Centre for Creative Writing

Where innovation meets creativity

Established in 2010 by Philip Terry, Professor Marina Warner, and Adrian May, the Centre for Creative Writing is unique in that it was set up from its inception to develop and explore innovative practices in Creative Writing.

It was the first place in the UK to develop modules on the emergent practices of memory mapping, walking and place – which are now widely imitated – and it was the first in the UK to devote a module to the now highly influential work of the Oulipo (Workshop of Potential Literature).

It is interdisciplinary in its approach and engages with forms of writing which move between traditional boundaries of mode and genre. Key areas of research interest include the Oulipo, Wild Writing, Memory Mapping, prismatic translation, experimental forms of poetry and fiction, and science fiction.

Since our department's inception in the 1960s under the poet-critic Donald Davie, we have nurtured a tradition of distinguished writers, who have shaped literature as we know it. These include Robert Lowell, Michèle Roberts, Ken Smith, Tom Raworth, Ed Dorn, Ben Okri, Pierre Joris, Alice Notley, Marina Warner, Derek Walcott and Ted Berrigan.

The modern-day Centre for Creative Writing consists of writers with a unique breadth of experience across literary genres, from novels, prose and plays, to poetry and song.