevant)

 Ambition in both formal and thematic or narrative scope of the piece
 Development of distinctive writing 'voice'
 Ability to produce fresh (i.e. non-clichéd) passages of writing

 Ability to produce a fully realised, sustained piece of writing
 Originality of use of one or more of the following: language, form,
content
48
Degree Regulations
Undergraduate and Postgraduate Study
The majority of Birkbeck’s programmes are offered as part of the

College’s Common Award Scheme (CAS). Programmes will therefore have
common regulations, and a common structure. This will help to ensure
greater consistency of practice amongst programmes and will also make it
possible for you to take modules from Departments across the College
which are outside of your normal programme (subject to programme
regulations and timetable constraints).
Some areas covered by CAS Regulations include:

 Degree Structure
 Degree Classification
 Module Weighting
 Marking Scheme
 Failure and Re-Assessment
 Plagiarism and Academic Offences
 Mitigating Circumstances.
You are strongly encouraged to read the information provided herehttp://

www.bbk.ac.uk/registry/policies/documents/CAS-regs-19-20.pdf.
Research Ethics
All research involving human participants and confidential materials,
carried out by students in the School of Arts is subject to an ethics
approval process. This is to ensure that the rights of participants and
researchers alike are protected at all times, and to underline our
commitment to excellence in research across a wide range of subjects.
If you are undertaking any such research work for a dissertation, project,
thesis etc. please complete the form ‘Proposal for Ethical Review
template’ and pass this to your academic supervisor. The proposal will be
reviewed and assessed as ‘routine’ or ‘non-routine’. In most cases it is
envisaged that such work will be routine, and your supervisor will inform
you of the outcome. In a small number of cases, the proposal may be
referred to the School’s Ethics Committee for further consideration.
Again, you will be informed of any outcome.
The proposal form is available through our departmental web pages

(current students). If you have any queries, please speak to your
supervisor in the first instance.
49
Further guidelines are available on the MyBirkbeck website at
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/research/bgrs/research-ethics-and-integrity.
Please Note
We do not undertake anonymous marking taking the view that it is
unenforceable and unworkable as the small team of tutors develop a good
knowledge of student work. This falls under the ‘practical work’ exception
of Section 10 of the College assessment policy.
50
Student Support
Student Services at Birkbeck encompass a wide range of services within
Birkbeck, aimed at supporting students' learning experience and personal
development.
Advice Service
Our trained advisors are on hand to provide information and advice about
many aspects of your studies at Birkbeck including but not limited to:
application and enrolment process, applying for government loans and
financial support from the College, and payment options.
Where we cannot answer questions immediately, we will either get back

to you with an answer or refer your query to a specialist team who can.
Ask us a question, call us on 020 3907 0700 or come along to our drop-in
sessions for help and support. Alternatively, please visit our website for
further information.
Careers and Employability Service

We provide comprehensive careers advice, events and information
services both in person and online. The service is free and available to all
Birkbeck students and recent graduates.
To find out how we can help you to enhance your career development and
employability ask us a question or visit the Students’ Employability Space.
Alternatively, please visit our website for further information.
Counselling Service
We offer a free, non-judgmental and confidential counselling service to
support you with emotional or psychological difficulties during your time
at university.
To make an appointment for an initial consultation, please email

counselling-services@bbk.ac.uk with your name, student ID, gender and
telephone number. Alternatively, please visit our website for information
about the service including a comprehensive selection of self-help
resources which may be useful in gaining a greater understanding of the
personal challenges you are facing and the ways in which you can think
about addressing them.
Disability and Dyslexia Service

At Birkbeck we welcome students with disabilities and we are committed
to helping you seize the opportunities that studying here presents.
51
Regardless of your condition, our experienced, understanding and
welcoming staff are here to support you during your studies.
To make an appointment, please contact the Wellbeing Team from your

My Birkbeck profile by clicking on ‘Ask us’ and selecting ‘New Ask‘ or call
us on 020 3907 0700. Alternatively, please visit our website for
information about a Study Support Plan, Disabled Students’ Allowance,
free dyslexia screening and more.
Study Skills
Through a range of workshops, accessible learning materials, and one-to-
one meetings, our Learning Development Service is here to help you to
fulfil your potential in a number of ways while studying at Birkbeck. Visit
our Learning Skills module on Moodle for resources that will help you build
academic skills and increase academic performance.
Ask us a question, call us on 020 3907 0700 or visit our website for advice
and support with study skills.
Mental Health Advisory Service

We provide specialist advice and support in a safe, non-judgemental
environment. Like the Counselling Service, we are here to help you when
you are going through emotional or psychological difficulties. The main
difference between our services is that the emphasis of our work is on
practical support, rather than therapeutic interventions, to enable you to
progress through your studies.
To make an appointment, please contact the Wellbeing Team from your

My Birkbeck profile by clicking on ‘Ask us’ and selecting ‘New Ask‘ or call
us on 020 3907 0700. For further information about the service, please
visit our website.
Nursery Service
We understand that studying while caring for a child or children can be
especially challenging and so we offer an affordable, professional evening
nursery service, based in our central London campus, for children aged
from two to six years.
For further information and contact details, please visit our website.
52
Available Resources
The MyBirkbeck student portal http://www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/ holds

lots of information that you will find useful during your programme of
study, as well as your own student profile (for your contact details,
timetable and module results). Some important pages are listed here:
Disability & dyslexia support

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/services/facilities/disability
Computing & IT support:

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/professional-services/its
Birkbeck Library
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/library/
Senate House Library

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/library/other-libraries
Student support
(includes learning support, nursery, careers, accommodation and
Students union info)
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/student-services
Fees and financial support

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/student-services/fee-payment
Rules and regulations relating to your MA

(including the Common Award Scheme)
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/registry/policies
Late work and mitigating circumstances

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/services/administration/assessment/
coursework/mitigating-circumstances
Support
Each student is assigned a personal tutor. For advice and information you
can turn to this personal tutor, to the lecturers teaching you, to your
Programme Director whom you may contact by e-mail or phone. Any
matters concerning the course should be taken up with the course
director. You may discuss medical problems in strict confidence. You are
strongly advised to maintain regular contact with your personal tutor.
You may also take up issues with the Student Union. You become a
member of the Union automatically as a registered Birkbeck student.
53
Information on the services they offer are available on their website:
www.bbk.ac/uk/su or phone 020 7631 6335.
Representation
Each year, we ask for two or more students from the MA to represent your
concerns to programme tutors. These representatives collate student
feedback to present at a termly ‘staff/student forum’ meeting, where
issues specific to your experience as a student on the MA in Creative
Writing are discussed.
54
Creative Writing Staff Profiles
JULIA BELL
Reader in Creative Writing
Julia Bell is a writer of essays, poems, novels and screenplays. She is also
the Course Director of the MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck. Her recent
essays can be found online at The White Review or the TLS. She divides
her time between London and Berlin.
www.juliabell.net
jh.bell@bbk.ac.uk
TOBY LITT
Reader in Creative Writing
Toby Litt is the author of eight novels and four short story collections. His
most recent book is Wrestliana, an exploration of his relationship to his
great-great-great grandfather, William Litt, who was a champion wrestler,
poet, novelist, and smuggler (Galley Beggar, 2018). He has also written
comics including the Dead Boy Detectives monthly series and, in
collaboration with Neil Gaiman, Free Country: A Tale of Children’s Crusade
(Vertigo, 2015). Toby was chosen as one of Granta’s Best of Young British
Novelists in 2003. Along with Ali Smith, he edited the New Writing 13
anthology. He reviews for The Guardian, and appears regularly on Radio
3’s The Verb. He is a member of English PEN.
www.tobylitt.com
t.litt@bbk.ac.uk
JODIE KIM
Lecturer in Creative and Critical Writing
Jodie Kim has a PhD in Creative Writing and Contemporary Literature from
the University of Manchester. Her critical and creative work focus on the
intersection of racial, gendered, and political violence and literature.
jodie.kim@bbk.ac.uk
KATHERINE ANGEL
Lecturer in Creative Writing
Katherine Angel is a writer of literary non-fiction. Unmastered: A Book On
Desire, Most Difficult To Tell was published in the UK in 2012 by Penguin
and in the USA by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. It was also translated into
several European languages. Daddy Issues, a book-length essay on
fathers, daughters, and feminism was published in 2019 by Peninsula
Press, and Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again, an exploration of the
possibility of knowledge of sexuality, and how this affects thinking about
consent and sexual violence, will be published by Verso in 2020.
55
Katherine studied at Cambridge and Harvard universities, and has a PhD
in the History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Cambridge.
She has held fellowships and has taught at both undergraduate and
postgraduate levels at the University of Warwick, at Queen Mary,
University of London, and at Kingston University. Her research has been
published in journals including History of the Human Sciences, Studies in
Gender and Sexuality, Biosocieties, and The Lancet. She speaks regularly
about her work and with other writers at universities, cultural institutes,
and art venues. She also collaborates on live art readings of her work with
performance group The Blackburn Company.
At Birkbeck Katherine teaches fiction and non-fiction, at undergraduate

and postgraduate levels.
k.angel@bbk.ac.uk
RICHARD HAMBLYN
Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing
Richard was the inaugural Writer in Residence at the UCL Environment
Institute, and his books include The Invention of Clouds, which won the
2002 Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was shortlisted for the BBC4
Samuel Johnson Prize; Terra: Tales of the Earth (Picador, 2009), a study of
natural disasters; and The Art of Science (Picador, 2011), an anthology of
readable science writing from the Babylonians to the Higgs boson. He has
also written four illustrated books for the Met Office, and edited Daniel
Defoe's first book, The Storm, for Penguin Classics. Richard's most recent
volumes are Tsunami: Nature and Culture (Reaktion, 2014), a history of
killer waves from the legend of Atlantis to the Fukushima disaster of 2011,
and Clouds: Nature and Culture (Reaktion, 2017), a wide-ranging cultural
history of clouds and weather. He is currently writing a book about the sea
in art and culture.
r.hamblyn@bbk.ac.uk
LUKE WILLIAMS
Luke's current project is a novel, Diego Garcia, a collaboration with the
writer Natasha Soobramanien. It will be published by Fitzcarraldo Editions
in 2020, with first draft chapters appearing here:
https://diegogarciabook.tumblr.com/ Previously, his first novel The Echo
Chamber (Hamish Hamilton, 2011) won The Saltire Award for Best First
Book. Luke studied History at Edinburgh University and Creative Writing at
UEA.
l.williams@bbk.ac.uk
56
STEVE WILLEY
Lecturer in Creative and Critical Writing
Steve Willey is a poet, researcher and critic, and as an organiser of
several London based poetry readings (Openned, Benefits, Watadd) is
committed to the development of dynamic poetry communities both in
the UK and internationally.
s.willey@bbk.ac.uk
DAVID ELDRIDGE
David Eldridge’s plays have been performed at major new writing
institutions in the UK and internationally in English and in translation. His
theatre credits include: Beginning (Dorfman Theatre, National Theatre &
West End); Market Boy (Olivier Theatre, National Theatre); Holy Warriors
(Shakespeare’s Globe); Miss Julie, The Lady from the Sea (Royal
Exchange, Manchester); In Basildon, Incomplete and Random Acts of
Kindness, Under the Blue Sky (Royal Court & West End); Something,
Someone, Somewhere (Sixty-Six Books/Bush Theatre); MAD, Serving it Up
(Bush); The Knot of the Heart (Almeida), Festen (Almeida, Lyric West End
& Broadway); The Stock Da'wa, Falling (Hampstead); A Thousand Stars
Explode in the Sky (with Robert Holman & Simon Stephens, Lyric
Hammersmith); Babylone (Belgrade Coventry); John Gabriel Borkman, The
Wild Duck, Summer Begins (Donmar Warehouse); A Week With Tony,
Fighting for Breath (Finborough); Thanks Mum (Red Room); Dirty (Theatre
Royal Stratford East); Cabbage for, Tea, Tea, Tea! (Platform 4 Exeter). He
also writes TV, film and radio and his credits for TV include: Killers, Our
Hidden Lives (BBC), The Scandalous Lady W (BBC). Short Film credits
include: The Nugget Run (Zig Zag Productions). And Radio credits include:
Michael and Me: Stratford, Ilford, Romford and all Stations to Shenfield;
Festen; The Picture Man; Like Minded People; The Secret Grief ; John
Gabriel Borkman; Jenny Lomas (BBC). Under the Blue Sky won the Time
Out Live Award 2001 for Best New Play in the West End and Festen the
2005 Theatregoers Choice Award for Best New Play. The Picture Man won
the Prix Europa Best European Radio Drama 2008. Under the Blue Sky
won the 2009 Theatregoers Choice Award for Best New Play. The Knot of
the Heart won the 2012 Off West End Theatre Award for Best New Play. In
2007 the University of Exeter conferred on David an Honorary Doctorate
of Letters recognising his achievement as a playwright.
d.eldridge@bbk.ac.uk
57
DAVID STAFFORD
Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing
David Stafford has taught Screenwriting at Birkbeck since 2007. In the
early eighties, a collaboration with the comedian Alexei Sayle resulted in
two series for Capitol Radio (winner of a Sony award), a book, two records
and two films for C4. Other TV plays have included Catherine (winner of
Prix Europa), My Little Grey Home in the West, and Dread Poets
Society (with Benjamin Zephaniah). More recently he has collaborated
with his wife, Caroline, writing comedies and dramas, mostly for radio,
including Man of Soup, The Brothers, Hazelbeach, The Day the Planes
Came and the award-winning The True and Inspirational Life Of St
Nicholas. Their biography of Lionel Bart was Radio 4 Book of the Week and
was adapted as a BBC 4 TV documentary. David has also pursued a
parallel career as a TV and radio presenter, working on the Late
Show, Tracks, Going Places, Home Truths and many others
HANNAH COPLEY
Born in 1988 and currently living and working in Hertfordshire. Write

poetry, read poetry, write about poetry, teach poetry. Lecturer in Creative
Writing at the University of Westminster.
Associate lecturer in Creative Writing at Birkbeck College. Wrote a PhD on

the poetry and archives of Jon Silkin, Tony Harrison and Geoffrey Hill.
Research interests include: writing pregnancy, the depiction of vulnerable

bodies in literature and medical textbooks, war poetry and the
contemporary creative legacy of Isaac Rosenberg and Keith Douglas, little
magazines.
Poems, reviews and articles in magazines and anthologies, including

Verse Matters, eds. Rachel Bower and Helen Mort (Valley Press).
Winner of the 2018 YorkMix/York Literature Festival Poetry Prize.
Shortlisted for Faber New Poets Prize (2015/16), Hippocrates Prize (2017).
Chosen as one of the fifty Best New British and Irish Poets (Eyewear,
2018).
Poetry editor of Mechanics’ Institute Review 16 and MIROnline
58
DARRAGH MARTIN
Darragh Martin’s debut novel for adults, Future Popes of Ireland, was
published by Fourth Estate in 2018. It was short-listed for Novel of the
Year at the Irish Book Awards and long-listed for the Desmond Elliot prize.
Darragh’s other work includes The Keeper (short-listed for children’s book
of the year at the Irish Book Awards) and the plays An Air Balloon across
Antarctica and Why Pluto is a Planet. He holds a PhD in Theatre from
Columbia University and is currently working on his second novel.
59
Contact Details
Academic Contacts
Julia Bell jh.bell@bbk.ac.uk 205, 43 Gordon 020 3073

Programme Sq 8217
Director
Toby Litt t.litt@bbk.ac.uk 310, 43 Gordon 020 3073
Sq 8210
Administrative Contact Details
0203 073 6166

Administration Team englishandhumanities@bbk.ac
.uk Room G19, 43
Gordon Square
60
Appendix A: Term Dates and Deadlines
Autumn Term
Spring Term
Monday 30 September Summer Term
Monday 13 January 2020
to Monday 27 April 2020 to
to
Friday 13 December Friday 10 July 2020
Friday 27 March 2020
2019
Week 1 30-Sep-19 Week 1 13-Jan-20 Week 1 27-Apr-20
Week 2 7-Oct-19 Week 2 20-Jan-20 Week 2 4-May-20
Week 3 14-Oct-19 Week 3 27-Jan-20 Week 3 11-May-20
Week 4 21-Oct-19 Week 4 3-Feb-20 Week 4 18-May-20
Week 5 28-Oct-19 Week 5 10-Feb-20 Week 5 25-May-20
Week 6 4-Nov-19 Week 6 17-Feb-20 Week 6 1-Jun-20
Week 7 11-Nov-19 Week 7 24-Feb-20 Week 7 8-Jun-20
Week 8 18-Nov-19 Week 8 2-Mar-20 Week 8 15-Jun-20
Week 9 25-Nov-19 Week 9 9-Mar-20 Week 9 22-Jun-20
Week 10 2-Dec-19 Week 10 16-Mar-20 Week 10 29-Jun-20
Week 11 9-Dec-19 Week 11 23-Mar-20 Week 11 6-Jul-20
Most services will be unavailable
Most services will be
from Wednesday 8 April to
unavailable from 5pm on Most services will be unavailable
Wednesday 15 April inclusive.
Friday 20 December 2019, re- on Monday 4 May & Monday 25
Normal services will resume
opening at 9am on May 2020
from 9am on Monday, 27 April
Wednesday 2 January 2019
2020
Autumn Term
Induction for all new MA Students Thursday 26th September
2019
Launch Party for Mechanics’ Institute (exact date tbc)
Review
Writing & Reading Seminar begins Wednesday 2 October 2019
Contemporary Literature Modules begin Week beginning 30 September
2019
Reading week no classes Week beginning 4
November 2019
Spring Term
Deadline for coursework Monday 13 January 2020
Option Modules begin Week beginning 13 January
2020
Writing Workshop begins Wednesday 15 January 2020
Reading week no classes Week beginning 17
February 2020
Summer Term
Deadline for coursework Monday 27 April 2020
61
Dissertation Deadline
Full-time and year 2 part-time students: Monday 14 September

2020
Year 1 part-time students: Mid-September 2020 (exact date tbc)
62
Appendix B: How to Format Your Fiction and Prose Non-
Fiction
by Benjamin Wood
This document is intended to give you, the creative writing student, a

general template you can refer to in order to correctly format your
fiction for your assignments. It represents the standard expectations of
publishers, agents, and literary journals for manuscript submissions. As
you can see, the prose is double-spaced; in Microsoft Word, you do
this by going to Format > Paragraph > Line Spacing > Double. This
makes the prose easy to read, and gives your lecturer/editor ample
space to write interstitial comments.
It is also typewritten in a sensible font (Gill Sans – though Times
New Roman, Arial, Verdana, or Garamond are other good, sensible
fonts) and in a sensible font size (11pt or 12pt). Further, there are
ample margins of 2.5cm (Left), 2.5cm (Right), 2.5cm (Top) and 2.5cm
(Bottom). You can alter the margins in Microsoft Word by going to
Format > Document > Margins. The text can be justified or simply
left-aligned. Pages should always be printed single-sided.
“Dialogue is indented like this,” one person said.
“And the first line of long passages of dialogue such as this, which
are so long that they take up another line, are indented too,” someone
replied.
In fact, every first line of every new paragraph is indented in
this way. You can set up Microsoft Word to do this automatically by
going to Format > Paragraph > Special > First Line.
When you want to indicate a large break in narrative time between

scenes, you do so by leaving two paragraph spaces and left-aligning
the prose, like this. (You should only do this when there are significant
gaps in narrative time you want to imply to the reader; never do this
between paragraphs of continuous action in the same scene.)
When you move onto the next paragraph, the first line should be
indented again, like this. Make sure that you don’t leave additional
spaces between your paragraphs by adjusting your settings in MS
Word. Go to: Format > Paragraph > Spacing and check the tick-box
beside “Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style”, or
“Remove Space After Paragraph”.
It seems like this sort of thing is not very important but, in fact, it
is. Correct formatting creates the impression of professionalism,
indicating to agents and editors that you are a writer who knows what
you are doing.
63
Other things to note: your pages should be numbered (ideally
in the bottom right-hand corner of every page). You do this in Microsoft
Word by going to Insert > Page Numbers. And you should include a
word count at the end of your manuscript. You can find out what your
word count is by going to Tools > Word Count.
Happy writing!
(448 words)
64
Appendix C: How To Format Critical Work
by Richard Hamblyn
This document offers a template to which you can refer in order to

correctly format the critical essays that you will write over the course of
your degree. As you can see, the text is double-spaced; in Microsoft
Word, you do this by going to Format > Paragraph > Line Spacing >
Double. This makes the prose easy to read, and gives whoever marks it
ample space to write marginal and interstitial comments. All your
submitted work should be double-spaced.
When you move onto another paragraph, the first line should be
indented, like this. Make sure that you don’t leave additional spaces
between paragraphs by adjusting your settings in MS Word. Go to:
Format > Paragraph > Spacing and check the tick-box beside ‘Don’t
add space between paragraphs’ or, depending on which version of Word
you have, ‘Remove Space After/Before Paragraph.’
The essay is also typewritten in a sensible font (Times New Roman,
Arial, Verdana, or Garamond are also sensible fonts) and in a sensible
font size (11pt or 12pt). The text can be left-aligned, like this, or right
justified if you prefer. ‘Short quotations from books, articles or other
sources should be in single quotation marks and run on from the main
text, as in this case’.1 Note that the final full stop lies outside the closing
quotation mark, and that the footnote reference number comes at the end
of the sentence, after the full stop. You can add automatically numbered
footnotes in Word by going to the ‘References’ panel and clicking on
‘Insert Footnote’, and then writing the footnote in the box that appears in
the page footer. Note the preferred footnote format: author name
(surname last), title of article in single quotation marks, title of book in
italics (Place of Publication: Publisher, year) in brackets, full stop after
page number(s).
Longer quotations, however, should appear in separate, indented
sections, with no quotation marks, such as this passage cited from Mohsin
Hamid’s Exit West:
It might seem odd that in cities teetering at the edge of the abyss
young people still go to class – in this case an evening class on
corporate identity and product branding – but that is the way of
things, with cities as with life, for one moment we are pottering
about our errands as usual and the next we are dying, and our
1
A. N. Other, ‘How to Format Your Essay’, in The Big Book of Essay Writing, ed. by Jane
Doe (London: Made-up Books, 2018), pp. 58-65 (p. 5).
65
eternally impending ending does not put a stop to our transient
beginnings and middles until the instant that it does.2
The spaces immediately above and below the quotation have been shrunk
to single space, as double-spaced spaces can leave quoted passages
adrift in white space. If you are quoting often from the same story or book,
subsequent quotations can be cited using page numbers at the end of the
sentence: ‘Saeed wanted to run but had nowhere to run to’ (p. 147). This
will reduce the number of footnotes in your essay, and make it easier to
read.
Other things to note: your pages should be numbered (ideally in
the top right-hand corner of every page, except page 1: in Microsoft Word
go to Insert > Page Numbers, and then go to the ‘Design’ or ‘Layout’
panel and select ‘Different First Page’). Your name should also appear on
the first page: you’d be surprised how many people forget to put their
name on their work.
You should also include a bibliography at the end of the essay,
listing the sources that you have cited or referred to in the course of
writing it. Note the preferred format for bibliographies: sources are listed
alphabetically by author surname, followed by title and publication details,
with no full stop after page numbers of articles or chapters:
Hamid, Mohsin, Exit West (London: Hamish Hamilton, 2017)
Other, A. N., ‘How to Format Your Essay’, in The Big Book of Essay
Writing, ed. by Jane Doe (London: Made-up Books, 2018), pp. 58-65
More detailed information about page layout, punctuation and grammar,

along with guidance on formatting citations and bibliographies – including
how to cite non-printed sources such as songs, film, audio, broadcast
content, ebooks and the like – can be found in the MHRA Style Guide
(2013), which you will find uploaded onto the Moodle pages of all core
modules.
(741 words)
2
Mohsin Hamid, Exit West (London: Hamish Hamilton, 2017), pp. 1-2.
66
Appendix D: Extracurricular Opportunities
Get Involved!
http://mironline.org/
The Mechanics’ Institute Review is an exciting and recently relaunched

interactive web portal which aims to provide a platform for high-quality
new fiction, non-fiction and poetry, as well as reviews and interviews.
This site is managed by Project Director, Julia Bell, and maintained and
edited by a rotating group of Birkbeck students, alumni and staff. The
Managing Editor is Melanie Jones. The current Short Fiction editor is Toby
Litt. Julia Bell is the Creative Non-Fiction Editor and Stephen Willey is
Poetry Editor. Submissions can be made to editor@mironline.org.
We are always looking for people to contribute reviews, blogs, stories,

poems and ideas for features and interviews. We also need volunteers to
help manage and develop the site, and to join the editorial committee and
we have an ongoing intern programme.
Email the MIR team if you're interested in finding out more:

editor@mironline.org
67
Appendix E: Getting Started with Moodle
Logging in and getting started
All modules within the School of Arts use Moodle (a Virtual Learning
Environment, or VLE) for circulating module information and coursework
submission.
 To log in to Moodle you will need your ITS username and password,
a computer with a connection to the internet and a web browser
such as Internet Explorer or Firefox.
 If you are having login problems, but your password is working for
other services, please change your password via the online form at
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/its/password (allow one hour after completing
this form, and then log in again). If this hasn't resolved the problem
please contact the ITS Helpdesk via by submitting an Ask Query,
telephone (020 7631 6543), or in person (Malet St building, next to
the entrance to the Library).
 There is support information available in Moodle if you click on the

Support menu and select ‘Moodle Support for Students’.
68

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School of Arts

Department of English & Humanities

Published August 2019

When Birkbeck College was established in 1823, its principal mission

Birkbeck College has built up special expertise in providing a stimulating,

The MA in Creative Writing is offered by the Department of English and

Your Dissertation Supervisions will occur in the Summer Term by

Birkbeck is now a corporate member of the Royal Society of Literature.

Enrolment: Important Information

School of Arts Location

The Administrative Office

Moodle (Birkbeck’s Virtual Learning Environment Platform)

Books: to buy or borrow?

Registering your attendance with eRegisters

Term 1 Term 2 Term 3

Term 1 Term 2 Term 3

Contemporary Option Modules Craft seminars and

The aims of the programme are to enable students to:

 Develop to a professional level the craft of writing in a particular genre

By the end of the programme students will have:

 Developed the skills and techniques involved in writing in a particular

 Developed a critical understanding of literary writing through study of

 Gained practical knowledge of the publishing industry by learning how

 Completed and submitted for assessment a creative writing portfolio

The autumn term starts on Monday 30th September with an induction

Writing and Reading Seminar

Module Aims and Outcomes

Coursework Deadline: Monday 13 January 2020, 2pm via Turnitin

Fiction is a language art and a narrative form. Everything however, is built

Learning Objectives and Aims

Attitudes towards nature and politics—and their representation through

Coursework and Assessment

We will read and dissect examples of each of these genres:

Learning Aims and Objectives

Coursework and Assessment

Required Reading (Fiction)

Mitchell, David, Cloud Atlas (2004)

Required Reading (Non-Fiction)

Hammett, Dashiell, The Maltese Falcon (1930)

Literary non-fiction is enjoying a surge in visibility and popularity, with

The Writing Workshop

Module Outcomes and Aims

Coursework and Assessment

Required Texts Reading

You are strongly advised to give careful consideration to options

Module Outcomes and Objectives

This ten-week module aims to develop the understanding and practice of

Assignment Description Weighting

Bechdel, Alison, Fun Home A Family Tragicomic (Jonathan Cape, 2006)

Bourdain, Anthony, Kitchen Confidential (Bloomsbury, 2000)

Carey, John (ed.), The Faber Book of Reportage (Faber, 1996)

Clanchy, Kate, Antigone and Me (Picador, 2010)

Capote, Truman, In Cold Blood (Penguin Modern Classics, 2000)

Eggers, Dave, Zeitoun (Penguin, 2011)

Ephron, Nora, I Remember Nothing and Other Reflections (Doubleday,

Gerard, Phillip, Creative Nonfiction: Researching and Crafting Stories of

Granta 66: Truth + Lies (Granta, 1999)

Granta 102: The New Nature Writing (Granta, 2008)