From 2025, the English and Linguistics programme at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, the University of Otago, is offering a new Master of Creative Writing (MCW). The year-long, full-time course enables candidates to engage in a significant piece of original creative writing in the form of fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction or another agreed genre or mix of genres. Study by distance is also possible.
The course will be taught through a combination of group writing workshops and one-on-one supervision by an established writer. It will be supplemented by special events featuring guest writers and public readings.
Teaching staff
The course will be coordinated and facilitated by Lynley Edmeades, with co-teaching from Liam McIlvanney and Amanda Martin.
Lynley Edmeades
Lynley Edmeades is the author of three books of poetry: As the Verb Tenses (OUP, 2016), Listening In (OUP, 2019), and Bordering on Miraculous (Massey UP, 2022), a collaborative project with painter Saskia Leek. She has a PhD in avant-garde poetics from the University of Otago, and an MA in Creative Writing from the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry at Queen’s University, Belfast. Her academic writing and poetry has been published in the UK, US, and Europe, and her poetry has been anthologised and translated into several languages. She has held a number of artist and writers' residencies and her poetry has been longlisted and shortlisted for several awards. She is the current editor of Landfall and teaches English and creative writing at the University of Otago. Her forthcoming book, Hiding Places, is a hybrid work about empire and the institution of motherhood and will be published in 2025.
Liam McIlvanney
Liam McIlvanney was born in Scotland and studied at the universities of Glasgow and Oxford. He has written for numerous publications, including the London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, the Irish Times, the New Zealand Listener, and the Guardian. His debut, Burns the Radical, won the Saltire First Book Award. His second novel, Where the Dead Men Go, won the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. He won the 2018 McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year for his novel, The Quaker. His new novel, The Good Father, will be published in the UK in 2025. He is the Stuart Professor of Scottish Studies and Co-Director of Mātai Airana, Mātai Kotirana / the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka / University of Otago.
Amanda Faye Martin
Amanda Faye Martin is a theatre practitioner with a focus in dramaturgy and playwriting. She holds an MFA from the ART Institute at Harvard University / Moscow Art Theatre, and is a Senior Teaching Fellow in Otago’s Theatre Studies programme. Originally from the US, she has worked on the development of new musicals (such as the Broadway hit Waitress), opera (a new English language rock version of Don Giovanni), and shaped several scripts for devised theatre companies and universities. Her original plays and adaptations (such as Little Bits of Light and The Firebird) and have been performed in NYC, Boston, Chicago, and toured nationally. Since moving to New Zealand in 2017, she has devised and directed several shows, including Yellow Coal (devising director and script writer), $19.95 (devising director & script writer), Dayboy (co-director), and Heathers (director).
Making an application
Places in the course are limited. To apply for the MCW , you will need to have either:
- An honours degree in English (or a related field) with a GPA of B+ or above, or
- A substantial publication record as a creative writer
In your application you’ll need to supply the following documents:
- CV, with any publication history (maximum 5 pages)
- Project proposal (maximum 2 pages)
- Creative writing portfolio of published or unpublished work or a combination (maximum 15 pages)
- Names of 2 referees who can speak to your creative writing and/or professional experience
- Academic transcripts for any previous qualification
View regulations and apply now
Applications for 2025 will close on Friday, 25 October 2024.
For further enquiries
Dr Lynley Edmeades
Email lynley.edmeades@otago.ac.nz
English and Linguistics programme
Email english@otago.ac.nz