Writing in UCC

Creative writing students in University College Cork are encouraged to treat writing as a living, evolving practice, from fiction through to poetry and memoir. Students learn and develop their creative practice through a mixture of peer-engagement in workshop environments, the rigourous drafting and re-drafting of work and support from lecturers.

Our teaching staff consists of internationally published authors and poets. Students will work closely with our faculty as they develop their own creative practice and work towards writing to a publishable standard. Further to the core faculty, students will also have the opporunity to work with our writer in residence and learn from visiting authors, editors and creative practitioners. The major awards are the MA in Creative Writing and the PhD programme in creative writing. 

University College Cork has played a central role in Ireland's great literary tradition. Some of Ireland’s greatest writers have studied and taught at UCC, including Daniel Corkery, Frank O’Connor, Sean O’Faolain, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Matthew Sweeney, Danielle McLaughlin and John Montague. Notable poets associated with UCC include Sean Lucy, Thomas McCarthy, Sean Dunne, Paul Durcan, Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Dean Browne, Billy Ramsell, Victoria Kennefick and Leanne O'Sullivan. Prose writers associated with the university include Caroline O'Donoghue, William Wall, EM Reapy, Stefanie Preissner, Una Mannion, Catherine Kirwan, Elaine Feeney and Lisa McInerney.

UCC's MA in Creative Writing was introduced in 2013 to support the coming generations of writers from Ireland and beyond.