oxford university online creative writing course

Oxford Writing Summer School

Take your writing to the next level. Join our Writing Summer School on the Oxford University campus, or online, to sharpen your writing skills and develop the confidence and knowledge to put you ahead of the curve – in your university application and beyond.

Emily, USA, Creative Writing

The tutor was brilliant and my classmates were amazing. I was able to form a wonderful connection with all of them in my Creative Writing classes. Trust me, you will not regret it!

Mario, Romania, Creative Writing

My Oxford Scholastica course was one of the best things I’ve ever done. My tutor was super inspiring and encouraged me to learn so much! I loved it – thank you Oxford Scholastica.

Nikhil, Mauritius, Creative Writing

What You’ll Get From Our Writing Courses

Study writing with us and you’ll leave feeling inspired and ready to take the next step in your journey as a writer. During your time in Oxford, we will:

• Tell you the secrets of creative writing for different genres, such as plot and character development, and the importance of dialogue
• Introduce you to a taster of university life, with top quality teaching from our expert staff
• Introduce you to a real-life writer, who’ll answer your questions on what it’s really like to earn a living from writing
• Give you the chance to begin forming your own professional network and join our community of Oxford Scholastica Academy alumni
• Give you all the insights you need for your stage of education on our fully accredited writing course
• Help you to decide on the best university course for you, and equip you with excellent subject knowledge and experiences which will be invaluable for university applications
• Give you practical challenges to exercise your new skills, such as creating and editing a magazine or dreaming up a new book series
• Experience Oxford life, and walk in the footsteps of famous writers including J. R. R. Tolkien and Oscar Wilde
• Enable you, once you’ve completed your writing course, to graduate in a formal Graduation Ceremony held at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School

Get an Authentic University Experience

You’ll learn in small, dynamic classes just as you would at top UK universities. You’ll be taught by our first-class teaching faculty thereby ensuring you have the very best writing summer school experience.

You’ll have the opportunity to study and socialise on the Oxford University campus, and take part in legendary activities such as punting. You’ll have the opportunity to meet and make friends with ambitious students like you from all over the world.

You’ll leave equipped with key skills for the future – like public speaking, how to prepare for your future career and how to bounce back from failure – thanks to our Masterclass programme.

Reserve Your Spot

Ready for a life-changing educational experience? Apply in minutes and reserve a spot for Oxford’s #1 rated summer school and online programmes .

• Bodleian Libraries
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• Creative Writing

Creative Writing: Home

Free online resources, purpose of this guide.

This guide is intended for students on Certificate, Diploma and Degree courses studying Creative Writing, although students and researchers from  other fields may find it useful.

Finding books

Oxford has a wide range of books (including ebooks and print books) for Creative Writing.  For more detailed info about finding books visit the books tab on this guide.

• SOLO Search SOLO, the University's resource discovery tool, for print and ebooks at Oxford. You can search by author, title or subject and limit to a specific library or online resources.
• SOLO user guide If you need help with SOLO, take a look at this guide for tips on searching, managing results and using your SOLO account.

Key journals

You can search for individual journal articles in SOLO by searching for the author and/or article title and/or subject keywords. 

In addition,  you can search for a particular journal or newspaper (e.g. Nature, English Historical Review, The Guardian) by entering the title in  SOLO or via e-Journals A-Z.

• e-Journals A-Z A full, browsable list of ejournals available at Oxford.

Below are a few key  journals for Creative Writing. See the journals tab of this guide for more information.

• New Writing International journal for the practice and theory of creative writing
• Poets and Writers magazine

Key databases

Oxford subscribes to many scholarly databases. They can be used to locate journal articles, conference proceedings, books, patents, images, data and more. You can find some of the key databases for Creative Writing below.  Take a look at the ' Databases ' tab of this guide for more information.

• Databases A-Z A full, browsable list of Oxford's online databases.
• ProQuest One Literature more... less... ProQuest One Literature brings together primary texts, literary criticism, reference works, and more. It includes more than 500,000 works of poetry, prose and plays, as well as full-text literary and interdisciplinary journals, book reviews, and dissertations. Primary texts are mostly works in English, but there is also literature in German and Spanish, including the following collections: Teatro Español del Siglo de Oro, Schillers Werke, Kafkas Werke, Goethes Werke, Digitale Bibliothek Deutscher Klassiker, Die Deutsche Lyrik in Reclams Universal-Bibliothek, Bertolt Brechts Werke, and Latin American Women Writers. Works in English include poetry, drama and fiction across all periods, including the following specific collections: African American Poetry, African Writers Series, American Drama 1714–1915, Black Short Fiction and Folklore, Black Women Writers, Canadian Poetry, Caribbean Literature, Early American Fiction 1789-1875, Early English Prose Fiction, Eighteenth-Century Fiction, the Faber Poetry Library, Irish Women Poets of the Romantic Period, Latino Literature, Scottish Women Poets of the Romantic Period, Southeast Asian Literature in English, and more. As well as searchable, the database can be browsed by author, collection, movement. ProQuest One Literature also includes the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL), indexing journals, book chapters, conference proceedings, and dissertations from 1892 onwards, with regular monthly updates of newly indexed material. ProQuest One Literature replaces Literature Online (LION) and includes all of LION’s content. This resource is partly paid for by the Drue Heinz Fund.
• Arts & Humanities Citation Index (ISI) more... less... Alternative name: Web of Science. Arts & Humanities Citation Index is a multidisciplinary index covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities. It fully covers 1,144 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals, and it indexes individually selected, relevant items from over 6,800 major science and social science journals.

There are many scholarly resources which are freely available on the web.   Key free web resources are listed below and on the ' Free Online Resources " tab.

• The Poetry Archive A searchable collection of recordings of English-language poets reading their work.
• Open Learn: Creative Writing The Open University provides free educational resources online in a range of subjects.

Rewley House Continuing Education Library

The Library

Contact info

Rewley House Continuing Education Library Rewley House 1 Wellington Square Oxford OX1 2JA

Tel.01865 270454

Email [email protected]

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Key Libraries

Here are some of the key libraries for Creative Writing. A full list of libraries is on the Bodleian Libraries website :

• Continuing Education Library The Rewley House Library is your home library and buys many of the books for your course.
• English Faculty Library The EFL holds the main teaching collections for English Literature
• Next: Books >>
• Last Updated: Feb 16, 2024 1:25 PM
• URL: https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/creative-writing

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• Scholarships

Creative Writing

Creative Writing summer course in St Andrews; Yale;, by ISSOS.

Course Summary

Our 3-week creative writing summer school programme helps students build their writing skills through a range of projects including short stories, essays and poetry, to help them discover their own creative voice.

• Expert tuition from a published writer
• Benefits all areas of schoolwork through improved writing structure
• Regular writing practice and balanced critical evaluation to refine skills
• Builds confidence and communication skills
• Boosts imagination and develops clarity of thought
• Lowers stress and strengthens mental and emotional health
• 39 hours of tuition
• Pair this class with one of our exciting Elective subjects

What's Included?

• We offer an all-inclusive 3-week residential stay at one of our exclusive University locations for students between the ages of 13 - 18
• Students choose one Academic and one Elective option from the progamme.
• Everyone takes part in exciting activities, evening programmes and cultural trips.
• Each nationality is limited to 10% of the total intake of students to ensure a truly international experience.

Accommodation

All of our students are housed in the University halls of residence, in an area exclusive to ISSOS, where the student groups are divided by gender and also by age range. Each student will be allocated a shared or single room. The majority of rooms in our accommodation are shared, but any students who require a single, or shared, room for medical reasons will be given priority when we allocate rooms. All students in shared rooms will be sharing with someone of the same age and gender. Their roommate will be of a different nationality to them and they will not be sharing with someone they already know.

Students choose one academic subject, which they will pair with one of our elective classes, to focus on for the 3 weeks at ISSOS. All academic classes meet for 3 hours each weekday morning and are taught by our highly qualified team of teaching staff who are all experienced, working professionals in their subject areas.

Extracurricular Activities

During their three weeks at our campuses, outside of their classes, we provide an action packed and fun filled programme of events and immerse our students in the UK and USA's rich and unique culture and introduce them to some of its best-loved landmarks, towns and cities.

Key Details

• Available from: June - August
• Provider: ISSOS
• Ages: For ages 14 to 18
• Fees: £6900 / 3 weeks
• Duration: 3 weeks

St Andrews University

Quick enquiry.

An exceptional summer school in an inspirational setting that balances academia and fun, with a lot of added extras thrown in.

Request More Information About this Course

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Join a worldwide community of adult learners. The Department for Continuing Education offers online courses across a wide range of subjects. Course formats include weekly classes, flexible short courses, single day and weekend events, lecture series and Oxford qualifications.

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Explore a topic in-depth over one or two days; extend your knowledge over several weeks with a lecture series; or join a weekly learning programme.

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Undergraduate creative writing courses

Part-time study in creative writing at Oxford

Completely new to the world of creative writing? Need an extra push to finish your novel, poem or play? Looking for a low-residency master's programme? No matter where you are in your writing journey, we have a flexible, part-time course for you.

Diploma in Creative Writing

Our two-year, part-time Undergraduate Diploma in Creative Writing  helps you to strengthen your ability in four major areas of literary activity — prose, poetry, drama and analytical reading — as well as the chance to specialise in the genre of your choice.

There are distance-learning and face-to-face options available. The Diploma is a good foundation for those wanting to progress to a master's in creative writing.

Find out more about the  Diploma in Creative Writing . 

Short courses and the Certificate of Higher Education

Our  weekly classes and flexible online courses in creative writing are taught at undergraduate level and cover all genres – fiction, poetry, memoir, drama, writing for young adults and critical reading. There are courses for beginners as well as those with experience and class sizes are kept small to maximise interaction between you and your classmates and tutor.

Credit earned from these courses is transferable towards our Certificate of Higher Education - a part-time undergraduate course in which you study a main subject discipline but also undertake study in other academic subjects.

Student spotlights

Tahmina maula.

Tahmina worked as a senior manager in education before taking a career break to undertake the Undergraduate Diploma in Creative Writing.

Charles Bush

Charles Bush published his debut young-adult novel thanks to the skills and experience gained from completing the Undergraduate Certificate of Higher Education.

Georgia Fancett

Studying on the Certificate of Higher Education led Georgia to writing a prize winning novel.

Short courses and part-time qualifications

Literature, creative writing and film studies

Undergraduate diploma in creative writing, mst in creative writing.