Creative Writing and Publishing with Foundation Year

Creative writing and publishing together address both the making and the dissemination of written work, treating the production of literature and the industry that brings it to readers as mutually illuminating subjects of study. In an era when written content reaches audiences through a rapidly diversifying range of channels, understanding how to craft compelling prose, poetry, or narrative and how to navigate the markets through which writing circulates has become more valuable, not less. This four-year full-time programme at the University of Derby includes a foundation year, a sandwich placement year, a year abroad, and embedded work placement experience, making it one of the more structurally rich creative arts degrees available.

You will develop your practice as a writer, working across fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and other forms, receiving critical feedback from tutors and peers as you refine your voice and broaden your technical range. Publishing modules will introduce you to the editorial, marketing, rights, and digital distribution dimensions of the industry, giving you insight into how manuscripts become books and how audiences are built and maintained. The sandwich year places you in a professional setting, whether a publisher, literary agency, media company, or content organisation, where you gain first-hand experience of the creative industries at work.

The year abroad extends your perspective further, exposing you to different literary cultures and academic environments.

An entry tariff of 88 points makes the programme accessible to students who demonstrate genuine creative and intellectual promise regardless of prior formal qualifications. Graduates move into careers in writing, editing, publishing, content creation, journalism, communications, copywriting, arts administration, and education. Many continue to postgraduate study in creative writing or publishing, while others build portfolio careers that combine writing with other professional activities.